I’ve not said I’m personally bothered tbf I think it’s an interesting topic though as it falls in that grey area and I also had an old school friend lose their job in the Essex police (years ago now) because they had “yiddo” in their email address. I’m not going to pretend I take any personal offence to it though.
Coincidentally Antwerp is also the "jewish" club in Belgium, similarly back in the days other clubs started calling them the jews because of the big jewish population in Antwerp and now it's also something we call ourselves. It's not been as much of a talking point as it for Spurs, but some clubs and fans have gotten small fines for singing some too extreme songs. Everyone knows it's not racist in nature but nowadays that doesn't really matter anymore, if people get offended by it it's going to be scrutinized and you'll always find people who'll get offended. I wish they'd do more against actual targetted racisms that's still rampant during games in most of Europe instead of these big gestured campaigns that do nothing.
For my part I completely understand that the use of the word by Spurs fans isn’t intended to be offensive. I don’t judge fellow Spurs fans for using it. I also understand however that offence is taken not given, and there is still a sizeable proportion of society that is offended - for that reason, I choose not to use it myself as I would hate to inadvertently offend. I do get Badiel’s viewpoint though; who are non-Jewish Spurs fans to say they’ve “reclaimed” the word? There are still, as shown by the Clubs own research, match attending Jewish fans who find the word offensive - it’s not for us non-Jews to say they are wrong.
spot on TAFKAP. as a gentile spurs fan i'm not going to comment on something that is potentially offensive to a particular demographic which i am not part of. however i can humbly voice my opinion from personal experience of knowing a fair number of jewish spurs fans... my stepdad included i've never known any of them to be offended by this usage in a Spurs context. I actually have a friend who got offended the NFL team the washington redskins changed their name to the washington commanders, he loves throwing around phrases like "PC gone mad". it is a racist term for navajo indians. his viewpoint annoys me. why on earth is a white guy from england an authority of what is offensive to a particular tribe of native americans. i bet you he's probably never even met a native american. I for one am not going to comment on what is or is not offensive to a particular demographic if i am not of that group. *i suppose at this point i should change my username
I don't think any reasonable person would suggest people are wrong to find offence in something. As you say though, if you're to look at the clubs own research it's still pretty split: Y-word consultation update | Tottenham Hotspur 66% of Jewish supporters that were asked said that they chant it themselves. Based on my interpretation of this statement in 2019, 12% of Jewish supporters find it offensive. I think most fans, Jewish and non-Jewish, understand its a sensitive topic for some people but I do think it's complex and hard to see a solution to. It was apparently (and unsurprisingly) pretty prominent again at the stadium on Sunday. Perhaps one person offended is one too many but then that opens up an interesting conversation about lots of stuff said and sung within football. I think it'd be a very different argument and probably preferred if the feeling was overwhelmingly in favour of stopping us chanting it. As it is, it has a lot of support in the Jewish community alone. As for Baddiel, I can't take him seriously. He's quick to dismiss offence caused when done so through comedy - context seemingly important when it's his profession.
Jewish supporters being the key phrase - if I read that correctly, 35% of Jews who don't use the word in a footballing context themselves find it offensive, which is a large enough proportion to be taken seriously in my opinion.
I think the wording is misleading in that stat. 65% use it themselves, 35% don't. A third of that latter 35% then find it offensive was my interpretation there.. which equates to about 12%. Still a sizeable percentage of course but a big difference, then leaving 88% of Jewish Spurs supporters that aren't offended by it (in a football context). I imagine that percentage is much higher outside of football and perhaps even for supporters of other clubs within football but we're talking about a fairly small minority at Spurs. Perhaps the stance should be that even one offended supporter (or member of public in passing) is one person too many but then there's a hell of a lot more to address within football on that logic.
I think you’re focussing too much on the footballing context. To quote the stat: 18% of respondents that do not use the term in a footballing context consider it ‘offensive’, with the number rising to 35% among Jewish respondents So 35% of Jewish respondents who do not use the word in a footballing context find the word offensive. To reword that, 35% of Jews who are not Spurs fans find the word offensive.
If a load of cockerels start protesting outside the ground in outrage and 100,000 sign a petition to take this to a vote in parliament then I'm willing to listen. until that day i'll give that one a miss
