Top English Soccer Club Chelsea Imposes 10-Year Ban on Supporter Who Sent Violently Antisemitic Messages
by Algemeiner Staff

Chelsea players Alvaro Morata (l) and Cesar Azpilicueta promoting their club’s campaign against antisemitism. Photo: Chelsea FC.
Top London soccer club Chelsea announced on Friday that it had banned one if its supporters for 10 years for sending a series of antisemitic messages on social media.
The English Premier League side imposed the ban on 20-year-old Sam Mole, from Kettering near London. Mole was charged in Oct. 2019 with sending highly abusive antisemitic messages to Dan Levene, a freelance journalist.
Mole described himself in his Twitter bio as “one of the ‘coke sniffing apprentice tommy boys'” and appended the words, “F*** Dan Levene.” In one exchange, Mole called Levene a “dirty y*d,” adding that it was “unfortunate” that he hadn’t been gassed in the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Mole appeared in court in February, but was found not guilty after it transpired that he had sent the messages to Levene while on vacation in Australia, outside of UK jurisdiction. “You can regard yourself as fortunate the law prohibits me from punishing you for an offense most people would say for which you should be punished,” the presiding judge told him.
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Now Chelsea have stepped up with their own sanction — a 10 year ban on Mole attending Chelsea’s games and having any contact with the club.
“Everybody at Chelsea is proud to be part of a diverse club,” the club declared in a statement on Friday. “Our players, staff, fans and visitors to the club come from a wide range of backgrounds, including the Jewish community, and we want to ensure everyone feels safe, valued and included. We will not tolerate any behavior from supporters that threatens that aim.”