Chelsea football fans reportedly chant antisemitic slur “Yid” at game in Wales

Chelsea Football Club fans have reportedly chanted the antisemitic slur “Yid” at an away game in Swansea, Wales.

Simon Johnson, the Evening Standard’s sports reporter, tweeted that it “took less than six minutes for the y-word to emerge from the away end where #cfc [Chelsea Football Club] fans are housed.”

“Yid” is a Yiddish word often appropriated by antisemites as a repulsive derogatory term for Jews on a par with slave-trade era terms to describe black people. It is often and brazenly used by Chelsea supporters as a means of deriding rival team Tottenham Hotspur, amongst whose supporters Chelsea’s fans believe that there are many Jews.

Writing in Chelsea News, a website for Chelsea fans, Jamie Wilkinson said that: “We’ll have to wait and see if there’s any further verification of these claims. If it arrives, there’s no doubt those involved should be punished accordingly.”

Chelsea Football Club’s fans have a long history of singing and chanting antisemitic lyrics. In January last year, however, the Club announced a new project aimed at tackling antisemitism, involving senior players, including Eden Hazard, Charly Musonda and Ross Barkley. The project, under the Chelsea Foundation’s Building Bridges campaign was supported by Roman Abramovich, the club’s owner.

We commend Mr Johnson for reporting this matter and await Chelsea Football Club reporting members to the police if Mr Johnson’s report can be corroborated by other witnesses.