England fans are doing their bit to help Israel's Jewish and Arab communities come together through football ahead of this month’s Euro 2008 qualifier.
Members of the official supporters club, englandfans, have secured shirt donations from their local clubs to kit out the teams competing in a special Football4Peace tournament in Tel Aviv, which involves mixed teams of Jewish and Arab children.
From Manchester United and Spurs to Wealdstone and Ashford Town, almost every level of the English game will be represented when the 16 teams run out on Friday 23 March, the day before England take on Israel at the Ramat Gan Stadium.
The fans today posed with their shirts with England Head Coach Steve McClaren, who presented them with a set of England shirts provided by FA partner Umbro for the tournament winners.
Steve McClaren said: “I’d like to congratulate the fans on a fantastic initiative. It’s great to see the power football has to bring people together. England fans have done some really positive things in recent years to build close links with other countries. There will be around 3500 England supporters in Israel which is incredible support. No other country gets that level of backing.”
Before the tournament starts, England fans and FA officials will take part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Holocaust Museum at Yad Vashem. In the evening, fans will attend a traditional Shabbat meal hosted at the headquartersof the Maccabi organisation, which works to combat anti-Semitism around the world through sport.
Football4Peace is run by Brighton University and supported by both The FA and the British Council in Israel, bringing together Arab and Jewish children every year in northern Israel to encourage anti-racism and co-existence. The project runs an annual tournament in July involving mixed Jewish-Arab teams, and saw the England game as the ideal opportunity to stage a special one-off tournament to promote the message of peace.
The University of Brighton’s Professor John Sugden, one of the founders of the project, is very excited about the tournament:
“This is a fantastic opportunity for us to raise the profile of what has grown to be one of the biggest cross-community programmes in Israel. There will be huge media interest in England’s vital qualifier. Having the F4P festival the Friday before the game, supported by England’s fans with their flags and mascots, will give us the chance to show a really positive side to English football and its fans, as well as send a strong message that there is a genuine willingness in Israel for different communities to work toward reconciliation and peaceful coexistence through sport”.
London englandfans co-ordinator Mark Perryman added: "Fan-friendly events are part of England trips away now. England fans right across the country, from every division, right down the non-league pyramid too, have collected shirts from their clubs for Jewish and Arab kids to wear in their mixed teams competing in the Football4Peace tournament ahead of the England game. Its our contribution to spreading goodwill through football."
Earlier this month, over 35 coaches from the Arab and Jewish communities in the northern Galilee region traveled to England for a training week alongside English coaches who will also take part in the Football4Peace tournament. The coaches joined representatives from Kick Racism Out of Israeli Football and the Israeli Sports Administration at fans forums held in London and Manchester.
The FA's commitment to helping Israeli football bring communities together dates back to November 2004, when it took part in a ground-breaking conference in Tel Aviv on how to tackle racism in Israeli football. Since then, various stakeholders committed to a new anti-racism campaign influenced by the experiences and policies of English football. The FA returned to the country in 2005 and again the following year, when John Barnes officially launched the Kick Racism Out Of Football campaign.