Tottenham Hotspur have launched an ongoing consultation with its fans and local community over the use of the yid, the Y-word. So far online surveys have returned some feedback. The club are also in the process of arranging focus groups.
Yid, or the Y-word has raised a great deal of controversy over the years. And, rightly so, for it is a term that is borne out of, and can be seen as inciting, hatred towards Jewish people.
Tottenham Hotspur Y-Word Update
The Findings
In the latest update, the club posted a summary of its findings. The total number of responses to the survey was above 23,000.
“Our recent consultation shows that:
33% of respondents use the Y-word ‘regularly’ in a footballing context
18% of respondents that do not use the term in a footballing context consider it ‘offensive’, with the number rising to 35% among Jewish respondents
Only 12% of respondents would use the term outside of a footballing context
94% of respondents acknowledge the Y-word can be considered a racist term against a Jewish person
Almost half of all respondents would prefer to see supporters choose to chant the Y-word less or stop using it altogether”.
A Summary
This survey illustrates that from the sample of fans, the Y-word is a highly charged term that cannot be used lightly. Despite many fans claiming that they do not find the term offensive, still almost half of the fans would prefer to hear less of the Y-word.
Considerations
The Spurs fanbase is much larger than the sample size in this survey. In fact, not even half of the attendance at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium replied to the survey. As a result, it is not very representative of all the Spurs fan’s opinions.
Furthermore, this is a single survey consisting of data from the football fans of one particular club. Arguably, other fans and people unassociated with the club may find the term wholly inappropriate, discriminatory and offensive.
Crucially, 88% of those surveyed claimed that they did not support the use of the Y-word outside of a football context. This highlights the pivotal notion of using this term. It is used only in the stadium and only in a song or chant that effectively supports the players, or the club and its fans.
The Future of the Y-Word: Rooted in History
The Y-word is facing increasing opposition. The survey does indicate how the term is uncomfortable and undesirable by some fans at the very least. Other fans and members of the community out-rightly oppose the term. However, there are still those fans, both Jewish and non-Jewish that still uphold the original adoption of the term.
It is clear that this is only the start of much more thorough research. Focus groups may help to foster a greater understanding of why this term should or shouldn’t be continued to be used.
Perhaps one way of looking at the Y-word is to look back to the past. One supporter’s view was: “I know exactly why we chant it and back in the 80’s it seemed justified. It doesn’t today. It draws attention to something that should be consigned to history.”
Jurgen Habermas
Does this mean the Y-word is now an anachronism? Its usage as a defensive mechanism can still be justifiable; racism and anti-Semitism is not only present in football but wider society. It does, as a term, register the ostracisation and discrimination of Jewish people. As such, it evokes reflection on the terrible suffering of the Holocaust, of Pogroms throughout the globe. Some would argue that this is a suffering that must always be kept at the forefront of the European mind. Jurgen Habermas, a German philosopher and sociologist posits the view that: “What forms the common core of a European identity is the character of the painful learning process it has gone through, as much as its results.” What Habermas implicitly hints to here, is the historic suffering of the people of Europe, including the Holocaust. These traumatic events are inexplicably part of the European identity and psyche.
Reflecting on this, it is possible to view the Y-word as a term of identity, a product of the painful suffering of Spurs fans. This a suffering that connects to the wider discrimination and persecution of Jewish people. As such, it is a term that people can’t simply consign to history and as a result, can be kept in use for as long as anti-Semitism persists.
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