According to Jewish News, a survey conducted by the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust found that 52 per cent of match-going Spurs fans who identified as Jewish disagreed with the club’s attempt to ban the Y-word.
Spurs fans historically adopted the Y-word in solidarity with their Jewish supporters after being on the end of racist abuse from opposition fans.
However, more recently, the topic of whether Spurs fans should continue using the word during matches has created some controversy, with the club conducting focus groups on the matter (TottenhamHotspur.com).
Jewish News have now relayed the results of the survey that THST conducted on the matter, comparing answers from the match-going respondents who identified as Jewish against data from all respondents.
Respondents were asked if they “agreed with the Club that the time has come to move on from using the word in relation to Spurs”, and from the 6001 fans who completed the survey, 52% of match-going fans who identified as Jewish strongly disagreed or disagreed, with 30% agreeing.
Among all respondents, 36% strongly disagreed or disagreed, with 35% agreeing and 29% neither agreeing or disagreeing.
In addition, Spurs fans were also asked in light of the club’s campaigning against the Y word, “how frequently are you now using the term within the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium?”
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In response to the question, 31% of respondents who identified as Jewish said ‘always’, while the figure for all respondents was 17%, 19% said ‘usually’ (15% of all respondents), with just 25% (28% of all respondents) saying ‘never’.
Reacting to the results of the survey, THST said: “This issue remains a sensitive, polarising subject that needs careful thought. Jewish respondents are amongst the highest demographic to regularly use the chant and the demographic where the Club’s campaign has prompted the biggest uplift in use.
“So if consideration is to be given to the Jewish community, as it should be, then the views of this section of the Jewish community have to be considered. Opinion is clearly evenly divided among Jewish fans and non-Jewish fans, making it extremely challenging for the Trust to take a representative position.
“We will continue to argue for dialogue, understanding and sensitivity around this subject while continuing to refute accusations of antisemitism against our fans.”
Spurs Web Opinion
This is quite a complex subject and not one I can have a strong opinion on as a non-Jewish Spurs fan. However, my feeling is that if 30 per cent of match-going Jewish Spurs fans agree that the Y-word should not be sung, then I think we should move on from the word.
While the historic context to why Spurs fans use it is linked to anti-racism, things do change with time and I do not think it is appropriate to argue that the word should be used indefinitely.
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