read this and thought i would share Forgive me for rehashing old news. I need to get this off my chest. When Society of Black Lawyers chairman Peter Herbert called for an end to the use of the word âYidâ by Tottenham supporters, Spurs supportersâ reactions ranged from mild annoyance to outrage. Herbertâs claims particularly frustrated me. This isnât merely an academic question: for me, being a Yid is intensely personal, and at the root of why Iâm Tottenham till I die. Iâm American, and I didnât discover my passion for football until a few years ago. The beautiful game won me over, and I began looking for an English club to support. I knew I wasnât interested in any of the traditional powerhouse clubs, as Iâve never had much use for frontrunners. But I did want to support a club I could see with some regularity on American TV, and that I could easily follow from thousands of miles away. You see, Iâm of Jewish ancestry, and Spursâ fans devotion to reclaiming a word used to promote bigotry and make it a point of pride won my support at once. After some searching, I found myself increasingly drawn to Spurs. There were a number of reasons: they were a storied club, with a proud tradition. They played a swashbuckling, attacking style of football. They were named after a famed Shakespeare character and skeptic (âBut will they come when you do call for them?â). But what truly won me over, initially and irreversibly, was the Yid Army. You see, Iâm of Jewish ancestry, and Spursâ fans devotion to reclaiming a word used to promote bigotry and make it a point of pride won my support at once. That gentile fans would stand against anti-Semitism was lovely, as meaningful to me as learning about â61, a Micky Hazard tale or a Gareth Bale assault down the flanks. Indeed, it meant more to me than any of that (though possibly not more than a victory over Arsenal). Understand that in America, European football has an ugly reputation for racism and bigotry. Iâm not saying this is an earned reputation, mind you (Lazio chants aside), but every American who pays even a bit of attention to football has heard horror stories. While Iâm not saying most or even many Europeans are bigots (and America has more than our share), it was reassuring to find unambiguous evidence of a clubâs supporters standing up against such ugliness. In the Yid Army, I found a direct refutation of the ugliest aspects of humanity. Tottenhamâs support had reclaimed the word and made it their own. And thatâs what Yid means to me, whenever I hear or see it in the context of Spurs. It isnât just a name, and it certainly isnât hate speech. Itâs a show of unity and solidarity. Itâs a community standing up for its own. Itâs what first made me love Tottenham. It isnât just a name, and it certainly isnât hate speech. Itâs a show of unity and solidarity. So forgive me if Iâm not interested in having someone try to take that away from me. I take such efforts personally, and I can only say: Weâre Tottenham Hotspur. Weâll sing what we want.
pnp beat me to it, lot of crap on that site, but also some interesting stuff from american supporters airing there veiws on our team
Spot on. Back when the anti-semitism was at it's worse and most acceptable and we started chanting using the word it wasn't a stadium full of Jewish fans it was still a mix but all Spurs fans were standing together with our Jewish following and not sitting quietly and letting a section of our own be abused by racist idiots.
I'm not taking anything away from PNP's vast knowledge, but I'd like to add something I know... I read a report on plagerism many moons ago. The author talked a lot about "five words". The theory was that any group of five words in a piece of text would have an almost zero chance of being repeated in any other piece of text. The theory was mostly proved to be true. Try it yourself. Pick five words from the article, such as "That gentile fans would stand", and Google them. Ta-da, top result is the fighting cock. ----- Um..., Yid Army!
"it was reassuring to find". http://bit.ly/SB3rf0 You're right about Googling key bits of an article though, Inda. I had read that one earlier this morning though and didn't have to do so this time.
I maybe missing the point here but, is there any need for this level of seperation in football. Yids, Christians, Roman Cathoric. Jehovah's Witnesses, Rastafari, Medieval Tondrakians and what have you., We are all FOOTBALL fans, and that should be enough.
Excellent article, thanks for the post and the links. Much of it is true of me also. What won me over, for what it's worth, was more "audere est facere" plus the fact the club is perched on a knife edge right now between success and failure. One of the two teams I grew up supporting is an incredible failure and the other a great success, so I think I wanted one where everything was in the balance. "Your team finds you" are words I've found true. But other things fit as well, including the blue and white, tall thin icon, and Spurs identity as the Jewish team. I'm half Jewish by ancestry, though I grew up celebrating Christian holidays and not Jewish ones. I'm actually uncomfortable with any racial epithet, as many Americans are these days. On the other hand, by my own rules I can use the word "Yid" because of my Jewish ancestry. I've also discovered it's a special case: the only epithet I know of that's a positive term in its own language. So it shouldn't be classed as an epithet IMO. In any case, it's great when people use an insult as a badge of identity. Incidentally, what team or teams do Muslims most support, or is there one? I might guess in ignorance it's Spurs as well.
There are no European 'Islamic' sides, as far as I'm aware. I don't even think that Spurs or Ajax are Jewish, particularly, it's just that both clubs have taken a stance against anti-Semitism. I know that at least one of the regulars on this board is a Muslim, but I don't think that religion's much of a issue for English clubs, generally. There's no equivalent of the Glaswegian separatism, to my knowledge. As BajanSpur rightly points out, I'm sure that we all think that such things shouldn't divide the football community. I'd hope so, anyway.
i dont think there is a team muslims mostly support, i think they support any team in general ie local, most succesfull, or like most one that seems to find them as you put it, i would also say that tottenham are not really a jewish club as such, ok people in charge and joe lewis are jewish, and there is a large jewish community in stamford hill wich is a couple of miles away, but arsenal, west ham and probably most english clubs have a high number of jewish supporters, just that we have been historicaly been known as a jewish club
GB I am of the Jewish faith and many of my friends and work collegues support different teams. Many of whom have no links to religion obviously Spurs,also ManU Leeds,Villa LeArse,Orient,Southampton. I think with Spurs fans its more of a location aspect and family ties as well as the Yid faith.
I'm a Muslim and I can't but help following the mighty Spurs....it's nothing to do with religion...and in fact in a world where lets be honest the two faiths lock horns...my love for Spurs gives me a positive slant...we are all human. Yid Army!!
A real name-check! Gosh, thanks! I hadn't realised............. [sorry - couldn't resist!] What a positive thread this is! Have enjoyed reading some very sane and principled contributions. Thanks, guys. It all reinforces my nearly seventy years of support for Spurs. Perhaps we could also deal with the occasional traces of homophobia that linger? And stop the vile chants aimed at Wenger? (And no, I'm not Jewish, Muslim, black, gay or a *****phile. Just for the record.)
People identify with their team for various reasons. I had no choice as my family had supported Spurs from 1930's , as my little daughters will keep the tradition . My 8 year old plays football proudly in her Spurs shirt at our small rural CoE Sussex school. No pressure from me but she wants to make her daddy happy. I am a cultural Christian ( Children go to church once a month , observe all the holidays) . I think why the black community identified with Arsenal was it,s fantastic success a decade ago with nearly a black team. Naturally this appealed as many had no family , area link. The new generation may look somewhere else with their fruitless pursuit , selling club etc.
