(Alamy)
3 min read
The honorary president of Aston Villa’s Jewish supporters’ club has said it is “depressing” to see his club turn into a “political football” after supporters of Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv were banned from attending a game in Birmingham next month.
Andrew Fox, a former paratrooper, said Keir Starmer faces a “test” of whether he will match his words with action to make sure fans of the Israeli club can attend the Europa League match at Villa Park.
On Thursday, Premier League club Aston Villa said a body responsible for supporters’ safety suggested Maccabi Tel Aviv should be barred from attending the fixture. West Midlands Police supported the move, describing the match as “high-risk”.
The decision was partly based on violence that overshadowed a match between the Israeli club and Dutch team Ajax in Amsterdam last year.
Five men were convicted of attacking Maccabi Tel Aviv fans in scenes described as anti-semitic by Dutch authorities, while some fans of the Israeli football team were filmed burning a Palestinian flag and singing anti-Arab chants.
The decision has received widespread backlash, however, with Prime Minister Starmer describing it as the “wrong decision” and saying “the role of the police is to ensure all football fans can enjoy the game, without fear of violence or intimidation”.
The government is holding talks “at pace” to resolve the situation, Downing Street said on Friday.
Fox told PoliticsHome most fans just wanted to go to the football and “have a good time” as opposed to getting involved in the politics.
“It’s depressing seeing Villa go from being a football club to a political football”.
He added: “[Starmer] has put three ministers on this to make it happen. Coming two weeks after [the Manchester terror attacks], the timing is just horrifying. The message to Jewish football fans is we can’t protect you.”
Fox said he was confident the original decision to bar Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from going to the match would be overturned in the coming days.
“They’ll throw policing resources at it. The fact that you’ve got political unity between Starmer, [Kemi] Badenoch and even Ed Davey. Even the Lib Dems want this overturned, which is a hell of a thing. It’s very rare that you get that level of political unity.”
He added: “It’s a test now of what Starmer has said. Is he going to back it up with action?
“He’s given great chat, he said he’s going to protect the Jewish community. He said he wants this overturned. Let’s see how much power the Prime Minister actually has.”
Labour MP Preet Kaur Gill, who represents the local Birmingham Edgbaston seat, said police regularly manage to handle football fixtures that come with “issues”.
“It’s almost like saying you’re penalising a whole group of people who support a group, that they’re all somehow going to cause an issue, even though we know that there are always some kind of issues in football matches across the country, we’ve been managing to police them,” she told PoliticsHome.
“This is not a binary issue of taking one side over the other.
“If you’re going to seriously unite people, then you have to take the decision that gives the message that no one will be excluded, and it will be policed, and there’ll be conditions put on it.”
Chair of the Culture, Media and Sport committee Caroline Dinenage has written to the chief constable of West Midlands Police, urging them to explain why they cannot safely police next month’s fixture.
“The move to prevent away fans from attending next month’s match at Villa Park is extremely concerning and is at odds with the principle that football in this country is for everyone,” the Conservative MP said.
Additional reporting by Nadine Batchelor-Hunt.
