Football and Racism on the BBC

Did anyone watch the Storyville episode titled “Forever Pure: Football and Racism in Jerusalem”.

I don’t know if it attracted a huge amount of viewers, but I watched it and so did Sam Wollaston of the Guardian. His review provides a reasonably succinct summary of the story, so I don’t have to. 

The question is, who made this film and why?  No, not only that. What we will also be wondering is, what will the Israel-bashers make of this film? Will they use it as ammunition? Will they take it as confirmation that Jewish ‘racism’ is as bad as ‘Arab’ racism, if not worse? Will it be cited as evidence that Jews and Muslims are effectuating a straightforward tit-for-tat scenario? 

Interestingly, there’s a warning at the end of the Guardian’s review which says ominously “This article will be opened for comments later this morning.”

Well, it’s 12:32 and I’m wondering if they chickened out altogether. (In case it encourages even more racism, heaven forfend)

Okay, so there were a bunch of footballers, some officials, an unpleasant Russian-Israeli oligarch owner and a mob of fanatical fans. I’m not a football fan by the way so I really didn't know that the fans played such a crucial role in a team’s success. 

So what did we learn?

That the fans of this particular club were virulently anti-Arab. They were so anti-Arab in fact, that they called Muslims from Chechnyna “Arabs”.  Indeed they were so racist that when two “Arab” players (Muslims from Chechnya) were parachuted in to play for the team, apparently for the amusement of the oligarch, the fans deserted the club in droves. Empty seats etc. Eventually the club, in its original form, imploded.

The last line of the review says: ”One nil to the mob, and their rule. “Here we are, the most racist team in the country,” they sing, proudly. Boooooo …”

The obvious response to this strange film could be classed as ‘whataboutery’.  It would be something like: Now let’s see a Storyville episode about racism (antisemitism) amongst the “Arabs”. 

Anyway, I’m sure an argument could be made that the Israelis’ hatred of “Arabs” is reactive, whereas the “Arabs’” hatred of Jews is actually at the root of the entire Israeli / Palestinian conflict.

At the root of it, I said.