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The Jewish Chronicle

Our friend, Chairman Ken

February 18, 2010 15:04

By

Simon Rocker,

Simon Rocker

1 min read

It is reassuring to see that some in football's high places are acting to stamp out antisemitism on the terraces.

I bring you Leeds United chairman Ken Bates, fresh from Tuesday's game v Walsall, where he referred in the programme to a complaint from a fan about the chanting at the recent cup tie against Spurs.

"The substituting of 'Auschwitz' and 'Belsen' when the Spurs fans were singing that they were 'on the road to Wembley' is so old hat," he wrote.

Leeds was a club, he recalled, with "strong Jewish connections. In fact I am one of the few non-Jewish chairmen going back as far as I can remember. I don't have a problem with Jews. I was, in fact, the only gentile in Jerusalem at a barmitzvah and looked so Jewish with my beard, little black hat and overcoat that I was asked to join other ceremonies.