Beitar’s new owner banishes racism
VFOOTBALL A decade ago, the notorious “Death to Arabs” chant by Beitar Jerusalem’s fans would ring out around Teddy Stadium. Raised awareness by New Israel Fund’s KIO Israel campaign against racism and new legislation outlawing racist chants, reduced the problem, but Beitar’s hardcore La Familia fans remained defiant.
All that changed 18 months ago, when Beitar was bought by hightech billionaire Moshe Hogeg. From day one, Hogeg took on La Familia. He recently told the BBC: “I have zero tolerance for racism. Absolutely zero. And my reaction towards racism is not proportional. You shout one racist comment and I will sue you for a million dollars.” Hogeg argues European
clubs should follow suit and also threaten to sue racist fans, not only for racism, but for damaging their brand.
This was not the only way Hogeg confronted racism. Beitar have never signed an Arab player and previous owners had been forced to sell Muslim players, such as the Chechen duo of
Zaur Sadayev and Djebrail Kadiyev in 2013, after La Familia encouraged the crowd to persistently boo them.
Hogeg signed Maccabi Netanya’s Niger midfielder Ali Mohammed. As it turned out, he is a Christian, but La Familia still demanded the player change his name and Mohammed not be written on his shirt.
Hogeg did not blink. “This is a huge moment for Beitar that a player by the name of Ali Mohammed scores a goal wearing Mohammed on his shirt, and all of the crowd cheer his name.”.
In KIO Israel’s index, which monitors fans’ racist behaviour, there have been only five incidents of racist chanting in the past 18 months, compared with 52 in the two years prior to Hogeg buying the club.
He said: “This is my greatest achievement since buying Beitar.”