British soccer team absolved after inquiry into anti-Semitic fans

West Ham United issues a lifetime ban on a season ticket holder who was arrested after November game

West Ham United fans display a banner supporting the team in a match against Tottenham Hotspurs in 2008 (photo credit: CC BY-SA, Kevin Law, Wikimedia Commons)
West Ham United fans display a banner supporting the team in a match against Tottenham Hotspurs in 2008 (photo credit: CC BY-SA, Kevin Law, Wikimedia Commons)

JTA — The English Football Association will not censure a British soccer team following an investigation into alleged anti-Semitic violence.

The association according to a report on Monday praised the West Ham United team for dealing immediately with incidents that took place last November at an away game against the Tottenham Hotspurs.

Among the punishments handed out by the West Ham club was a lifetime ban on a season ticket holder who was arrested in the incident.

West Ham fans were heard hissing like the sound of Nazi gas chambers chanting the name Adolf Hitler, and they also mocked the stabbing of a Hotspurs fan at a pub in Rome.

The Tottenham incident was the subject of a police investigation into the use of racist language, according to the London Evening Standard.

Meanwhile, Yossi Benayoun, an Israeli midfielder for the Chelsea Football Club whose contract just expired, told the London Jewish Chronicle that the anti-Semitic abuse heaped on him by the team’s fans was the worst he has ever experienced.

In April, Chelsea said it would investigate after Benayoun said he was the victim of anti-Semitic taunts and booing from his own supporters when he came on as a substitute against Liverpool. He took to Twitter after the match to inform a wide audience of the abuse.

Benayoun, who has been playing professional soccer for 20 years, told the newspaper that he wanted to continue playing for a British team.

Most Popular
read more: