Fans banned from match

[SunnySideDeepDown]

WTAF?!

https://news.sky.com/story/maccabi-tel-aviv-fans-will-not-be-allowed-to-attend-aston-villa-match-amid-safety-concerns-13451240

Maccabi Tel Aviv fans banned due to safety concerns AGAINST them?

Since when is it ok to victim blame and penalise people who have done nothing wrong? Surely the right course of action would be either to ban ALL fans of both sides or better police the event?

So are Jews not welcome at sports games now? Because some people are racist bullies?

I genuinely can’t believe this has been allowed. Where does it end? Can Jews no longer safely access society? What if the risk is high elsewhere, will they be banned then?

What do you think? AIBU to think this is discriminatory and a slippery slope?

Well, to be fair, the fans apparently causing the most trouble appear to be the ones wearing red shirts - not the team due to play Aston Villa (video footage);

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/oct/19/tel-aviv-football-derby-between-hapoel-and-maccabi-called-off-after-rioting

Was about to say the same 😂 I can hear the disdain.

Omg the Tel Aviv supporters are absolute violent thugs known for causing chaos. The decision to ban them was taken by the police under the advice of Interpol.

Literally nothing to do with anti semitism and everything to do with being a bunch of violent football hooligans 🙄

The decision to ban them was taken by the police under the advice of Interpol

Do you have a source for that claim?

You are right, it is not about decent law abiding Israeli fans.
It is about thuggish violent aggressive hooligans.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/oct/20/uk-police-to-investigate-violence-at-maccabi-tel-aviv-derby

If fans of say - Bog Standard French Team - had reputation of being involved in violence before football games, would we be having this conversation?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/11/what-happened-amsterdam-israeli-football-fans

Why should we give them special treatment though, when other teams have been, and will be, banned for less. It's not a rare decision. We shouldn't waste money on welcoming a team known for hooliganism, when they'd be banned without even mention in the press if they were from Israel, which seems to require special treatment.

Why do you think the usual rules don't apply to Israel? Why do they get a free pass?

Maccabi tel aviv have released a statement…

Part two and three

@Alittlefeedbackwouldbenice but you are proving the point by focusing on the country that team come from rather than the conduct of the team and its supporters. There are lots of clubs in Israel.

Why should we give them special treatment though, when other teams have been, and will be, banned for less. It's not a rare decision

Do you have any specific examples of other decisions?

@Clavinova there a lots of examples of teams who are notoriously violent being banned but generally they are far worse than MTA (including teams here) and even then we don’t focus on the country.

It betrays the agenda and sudden fascination with one team.

So they did cause 'some' trouble then?
And considering that this team had trouble with another team in Amsterdam, just maybe they have a form of creating drama? 🤔
Clearly who they are competing against isn't the issue, as they're happy to fight with anyone.
And what we do know for certain now, is that there is a definite risk and police were right to be cautious here in the UK.

So they did cause 'some' trouble then?

I can't tell from the Guardian's video link.

@sunshinestar1986 they didn’t have ‘some’ trouble with another club (Ajax) they had trouble with Dutch residents of a certain persuasion that had made it clear they would be targeted.

The derby was called into question due to the overuse of pyrotechnics and a 13 year old was injured. Some clubs in Europe (Italian clubs for example) flares and things are quite normal.

There was then dispersal issues with the OTHER club.

I wish people would think about why exactly a couple of MP’s and councillors would be motivated to make this happen? And have complained for other reasons way before a safety report. The ‘interpol’ suggestion from another poster comes from a propaganda page on X.

Different reports from different people eh very different reports.
Well, now seeing what we're seeing from Tel Aviv
I dare say we know who was telling the truth?

