Yid, yiddo, yiddettes, Yido army and David Baddiel
When David Baddiel, a Chelsea supporter, challenged the
acceptability of the chanting of the word “Yid” at football matches he poured
fuel on the fire. In 2010, he and his brother Ivor made a short film, “The
Y-word”, that featured footballers saying that the use of the word was racist
and offensive. He then went on national news programmes to reinforce his
displeasure with the word “Yid” being used by Tottenham supporters. Whatever
the rights or wrongs of it you can’t have a debate when the examiner is a
biased supporter of a rival antagonistic team.
David Baddiel calls himself a "10 out of 10
atheist" and as a "fundamentalist" "Jewish atheist".
He wrote a play called Infidel where the Guardian paper stated that “David Baddiel’s musical knocks religion”. So,
he can knock religion but take umbrage with the word “Yid,” used by Tottenham
Supporters in a positive and supportive way. Either Baddiel, a Chelsea
supporter, is stupid or he knew damn well that by criticising Tottenham
supporters for using a word in a none abusive manner, would cause conflict and anger? You must decide. The Oxford Dictionary has taken a different view, and
knocked the wind out of Baddiel’s sails by changing its definition of the
word Yid to include a "supporter of or player for Tottenham Hotspur".
They’ve forever combined the names “Yid” and Tottenham Hotspur together forever;
in a respectable and decent way.
Not long after Baddiel’s connected the word “Yid” and
Tottenham Hotspur FC and brought it to a wider audience, the police were on
high alert at the Tottenham stadium and said that they would arrest anybody
caught using that word. In fact, a few were arrested, but the judge threw the
case out. I was at that match, and I said to a police officer, “are you
seriously going to arrest the whole stadium?” He walked away. After that day,
it all started to fizzle out. A storm in a teacup, no thanks to a rival fan
stirring the pot.
Because of all that kerfuffle, the Yid chants have grown
stronger in and outside the football stadium. And it isn’t just by non-Jewish
people who use it but Spurs Jews as well. Of course, outside the Spurs fanbase,
there are mixed views. But all agree that it isn’t used by Spurs fans as a
weapon to attack Jews.
What is the history of the word “Yid”? Well, The word Yid
(Yiddish) is a Jewish ethnonym of Yiddish origin. It is used as an autonym
within the Ashkenazi Jewish society.
The earliest mention of the word Yid in print was in The
Slang Dictionary published by John Camden Hotten in 1874. Hotten noted that
"The Jews use these terms very frequently."
It is believed that the word began to be used in an abusive
sense by non-Jews, in the 20th century, likely in the 1930s when there was a
large population of Jews and Yiddish speakers in East London where the fascist
leader Oswald Mosley also had a strong following. Mosley's followers were said
to have chanted the word “Yid” while marching through Jewish areas: "The
Yids, the Yids, we gotta get rid of the Yids". Of course, used in this way
is totally unacceptable and anybody using it as a word of abuse should be
prosecuted, and no Spurs supporter would disagree.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first confirmed
use of the related term "yiddo" for a Jewish person appeared in 1972.
The words "yid" and "yiddo" became frequently related in Britain
with fans of Tottenham Hotspur. In January 2020, the Oxford English Dictionary
extended the definition of "yid" to "a supporter of or player
for Tottenham Hotspur Football Club".
The word has frequently been used against Jewish people as
an aggressive term but over the years has been appropriated by Tottenham
supporters. One of the reasons for this is that the club as a strong Jewish
following and have been targeted with anti-Semitic abuse by opposing fans.
The OED said the reference to Tottenham reflected the
evidence that the club was associated with the Jewish community and that the
term was used as a "self-designation" by some fans.
Jewish Chronicle editor Stephen Pollard said the word was
"not controversial among many of the Jewish Spurs supporters, such as
myself, who are proud to be Yiddos".
Spurs said in their statement that they "have never
accommodated the use of the Y-word on any club channels or in club stores".
In December, the club released the results of a survey on
the word, with more than 23,000 responses. I have a question over this; who
were those that responded? Tottenham has a capacity of 62,000 plus, but a wider
audience of many millions throughout the world. Putting it into a context,
23,000 is a tiny slice of the cake. And were they all Tottenham supporters who
replied? How do we know that rival fans didn’t also respond in a negative way?
According to that survey, nearly half of respondents wanted
fans to abandon the chant or use it less, with 94% acknowledging it could be
considered a racist term against a Jewish person.
But 33% of respondents said they used the word
"regularly" in a football context, while 12% also used it outside of
football.
With the interference of rival fans, such as David
Baddiel, they have assured that the chanting will continue, rather than
decrease. As a season ticket holder myself I have noticed the increased volume
at home, away, abroad and outside the stadium, all thanks to people like
Baddiel, a Chelsea supporter.
The best way to remove something, if indeed it needs
removing, is not to draw attention to it. If the word does die, then it will
die under its own volition. People like Baddiel only pour fuel on the flames;
which creates even more hostility towards Tottenham fans by rival supporters.
If the debate is to be had, then it should be had by Spurs
fans, players, and Tottenham officials, and not by those that could be seen to
have an ulterior motive.
If Daniel Levy stated that fans should drop use of Y terms, it would stop very quickly, at least inside grounds. It sticks in my throat that a Chelsea fan should get so much media airtime for his personal "crusade" (I use the term with heavy irony), time which would be better spent campaigning for his own fans to desist from their ongoing racist abuse of Spurs fans (and players).
ReplyDeleteI agree. However, as far as I know, Daniel Levy doesn't have a problem with the world.
Delete