Arsenal Fan Receives Three-Year Ban From Soccer Games and Fine For Shouting Antisemitic Slur
A supporter of the English Premier League soccer team Arsenal is banned from attending matches in the United Kingdom for three years and also ordered to pay a fine for shouting “Hitler should have finished the job” at a soccer game earlier this year, Campaign Against Antisemitism reported.
Daniel Down, 39, was sentenced on Monday at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court in the UK after pleading guilty for using threatening, abusive, distressing words at a soccer game on Jan. 15 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. He shouted the racially charged insult at another person during a match between Arsenal and the team’s rival Tottenham Hotspur. He was fined £471 ($522), which includes a victim surcharge of £110 ($121).
“Mr Down, what you did was egregious in the extreme,” the judge said when sentencing Down. “You are a young man of 29, you ought to have known better.”
The victim, who reported the incident to the police, immediately told Down he took “great offense” at what was said and explained that he had family members who died in the Holocaust. Down apologized and took part in a police interview without legal counsel, the prosecution said in court.
Arsenal launched a new fan group earlier this year called Jewish Gooners, in part to combat antisemitic behavior displayed by some of its supporters. Tottenham has a large Jewish fanbase who call themselves the “Yid army” and Arsenal fans have taunted them in the past with anti-Tottenham songs and chants that include antisemitic remarks.
The post Arsenal Fan Receives Three-Year Ban From Soccer Games and Fine For Shouting Antisemitic Slur first appeared on Algemeiner.com.