After filing past hundreds of police officers, the atmosphere in Villa Park stadium was unsettling, with the whole corner of the Doug Ellis stand empty
November 7, 2025 17:14
Thursday evening’s Aston Villa-Maccabi Tel Aviv game was a tame affair on the pitch, ending in a 2-0 win for the home side. But the febrile atmosphere outside Villa Park stadium – the culmination of weeks of tension and hostility – ensured it was one of the most memorable matches I’ve ever attended.
I don’t typically receive messages family, friends and colleagues ahead of going to a match urging me to “be careful” and not to do “anything stupid”, so I arrived in Birmingham with some trepidation, though tried to dismiss the outpouring of concern for my welfare as over the top.
I’d be lying, though, if I say I didn’t experience a small degree of anxiety as I approached the stadium.
Making my way past the hundreds of police officers stationed outside the stadium – some 700 officers were deployed by West Midlands Police to keep the city “safe” (from whom they did not specify) – my worries began to grow.
There were more officers here than for many north London derbies. Dressed in riot gear, they stood poised to intervene should violence break out, either among the crowds of anti-Israel demonstrators who turned out, or the counter-protesters there to stand up for Maccabi fans, and Israel.
The pro-Israeli protests were small but mighty. Demonstrators marched from the railway station to outside the stadium peacefully, from what I saw. However, upon arrival at Villa Park, they were directed into a caged basketball court with press and onlookers peering in.
A Villa fan passing who I spoke with seemed scandalised that we were essentially being locked in a cage.
The police were vastly outnumbered by a mob of anti-Israel protesters that descended on Villa Park clad in keffiyehs and holding placards scrawled with messages such as ‘intifada revolution’ and ‘Zionists not welcome here’.
In addition to chants to “free Palestine”, I observed some demonstrators repeating the notorious call for “Death to the IDF”, and overheard an anti-Israel protester insist to those present that this was “not antisemitic”.
Entering the stadium, the atmosphere was unsettling, as the whole corner of the Doug Ellis stand was empty. Where there should have been Maccabi fans dressed in yellow and blue cheering on their side, there was just a sea of claret and blue seats.
Strangely, the home support appeared to be lacking too, though not to the same extent of course. Just 27,000 people attended the game, in a stadium with a capacity of 42,670. The atmosphere was, unsurprisingly, affected as a result.
During the first 15 minutes of the game Villa fans could be heard chanting toward the empty away end. Their shouts of “Empty seats, my Lord” and “Your support is f***ing s***” caused some amusement.
It was, however, apparent that a handful of Israeli fans had flouted the ban, and had bought seats allocated to supporters of the home side.
In broken ulpan Hebrew I asked a man and his young son with a Villa scarf wrapped around his neck why they had chosen to come. They had already booked flights and a hotel room that they did not want to cancel, so they bought a couple of seats in the home end so they could at least see their beloved team, despite not being able to openly cheer them on.
Maccabi Tel Aviv turned up and showed that the people of Israel live, and in their own small way, so too did this father and son.
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