I’m not saying that you need be either a Spurs fan or a Jew to understand the entire ‘Y-word’ debate, but suffice to say, you just need not be Oliver Holt. Who misses, pretty much, all the salient points by several country miles. Reducing a very delicate and complex situation to mere ‘racism!!’ (All such terms come with implicit exclamation marks in any Mail newspaper, even if they’re not printed.) And by using David Baddeil as his token Jew of choice and reference. As if by being famous and Jewish, Baddeil’s comments carry more weight than anyone else’s. Have a ‘greater understanding’ which must, ergo, be the universal conclusion of the entire Jewish race. Like the chief rabbi of the terraces.

Because Oliver Holt, in choosing his martyr, misses the point that Baddeil (who I have masses of love and respect for as a comedian and writer, slightly less so as a Chelsea fan) has to watch his ‘brethren’ at Stamford Bridge pour venom and hatred on the Spurs fans, using that very ‘y-word’ with most vile intention. And it makes the comedian very uncomfortable. As it would any Jew in such a situation. Except the Spurs fans.

Before reading Mr Holt’s ridiculously one-sided and ill-informed article I’d never previously heard anyone refer to ‘reclaiming the word from the racists’. I can assure you, as a Spurs fan, we have no desire to reclaim anything. The fact that these people doing the reclaiming are ‘not even Jewish!!!’ further strengthens the position. That word, horrible though it unquestionably is, is and always has been vile and evil. Which again, is pretty much the point.

That point being Spartacus. Spartacus? When the Roman soldiers come to arrest the gladiator in the movie, they ask where he is. And one by one, all the assembled gladiators stand up and say ‘I am Spartacus’. Dozens of them. Hundreds. And it is very poignant and moving scene. A group of men showing the ultimate solidarity with an intended victim. Identifying with him and as him, in order to protect him. ‘Je suis Charlie Hebdo’ similarly became a massive hashtag (the post-modern version of standing up and being counted) as a show of solidarity with the satirical magazine whose offices were blown up by terrorists.

So when Spurs fans ‘self-identify’ as ‘Yids’, it is with that same sentiment. That if you think you (the horrible, aggressive and indeed racist fans of other clubs) can insult ‘our Jews’, then for this purpose, we are all Jews. We all stand together. As one. And that’s how it started. As a response. As a reaction. We never stood up and claimed to be ‘The Yids’, it was thrust upon us by others.

Thus for Spurs fans, particularly Jewish ones, who in any other circumstance loathe and despise that horrible word, it actually becomes a source of pride and inclusion and a protectiveness that is heart-warming.

I may be a fool, a moron and an idiot but I’m none of those things sufficiently that I would write an opinion piece for a national newspaper without consulting ‘the other side’. Because even for Mail newspapers, there is always another side.

Happy Monday

A xxxx