You're being really disingenuous. There are plenty of credible articles that confirm that Maccabi fans went looking for trouble in Ajax - tearing down Palestinian flags, beating up lone taxi drivers, chanting Death To Arabs, kicking in the door of a woman's home who had a Palestine flag in her window - to name but a few. Yes of course there will be people "of a certain persuasion" as you put it who absolutely also went out looking for trouble, but what are you trying to achieve by completely minimising the Maccabi fans' actions on that night? Do you genuinely believe that all the travelling fans were innocent friendly fans that just came to watch a game of football and nothing else? If you are not naturally violently inclined, you seek shelter when threatened with violence, or you retreat. You don't square up to it with weapons, of which the Maccabi fans had plenty. No one is saying that they weren't also targeted but come on, this white washing is ridiculous.

If they behaved like this in Amsterdam, how are they intending to behave in an area with a high Muslim population?

Even if you genuinely believe it to be true, then what about the many incidents of Arab players on the team being racially abused during Israeli fixtures and chants that they are terrorists.

Or their booing and heckling during the minute of silence during the Valencia match because of Spain's stance on the war in Gaza. The actions of a lovely set of fans once again.

The gaslighting in the media this past week honestly is extremely dark a d sinister. Once again, we have people shouting Anti Semitism, we have our disgraced media talking about Maccabi fans only ever being the victims. But all this has been designed to do is stoke the increasing anti-Muslim sentiment that is running through the veins of millions of people in this country. And it's working, because guess what's happening now. MPs are being openly racially abused with no consequences.

And for the record, it is NOT anti Semitic to ban the fans of this club. Are Jewish fans of Aston Villa banned? Of course they're fucking not. No one is banning Jews, and if your point is that by banning an Israeli club you're only banning Jews because they are the only supporters - then that's Israel's doing. For such a "welcoming" country with people of so many backgrounds where other religions are allowed to supposedly live in peace, why are ALL the fans Jewish?

It is exactly about the fans of this particular Israeli team. You're the one making it something it isn't because no matter what, Israel can do no wrong in the eyes of certain people.

Are you now saying no football fans should ever be banned? Not the fans of Lazio, Leeds, Millwall? Are they all allowed to behave like violent thugs too? If not, why should the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans get special treatment - especially if even the police in Tel Aviv are cancelling matches because of their behaviour?

They are football hooligans and should be treated like football hooligans from anywhere else.

I think if Starmer still pushes for the Maccabi fans to be permitted then he will look like an idiot.

https://youtube.com/shorts/8tt32WmWSq4?si=5TZvhhWxiGmkNz8u

They’re thugs. Thats the issue. Famously and proudly so.

What an idiotic post - the entire government and much of the country condemned the decision to ban Israeli fans! Have you even bothered to read their statement? Nothing at all to do with my ‘solo’ point of view as much as you would like to paint it that way.

What is more mortifying for this country is now Tel Aviv have turned down the offer of tickets for their fans because Birmingham is so ‘toxic’ and unsafe.

They don’t believe their fans will be safe, and I don’t blame them given the events in Manchester.

Birmingham is fast becoming a lawless hell hole, and nothing like the rest of this great country.

I hope those organising their vendettas can crawl back under their racist rocks.

Wouldn’t it be nice if Tel Aviv refused to play in solidarity with their fans.

If he pushes for it against police advice, and puts the feelings of a bunch of violent foreign travelling criminals ahead of the safety of the community of Birmingham then he should resign.

He is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, not the Israeli Ambassador. His judgement is terrible.

The right wing media are also setting a trap for him. Their non dom owners don’t give a fuck if a British citizen gets hurt caught up in imported violence. It will sell more papers. Fake patriots like those on here trying to defend foreign football hooligans over the safety of British people. Neither Israelis or Palestinians should ever be prioritised over British people in Britain.

I’d go as far as to say that there is nothing the UK can do to resolve conflict in the Middle East. They will never stop harming each other. We should leave them be like we do practically every conflict not on our continent.

We owe nothing. We have no religious connection despite some trying to peddle this ‘Judeo-Christian’ rubbish. We should leave them be, and stop reporting on it. It’s not our fight, we can’t change anything and it’s infecting our own politics when we have our own shit to worry about.

It’s infecting us to the point we have pages of agitators demanding we welcome in violent thugs to burn down our cities. This is not normal and an increasing number of people recognise this thanks to this incident.