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English soccer clubs seek to stamp out anti-Semitic, Islamophobic behavior

English soccer clubs could be docked points from their league campaigns as part of a new zero-tolerance policy against fans who engage in anti-Semitic or Islamophobic abuse, the England Football Association (FA) said on Thursday.

The announcement came as the FA, London’s Metropolitan police, the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the National Association of Muslim Police attended soccer’s first faith summit aimed at tackling such incidents on the terraces and near grounds.

At present, abusive fans face being banned, but this is done by individual clubs rather than the FA, which is keen to extend its powers to impose penalties.

At the meeting in London, the FA said that as well as docking points from clubs, it was also thinking about forcing them to play behind closed doors in extreme cases — a penalty sometimes enforced by other governing bodies abroad.

Last week the French side Metz received a one-point penalty after fans abused Moroccan defender Abdeslam Ouaddou, and UEFA (European soccer’s government body) also told the club to play a match behind closed doors.

On Thursday, Lucy Faulkner, equality manager at the FA, said: “We now have a five-point action plan that will look at how stewards manage incidents, the way grounds are policed, how the FA monitors incidents, strengthening reporting mechanisms and the role of referees.”

SUICIDE BOMBERS

Islamophobic abuse blighted last August’s derby between English clubs Middlesbrough and Newcastle United at Middlesbrough’s Riverside stadium, where Egyptian striker Mido was the target of chants about suicide bombers by a number of the visiting fans.

Although the FA launched an investigation, no banning orders against individual fans were issued because there were difficulties in identifying the culprits. It wrote to both clubs, asking them to take steps to prevent any repetition of the chants.

Alex Goldberg, from the Board of Deputies of British Jews, welcomed the tougher stance from the FA.

“There’s no such thing as friendly banter, it’s abuse, and this action plan is a long time coming. There need to be more effective mechanisms when dealing with antisemitism and Islamophobia and we want strict liability, with clubs being held responsible for the actions of supporters,” he said.

Goldberg said the situation at the London soccer club West Ham United was “particularly bad,” adding: “I know one parent who won’t take his kids there any more and we know that far-right groups are using lower-league clubs to organize violence and intimidation against religious and ethnic minorities.”
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