In January of this year, Bayern Munich donated 100,000 euros for the reconstruction of a synagogue in Munich. This donation is part of the club’s ongoing commitment to a culture of remembrance with the aim of combating racism and discrimination of all kinds. In another effort to further strengthen their stance, the club adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.
In English football, since March 2018, Chelsea FC has had the “Say No to Antisemitism” project as part of its foundation’s ‘Building Bridges’ campaign. The club collaborates with a variety of global organisations, including the Holocaust Educational Trust, the Jewish Museum, the Community Security Trust, Kick It Out, the World Jewish Congress, the Anne Frank House and Maccabi GB. Watch #WeRemember.
This is an innovative and wide-ranging project – visit the Chelsea Foundation website to find out more. It includes historical-educational tools about the relationship between football and the British Jewish community; it runs screenings of the documentary film "Liga Terezin", which tells the incredible story of the football league in Ghetto Theresienstadt (40 miles Northwest of Prague, now Czechia). This film highlights how the sport survived even in history’s darkest times and promotes knowledge of the horrors of the Holocaust among fans and youth players.
An inspirational story about Holocaust survival is that of Bela Guttman: a Hungarian Jew who survived the concentration camps and went on to be a successful professional footballer and manager, winning the European Cup with Benfica in 1961. You can read about his life in David Bolchover’s “The Greatest Comeback: From Genocide to Football Glory: the Story of Bela Guttmann”.
The deep historical relationship between the British Jewish community and football is also evident in Leeds. Author Anthony Clavane has documented fascinating accounts about the relationship between the club and the Jewish community in Leed in "The Promised Land – A Northern Love Story". Equally brilliant, it’s “Does Your Rabbi Know You’re Here” about Jewish involvement in English professional football.
This relationship was personified by progressive leaders like Leslie Silver, Chairman of Leeds United from 1983 to 1996. Silver was a pioneer in community engagement, initiating the first projects at Leeds that required players to actively participate in community programmes. His legacy, detailed in John Fisher’s biography “Painting the Town Silver”, serves as a blueprint for how club leadership can foster a deep, positive connection between a team and its local community.
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