The management of Britain’s Chelsea F.C. soccer team condemned the use of an anti-Semitic chant by its fans during a recent match against Leicester this weekend.
"Alvaro, Alvaro. He comes from Madrid, he hates the f------ Y—,” ESPN reported fans chanting at newly signed player Alvaro Morata. According to the Sunday Express, this was in reference to Chelsea’s traditional rival Tottenham, which has many Jewish fans.
"The club and the players appreciate the fans' passionate support away from home, of course. But the language in that song is not acceptable at all,” head of communications and public affairs Steve Atkins told reporters.
Chelsea, whose owner is Jewish, subsequently issued a statement that Alvaro "does not want to be connected with that song in any way and both the club and the player request the supporters stop singing that song with immediate effect.”
Posting on Twitter, Alvaro wrote that "Since I arrived, I have been able to feel your support every single day, you are amazing and I'd like to ask you to please respect everyone!”
Earlier this month Germany’s national soccer team forcefully repudiated fans who chanted “Seig Heil” during a World Cup qualifier match in Prague held on the anniversary of the Nazi invasion of Poland, deeming them “deplorable.”
“I’m full of anger and I’m very much shaken to see that some so-called fans use football, and an international match, for their deplorable demonstrations,” team manager Joachim Loew told reporters. “They bring shame on our country.”
“We don’t want them, we’re not their national team, and they’re not our fans,” Loew asserted. Given our history, it’s very important for us to represent our country in a dignified fashion and its values of tolerance, respect and openness to the world. These troublemakers demean this image.”
