Marca apologises for ‘offensive” Spurs article

According to an article on Independent.ie, Spanish sports newspaper Marca has publicly apologised to the club after they published an article in which it claimed that Spurs are disliked because of their “Jewish origin”.

The  offending piece, which was published in Monday’s edition of the Madrid based paper, described the club as “hated, but with good footballing style”, adding “their Jewish origin has made them into a club disliked by rival fans”.

The article says that when the club discovered about the story they issued a stern response.A clubs spokesperson said: “We are astonished that a publication such as Marca, which presents itself as an alleged source of professional journalism, has seen fit to publish such an article which is blatantly wrong and wholly distasteful,”

The article continues to say that Marca have claimed that the exact meaning of the word “hated” had been lost in translation, but did apologise for any offence caused.

They said: “It has generated controversy in England because of a mis-translation of the term ‘hated’, which also featured in the copy,” a statement released by the newspaper said.

“The ‘hatred’ that Tottenham suffers is very focused on the radical and racist groups that are hiding in society, especially among the fans of Chelsea and West Ham. Obviously, these groups do not represent the English game or society.

“We regret the confusion that has been created in this respect. The intention was not to damage the image of Tottenham – a club we respect, value and admire.

“We do not want to serve as a mouthpiece for these racist minorities, which remain within football and which use any pretext to spread their messages of hate, which we reject head-on.”

So an apology issued after what can only be described as an inflammatory article, directed at the clubs heritage and fans. Wholly unnecessary and one suspects chiefly designed to cause upset ahead of Tuesday’s showdown.

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