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Yid. The Man Who Gave Us the Name

6 min read
by Editor
As I remember it, we were on the Spurs special returning from Elland Road, Leeds. The team had just put in a goliath performance to come away with a 2-1 victory but the train was in a sombre, almost wake like mood. The fact that one side of the train had had its glass kindly […]

As I remember it, we were on the Spurs special returning from Elland Road, Leeds. The team had just put in a goliath performance to come away with a 2-1 victory but the train was in a sombre, almost wake like mood. The fact that one side of the train had had its glass kindly removed by a very large and very angry group of Leeds supporters, using anything they could physically throw in our direction could, possibly had had something to do with it.

This sort of thing had become the norm and everyone was used to the attention we got on an away day special. Strangely though, the previous return journey a couple of weeks before was more like a carnival, which is still a bit confusing considering we got stuffed by Liverpool 7-0 – maybe the run around the streets on the way back to Lime Street station had lifted our spirits.

Anyway the train wasn’t going as fast as it usually would, and it meant that there probably wouldn’t be any other London based supporters hanging around the London train stations when we finally arrived home. But that didn’t stop the conversation getting round to the usual subject of who was likely to make up any welcoming committee. Would it be West Ham or Arsenal, both played at home that day and both regularly made their way to come and pay us a visit on our return. More than likely though it would be Chelsea, they would have chaperoned the Manchester City fans to the station and probably, then, wait around to have a friendly chat with us when we got there.

yids

It didn’t really matter who it was, if anyone at all, we would try to do the same as we did after every away game, bow our heads and try and look like non-football supporters and make a hasty retreat before the badges we wore could be recognised. On the occasions that we were recognised we hoped we had the luxury of at least a set of train tracks and a platform, or an iron fence between us, so all we would endure would be the chorus of “Yiddos” and any other obscenities they could come up with that included “Yid” or “Yiddos”.

It was the same every journey. It was especially tiresome that while we could defend ourselves in most ways, there wasn’t much we could do about the verbal abuse and anti semitism. We had no comeback.

“What are we going to do about it? What can we do about it?” We’d ask each other all the time, and despite this no answer came. Until one day we hit it.

“Why don’t we take their fire from them?”
“What do you mean?”
“If we embraced the word “Yid” then we’d remove their firepower and leave them with nothing”
“Yeah, OK, but how do we do that?”
“We become ‘the Yids’”

The five of us in the carriage that day immediately started buzzing, coming up with different songs and chants to include the “Yid” word, before we realised it we had arrived and it was time to sneak around the back doors and alleys to avoid any hangers on there might be.

[linequote]We are the Yids, we are the Yids, we are, we are, we are the Yids”, all five sang at the top of their lungs looking around for a bit of support from the other travellers.”[/linequote]

On the way to Kings Cross station we had a little practice, there was only three of us left as the other two came from different areas and caught different trains home, in a dark back street with no-one around we burst in to our first chorus of “We are the Yids.”

It was two weeks until our next away match, Manchester City. The chat between us on the train was all about becoming ‘Yids’. We all listened to each other’s versions of songs we had made up and tried to learn the words. It wasn’t really that difficult, most just had the word ‘Spurs’ switched to ‘Yid’.

This week we were in a carriage with four seats around a table and two lines of tables through the whole carriage, all around us had joined in or were listened to the chat with interest, to the extent that there was none of the usual three card brag for 10p a hand, everyone was interested.

One of the five was in a particularly good mood and led a chorus of “Everywhere We Go” as soon as we departed the train.

“We are the Yids, we are the Yids, we are, we are, we are the Yids”, all five sang at the top of their lungs looking around for a bit of support from the other travellers. Silence … still silence. Then a few glances in our direction, then one voice pipes up “What the f*”*k are you on about”? a brief explanation followed that we was going to embrace the term “Yid” as way of defence against the chants from other supporters. “Oh! OK then, ya reckon that’ll work do ya?” was the reply but nothing more was said.

We had a long chat on the train home about how we could “spread the word” on the next away day: Saturday, 7th October 1978

[linequote]All we would endure would be the chorus of “Yiddos” and any other obscenities they could come up with that included “Yid” or “Yiddos”[/linequote]

We met as usual on the train, this time off to the Midlands. Whoever was first at the train would try and get a six seater carriage, success! One of the lads was a printer and he had printed about a dozen sheets of stickers. An orange sheet with black italics simply saying ‘I’M A YID’ and another sheet that simply said ‘YID’, these were distributed amongst us and operation ‘Shut their Gobs’ was under way.

