Menu
Opinion

Chelsea FC takes extra step in confronting hate

Premier League team implements a variety of educational measures with its “Say No To Antisemitism” campaign

In the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 27 massacre of 11 people at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, professional sports teams in the city and around the country began offering expressions of sympathy and support to the local community. It is a familiar role that major league sports has played in helping people regain a sense of normalcy after tragedy strikes. But are these responses, often cast in the frame of social responsibility, enough to meet the challenge of today’s turbulent times?

In Pittsburgh, the Steelers held a moment of silence prior to the start of their game at Heinz Field the day after the shooting and a modified version of the team’s logo — with a yellow Star of David substituted for the yellow astroid — began making its way around social media. The Pirates, in MLB offseason mode, issued a supportive statement, sent representatives to the city’s peace rally and donated a total of $50,000 to local Jewish and public safety organizations. Before their first game at PPG Paints Arena following the shooting, the Penguins — who funded $25,000 donations to both the local Jewish Federation and the City of Pittsburgh Department of Public Safety, and displayed a jersey patch with the team logo in the shape of the Star of David — held a ceremonial puck drop, observed 11 seconds of silence and presented a video tribute.

These acts showed the power of sports as a platform to send a message. They also provided a space for people to begin to overcome feelings of disillusion and reaffirm the basic values of a healthy society in the pivot toward a “new normal.” And they served as a reminder about the social responsibility of organizations.

For the past 30 years, in sports as much as any industry, what most people call “social responsibility” has generally centered on community relations and philanthropy. It has been directed toward the “social.” It is now beginning to center on the “responsibility.” This focus is redefining the tasks and practices of professional sports organizations and, as a matter of course, it is reorienting the cultures and structures of the organizations themselves.

Many organizations still slot social responsibility initiatives in either a department of the same name, a community relations office or a corporate foundation, and then go on with business as usual. But the ones that design and deploy these initiatives for encoding in the way they do business are the ones growing their fan bases, now and for the future. They are taking on the tough task of uniting financial performance with contribution to society — the real meaning of “corporate social responsibility.”

One example of a sports organization doing its part in this way — and specific to combating antisemitism, racism and other forms of hatred and intolerance — can be found in an initiative from Chelsea Football Club.

Chelsea’s “Say No To Antisemitism” campaign kicked off earlier this year when owner Roman Abramovich published a message in a match-day program — an act that speaks volumes especially given that  he generally refrains from making public comments. It was followed by a pregame ceremony including the pitch’s center circle being covered with a banner promoting the campaign, along with video and images of team personnel, fans and prominent community figures appearing on the big screens around the team’s home at Stamford Bridge. All in all, rather standard fare for a campaign by a sports team interested in tackling a social issue of concern to decent people. And perhaps more so given that Abramovich and several club officials are Jewish.

Chelsea puts its message front and center on the pitch and seeks an educational — rather than punitive — approach.

But the motivation for the campaign actually has a good deal more to do with Chelsea being among the English Premier League clubs that own some history of supporter groups with antisemitic tendencies and a belief that educating people can make a meaningful difference.

Since the start of the campaign, the club has welcomed Holocaust survivors to share their experiences with players, coaching staff and supporter groups. It also has sent chairman Bruce Buck, director Eugene Tenenbaum, coach Jody Morris and former manager Avram Grant to lead a delegation at the annual March of the Living at the Nazi concentration and extermination camps at Auschwitz and Birkenau. And it has funded and organized visits to those camps for supporter groups, with plans for more trips going forward. Another part of the campaign offers fans who have engaged in antisemitic behaviors an opportunity to take up educational experiences sponsored by the club.

This all is a turn on the traditional response by sports teams to suspend or ban misbehaving fans from the stadium. Educating people — rather than cutting them off — produces a greater range of benefits to the club, supporters, community and society because it upholds basic values.

Putting values out in front and making them an apparent part of the business is what fans, supporters and the public are demanding more of from sports organizations. Social responsibility and social impact are going to be greater drivers of that movement.

Our society too often pretends to care about challenging hatred and intolerance. We still need reactive responses like the ones provided in Pittsburgh by the Steelers, Pirates and Penguins. But we also need proactive responses such as the one Chelsea is carrying out.

Professional sports teams will increasingly mobilize their status and meaning to call people, organizations and institutions to the responsibility to take action against those evils. While no campaign or initiative will eliminate hate-based acts, they can educate people in ways that lessen the frequency and intensity of them. They will be a significant way of meeting a critical challenge of today’s times and helping shape a better tomorrow.

Lee Igel is a professor in the Tisch Institute for Global Sport at New York University. He also serves as department liaison to the United States Conference of Mayors — Mayors Professional Sports Alliance.


SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 18, 2024

Sports Business Awards nominees unveiled; NWSL's historic opening weekend and takeaways from CFP deal

ESPN’s Jay Bilas, BTN’s Meghan McKeown, and a deep dive into AppleTV+’s The Dynasty

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast from the New York Post and Sports Business Journal, ESPN’s Jay Bilas talks all things NCAA. Big Ten Network’s Meghan McKeown shares her insight into the Caitlin Clark craze. The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn chats all things Bean Town. And SBJ’s Xavier Hunter drops in to share his findings on how the NWSL is making a social media push.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2018/12/10/Opinion/Igel.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2018/12/10/Opinion/Igel.aspx

CLOSE