A game of football has been hijacked by politics. What should have been an issue about police resources for controlling Maccabi Tel Aviv fans’ visit to Aston Villa sadly descends into tensions between faiths and blatant political opportunism. Nobody wins here.
Maccabi Tel Aviv reclaimed part of the narrative, if not completely the initiative, last night in stating they will decline their away allocation for the Nov 6 Europa League fixture. This was in doubt anyway after the local Safety Advisory Group and West Midlands Police ruled that no travelling fans would be permitted, a decision the Government sought to overturn.
The SAG decision came at a time with prominent local political and community leaders voicing concerns of the presence of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans in a strongly Muslim area and highlighting the malevolent behaviour of a section of the club’s support.
Some of the rhetoric was provocative. It underlined divides and debates in the country. Birmingham leaders were accused of anti-semitism, the Government insisted there should be no “no-go areas” and Tommy Robinson posed in a Maccabi Tel Aviv shirt. What a mess, a grim picture of tensions afflicting modern Britain.