On the walk to the ground nothing was sacred. Anything and everything that stayed still long enough got stickered, even dogs being walked on leashes. As high as we could place them on windows and road signs, on passing vehicles, especially buses. Everything got a sticker. When a group of spurs supporters got escorted around the pitch perimeter because they had accidentally gone in to the wrong end we could see one of them was someone we knew and he, and all of his mates had little orange stickers on their donkey jackets with the words ‘I’M A YID’ just under their Spurs badges.

By the time we played Derby in the next away fixture the fire had started to spread, chants of ‘Yiddos” rang out from the whole train as it departed the station, ‘Yiddos’ boomed out of the train windows whenever it slowed down enough or there was someone around to hear it and within a few weeks Arsenal had to come up with another chant all because “we are the Yids” and we’re proud of it. The rest as they say is history.

So, do I apologise for possibly being instrumental in creating the monster that is the Tottenham Yids? Do I apologise for defending my team and all my fellow supporters? Do I apologise for upsetting a few non-Spurs supporters who have nothing better to do than try and create wrong where there is none? Especially as it was their fellow supporters that contributed to the stance in the first place! Or do I just sit back with a certain amount of pride, and a massive grin on my face when I hear the words echoing around White Hart Lane, in my local pub on match day, when I see ‘T’ shirts with the word proudly displayed, when I see so many twitter accounts with the word included in people’s tags? Simply no.

I’m proud to be a Yid. I always will be.

All views and opinions expressed in this article are the views and opinions of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of The Fighting Cock. We offer a platform for fans to commit their views to text and voice their thoughts. Football is a passionate game and as long as the views stay within the parameters of what is acceptable, we encourage people to write, get involved and share their thoughts on the mighty Tottenham Hotspur.

21 Comments

  1. dizzydog
    22/10/2013 @ 5:09 pm

    That brings back a few memories and a smile to my face (had forgotten all about stickers) ,can remember it starting but had no idea how but many thanks to you and your friends
    what was the Spurs Ajax flag for seem to recall a trip early 80s that was far from friendly

    • chris
      23/01/2014 @ 2:43 pm

      The spurs ajax connection is Ajax took the name of Super Jews and we are of course Yid’s !! so both team’s had flag’s with both team names on . this is the thing Why all this fuss now? you have to go back 30yrs at least to see when we got the name ,just seem’s to have got out of control now ,what we can say or sing come to that and it bites me when my 7yr old is told at school “you cannot give a christmas card showing the cross or the birth of Jesus ????? anyhow off track ! that,s why the names were there ok .

  2. koko61
    22/10/2013 @ 5:40 pm

    Blimey! I can remember going to a game with my late brother who was about 16 at the time. He looked at me and said, why we calling ourselves Yids, i’m not Jewish.
    Couple of our mates at the game explained the situation as they got word what was going on. Since then we proudly adopted the word YID’s, even though we were Greko’s.

  3. Jamie
    22/10/2013 @ 6:08 pm

    What a wonderful story. Thank you for sharing.

  4. David Graniewitz
    22/10/2013 @ 6:56 pm

    As a Yid in both meanings of the word, all I can say is thank you, sir.

  5. Mikee
    22/10/2013 @ 7:49 pm

    So it’s you guys I can thank for my nieces’ wedding where her Spurs loving soon to be husband and his best man stood at the top table in top hat and tails chanting Yiddos Yiddos, (helped along by his new uncle), in a rather posh venue in South Wales. Thanks for that. (Big smile).

  6. Tony Harris
    22/10/2013 @ 7:52 pm

    Proud to be a Tottenham fan since 1962,Long live the Spurs fans ie YIDDOS COYS

  7. Markthfc
    22/10/2013 @ 8:34 pm

    Love the story and also being part of it, I used to go to all the home and away games during the 70s and 80s and remember very well the start of the yid chants and how the best away supporters in the world turn the “y” word yid, yid dos, yid army into to something every one of us were and still are proud of. It’s a term of endearment truly unique and special to all us true Spurs fans, all my Jewish mates and non Jewish alike. We are yids and very proud of it

    COYS yids

  8. Pete Broadbent
    22/10/2013 @ 8:38 pm

    That’s more or less the history I’ve just written up in my response to the club consultation with season ticket holders. I said “end of the 1970s” – so thanks for confirming that. I also recall the awaydays at the Bridge when they started singing Hava Nagila at us – and we came back with “you don’t know the f**king words”. We proudly embraced it – it’s something that has always been ours. I recall my Jewish mates bunking off school with me on a Saturday (we had school on Saturdays) in the 1960s, using the excuse of Shabbat to get to the Lane. (I had no such excuse). What Baddiel and company don’t get is that this is about solidarity, anti-racism and our identity – yids and goys together. The problem is entirely to do with Chelsea, West Ham (and Leeds were pretty bad too in their day). It’s not our problem at all.

