Chelsea FC Owner Roman Abramovich is requesting reports on how his club is progressing on their investigation into alleged anti-Semitic chants made by supporters at Vidi in the Europa League clash on Thursday night.
Abramovich, who is Jewish and has made the fight against anti-Semitism a major objective in the past year, wants personal updates on what the club plans to do to punish the supporters who sang the offensive and bigoted chants in Budapest, Hungary this past week.
According to Russian state-owned network RT, the anti-Semitic chant included the line “Barcelona, Real Madrid, Tottenham are a bunch of Yids… Yiddos.”
UEFA have opened up an investigation into the incident that could result in sanctioning against Chelsea; which could come in the form of a partial stadium closure for an upcoming European clash.
The chanting incident occurred just four days after a Chelsea supporter racially abused Raheem Sterling at Stamford Bridge last Saturday. According to the Daily Express, Abramovich is “being kept informed on the Metropolitan Police inquiry” in regards to that incident. The Times report that the owner of the west London club “has followed things closely and is ‘passionate’ about eradicating the problem.”
Abramovich and Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots and New England Revolution, have come together to stage an exhibition match that will be played in the spring of 2019 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
The purpose of the friendly, which has been branded the “Game for Change,” is to help combat antisemitism.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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