Antisemitism in sport: new 'report button' will help

Even before the brutal terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel, there have been increasing reports of antisemitic attacks in sport in Germany.

Amateur football, which is the largest popular sport with about 2.2 million active players, is a particular issue for Jewish people who are affected time and again. The number of cases known to the public is presumed many times higher than the number of unreported cases because many suspected cases are not reported at all and are therefore not made public.

A new possibility to centrally record antisemitic assaults in sport should change all that. A report button has been developed that makes it easier for clubs, associations and fan organizations to address such incidents. The RIAS (Federal Association of Research and Information Centres on Antisemitism), which launched the "Zusammen1" project in cooperation with the Jewish sports federation Makkabi Germany, wants to use this to combat the "grievance in dealing with experiences of discrimination in sport". Antisemitic incidents in sport can now be reported on this website.

'Milestone in the fight against antisemitism'

RIAS Managing Director Benjamin Steinitz spoke of a "milestone in the fight against antisemitism" at the presentation of the button in Borussia Dortmund's stadium. Steinitz also referred to the "noticeable increase in antisemitic incidents in response to the Hamas attacks" and stressed that it was important to make antisemitism visible.

"The findings from the reports will help in the area of restrictions, but especially in the area of even more targeted antisemitism prevention," the antisemitism commissioner of North Rhine-Westphalia, Sabine Leutheuser-Schnarrenberger, informed DW. She said that "as antisemitism commissioner, she is in close exchange with RIAS, both at federal and state level." The project is enormously important because "no exact figures are available for the entire sports sector."

Maccabi President Alon Meyer said the situation had "taken on dramatic features", which also affected the approximately 40 Jewish sports clubs in Germany. "Some local clubs had to partially or completely stop playing," Meyer said.

The report button creators referred to a study from 2021, according to which 83% of incidents are still discussed in private, but only 54% are reported to clubs. Thirty-eight per cent of the cases reach the offices of organized sport and only 24% reach the non-sport reporting offices. The button is intended to remedy this situation and, according to the initiators, make it easier to "integrate the reporting function in a low-threshold manner on all websites."

Anonymous, simple and effective?

By clicking on the button, reports of antisemitic attacks can be submitted anonymously. These are then automatically and securely forwarded to RIAS for processing and analysis. The report button can be embedded via code on any website, which should continuously increase visibility and awareness, and therefore also the number of reported cases.

"The new reporting structures with the sports reporting button are an important step towards shedding light on the dark field of antisemitic incidents in sports and, in particular, simplifying reporting," Leutheuser-Schnarrenberger told DW.

In principle, the reporting persons can decide for themselves how to proceed with cases reported to RIAS. Criminal prosecution, for example, does not necessarily follow a reported case. First and foremost, it is about the central recording of antisemitic incidents in sport, as is also the case with the general reporting website report-antisemitism.de operated by RIAS. "Verified incidents are systematised and evaluated," the website says, and with "consent, the incident is published in our timeline."

Non-Jewish athletes who are active in Maccabi clubs and even form the majority in those clubs are also repeatedly affected by antisemitic hostility as Maccabi members. The report button is also designed for them.

The aim is to "promote an environment in which everyone feels safe and accepted," said Maccabi President Meyer.

This article was originally written in German.