Maccabi Tel Aviv fans banned from Aston Villa game

The decision by the SAG was later confirmed by Villa, who said in a statement: “Aston Villa can confirm the club has been informed that no away fans may attend the Uefa Europa League match with Maccabi Tel Aviv on Thursday, November 6, following an instruction from the Safety Advisory Group.

“West Midlands Police have advised the SAG that they have public safety concerns [about] outside the stadium bowl and the ability to deal with any potential protests on the night. The club are in continuous dialogue with Maccabi Tel Aviv and the local authorities throughout this ongoing process, with the safety of supporters attending the match and the safety of local residents at the forefront of any decision.”

The prime minister wrote on social media: “This is the wrong decision. We will not tolerate antisemitism on our streets. The role of the police is to ensure all football fans can enjoy the game, without fear of violence or intimidation.”

The secretary of state for culture and the Home Office will be meeting with other stakeholders today “to see if there’s a way through this”, the government minister Ian Murray told Sky News.

Andrew Fox told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the decision was a “political message rather than a safety message” as there was “no evidence of Maccabi’s fans being particularly violent”. There are “pretty well established ways” of keeping separate fan groups apart, he added.

Jeremy Corbyn and his fellow Independent MP Ayoub Khan had called on the government and Uefa to cancel the match or put restrictions on Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters. The petition cited the “ongoing genocide in Gaza” and the “track record of violence” of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans.

Khan, the Pro-Palestine MP whose Birmingham Perry Barr constituency includes Villa Park, welcomed the decision to ban the fans, saying in a statement that “with so much hostility and uncertainty around the match, it was only right to take drastic measures”. He said on BBC Newsnight: “We are talking about violent fans and I think the prime minister should stay out of operational matters.”

Zarah Sultana, another Independent MP who co-founded the new Your Party with Corbyn, called for Uefa to “ban all Israeli teams”. In a statement on X she said: “We cannot have normalisation with genocide and apartheid.”

Uefa said fans should be able to travel to support their team in a “safe environment”. In a statement, it said: “Uefa wants fans to be able to travel and support their team in a safe, secure and welcoming environment, and encourages both teams and the competent authorities to agree on the implementation of appropriate measures necessary to allow this to happen.”

Jack Angelides, the CEO of Maccabi Tel Aviv, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the decision was “unfair” and had been met with “dismay”.

He acknowledged that there were “elements in all clubs that misbehave” but said that “to paint in a broad brush the behaviour of few to all is unfair”. He added that to suggest the team’s fans were “instigators and not the victims” of the events following the Ajax match was “false”.

Angelides said the team has British and Jewish fans who “are being told that in their own country it is not safe for them to come to watch a football match”.

He added: “We have travelled to places like Turkey but the police were present and we had no incidents.”

Sources said that the pressure groups Game Over Israel and the Hind Rajab Foundation had urged police and Uefa to prevent Maccabi Tel Aviv fans attending the match.

The Jewish Leadership Council said: “It is perverse that away fans should be banned from a football match because West Midlands police can’t guarantee their safety. Aston Villa should face the consequences of this decision and the match should be played behind closed doors.”

Louie French, the shadow sports minister, said: “This decision is a sad reflection of the antisemitism and sectarian hatred that the UK government has spectacularly failed to get a grip on. The government must urgently seek to overturn this decision, sending a clear message that the UK remains open and safe for international sports fans.”

For Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Europa League match against the Greek side PAOK, about 120 travelling fans attended with heavy police protection, and there were protests outside the stadium over Israel’s war in Gaza. They are the only Israeli side in European club competition.

There were also clashes between Maccabi fans and pro-Palestinian protestors when the club played Ajax in Amsterdam in November last year. Four men were given jail terms for violence against the visiting team’s fans.

West Midlands police said in a statement that it “supports the decision to prohibit away supporters from attending. This decision is based on current intelligence and previous incidents, including violent clashes and hate crime offences that occurred during the 2024 Uefa Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Amsterdam.”

Asrar Rashid, an Islamic scholar from Birmingham, had highlighted plans to target the Israeli fans in a YouTube sermon this month. “When the Tel Aviv fans come to Birmingham in a few weeks, we will not show them [mercy] in Birmingham,” he said.

Andrew Fox, honorary president of the Aston Villa Jewish Villans supporters’ club, wrote on X: “In the summer of 1938, on a tour of Germany, the name Aston Villa became famous around the world, as the only visiting team who refused an official request to perform the Nazi salute prior to kick-off. Today, the same club have been forced by the local authorities to salute modern day Nazism.

“We lay no blame on Villa — it would absolutely not be safe to allow thousands of Jews to walk around Aston and its surroundings. Why that may be so should trouble the entire country. It must also be said that following the announcement, we have been inundated with Villa fans happy to give up their seats to travelling Tel Aviv supporters.”

There were also protests when Israel’s national team played in Norway and Italy this week in World Cup qualifiers.

The ceasefire agreed in Gaza has meant that plans by Uefa to vote on suspending Israel have been put on hold. The Times revealed in August that several European clubs had asked Uefa if there was any way they could avoid playing Israeli opponents.

A ban on travelling fans at European matches on safety grounds is by no means unprecedented but this has created a political storm.

Ajax and Eintracht Frankfurt supporters were prevented from travelling to two Champions League matches last season against Napoli and Marseille respectively.

Naples police cited “the high risks to public order and safety”, while Ajax said the Marseille authorities had told them that fans would not be permitted “into the city or the stadium on grounds of public safety and security”.

Click here to read article