  9. Taz
    22/10/2013 @ 10:16 pm

    Your a complete knob. You and THAT word should disappear back to the 70s.

    Grow up u fool.

  10. Mike
    22/10/2013 @ 10:18 pm

    I hate the word. were not jews. We are a London club. Endof.
    Bin it.

  11. PaxtonJohn
    22/10/2013 @ 10:20 pm

    Im a season ticket holder and have been for 7 years. I used to sing it, but I have stopped now.
    There was a time we could use it as a defense mechanism. But not anymore.

    Can we please move on…its getting boring…

    • Park Lane Spurs
      24/10/2013 @ 11:03 am

      Perhaps you and your Paxton friends should start singing louder John, as we can’t hear you… We are the park lane and aside from the good boys on the Shelf side, we wouldn’t mind if you all joined in too…

  12. keith robins
    22/10/2013 @ 10:40 pm

    to the last 3 get stuffed 7yrs u lot havnt got a clue the 40yrs of crap and shit we put up with going to away games ,you 3 sum up the political correctness of the day and age .you 3 did not hear the Wetspam tossers singing “Hitlers coming for you ” or didn’t want to hear it !!

    • chris
      23/01/2014 @ 3:00 pm

      We did put up with alot of crap didn’t we ? But there is no clear way here to much kerfuffle , when we adopted Yid it was 1) because of our Jewish following and then 2) when thing’s got stupid through the 70’s we used the term to defend what was being sung or shouted at us , we did that to try to take away the sting “if you like” away from the otherside and in some case.s it worked they wouldn’t have the verbal ammo to say anymore but as with all defence some always get though .

  13. Dan Mac
    23/10/2013 @ 8:16 am

    “Oh, hi, I disagree with you so you’re a knob!” what is wrong with you kids… this is a complex subject and as there is no clear correct answer here, only a subjective view of the situation, how can you be so aggressive and so arrogant to think your viewpoint is the correct one. Unfortunately, people who have a high level of sensitivity also have an over inflated opinion of themselves… it seems they claim some form of moral superiority without ever attempting to intellectualise the conversation and make an effort to understand the other side of the story – this makes it impossible to reach any sort of resolution as the argument forces people to become so defensive of their opinion dialogue stops!

    The viewpoint of many Jewish writers about this situation is that this collective embrace is enhancing their matchday and makes the Jewish support of Tottenham feel safer than they can at any other ground. I am yet to hear a Spurs supporting Jew with a serious issue with this (although that doesn’t mean there isn’t any out there, I’m just yet to see an interview of this nature) and have only heard the issues from Jewish fans of other clubs – what does this tell you? it tells me that they have never felt a part of their own clubs and don’t quite understand the support we give to a racially targeted member of our fanbase. And those of you that think this belongs in the past and the Jewish members of our fanbase aren’t targeted need only to look back at a couple of our European away days – the Yid chant goes on showing we will stick together!

  14. Cheshuntboy
    23/10/2013 @ 8:44 am

    Yes – confirmation that ‘yiddery’ was and is just a throwback to 1970s football hooliganism, and is kept alive by people who look back on that benighted period as the good old days – pathetic.

  15. Paul
    23/10/2013 @ 12:20 pm

    A light, enjoyable and insightful post that was sent as a link to me via a Yid mate on Twitter. I produced something similar from the perspective of a non-Spurs supporter recently and hope you don’t mind me linking to it as it might be of interest to some of your readership (http://paulmiceli.co.uk/the-y-word/).

    I understand the sensitivities from those who don’t have the football background and the difficult years of the seventies and eighties behind them but urge them to consider how a phrase once hated because of the anti-Semitic undertones that went with it has since been used as the best and most sincere form of retaliation.

  16. chris
    23/01/2014 @ 3:59 pm

    This whole thing is starting to snowball out of control now ! after a week of reading the what,when, and where the saying came from and what the meaning is ? Once again our great British public debate turns into 1/ is it about race or religion ? and 2/ yet again politics come into sport and the great game ! The up and coming case to me now boils down to one thing Freedom of Speech ? we are bombarded every day being told what we can say and how we should say it ! and why these men were picked is beyond me when thousands were all chanting ? why not take all of us to court then ??

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