From the Pitch to the Pavilion: Fighting Antisemitism in Sport

With the Maccabiah Games having been postponed until 2026, we used this month to plan for the upcoming 2025/26 football season. We held productive meetings with clubs such as Norwich City, QPR and Swansea City to discuss our workshops for academy players and we are hoping that we will be able to run club-wide trainings in the coming months.

We delivered a workshop to Essex Football Association staff which marked our 20^th full FA staff team having received our training on antisemitism in football. The feedback was excellent, with some of the comments including:

“Really enjoyed the course. I didn’t know about most of what was discussed, eg hissing. I would feel confident to recognise this now.” Essex FA Staff Member

“Really interesting workshop. Ben was very engaging and informative.” Essex FA, Football Development

Aside from our regular programming, we attended a cricket match between a Maccabi

Representative U21 team against Mumbai Cricket Academy, who were at the end of a 2-week tour of the UK. This match showcased the cricketing ability of the Jewish community and was a well-organised and lovely occasion.

Our project manager was invited to present our work to the Jewish Small Communities Network, where the participants of communities outside the ‘hubs’ of London and Manchester were keen to ask questions and share their experiences of antisemitism in sport.

We were also invited to attend the launch of the new Board of Deputies Commission on Antisemitism, co-chaired by Lord Mann, our partner in the Tackling Antisemitism in Sport project, and Dame Penny Mordaunt. Our antisemitism education in sport was highlighted as one of few examples of best practice, and we received a mention in the House of Lords from the Parliamentary Under Secretary for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Lastly, we were honoured to be invited to another Board of Deputies event honouring former Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak MP, at the museum in Lord’s Cricket Ground, where the former PM discussed his love for cricket and steadfast support of the British Jewish community.