UK Police Seek Out England Fans For Chanting ‘Auschwitz’ Song at World Cup
by Ben Cohen
England’s national soccer authority has pledged to take action against a group of England supporters who were captured on camera in a Russian bar chanting a notoriously antisemitic song.
The group of men, who are following the England team currently competing in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, were filmed in a bar in Volgograd giving Nazi salutes while loudly chanting the song. England’s Football Association (FA) said in a statement on Thursday that it “strongly condemns the actions of the people in this video.”
Confirming that it would now involve the British police and its own investigators in a bid to track down the men, the FA stressed that the “disgraceful conduct of the individuals in this video does not represent the values of the majority of English football fans supporting the team in Russia.”
The video shows a handful of drunken men chanting an offensive song about North London soccer club Spurs — one of several English club teams with a Jewish following, but nonetheless vilified by its detractors as a “Jewish” club. Mimicking a pop song recorded by the Spurs players in the early 1980s, the chant includes the line, “Spurs are on their way to Auschwitz, Hitler’s gonna gas ’em again.”
Ironically, England’s line-up at the World Cup includes five Spurs players — including striker Harry Kane, whose two goals to secure victory against Tunisia on Monday left England’s fans in Volgograd delirious.
“Spotters” working for the British police are reported to be familiar with the bar where the incident took place and are trying to identify the men. The FA warned it would take “appropriate action” against the group.
Amanda Bowman, vice president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, praised the FA for undertaking an investigation. “This sort of behavior embarrasses our country and lets the side down at a time when we should be focused on supporting England and enjoying the World Cup,” Bowman said.