NIF Survey: Most Israelis Want Intensified Efforts to Combat Racism at Soccer Matches

September 4, 2007

To mark the opening of the school year, SHATIL Beer Sheva organized a soccer tournament for Negev youth together with NIF's Kick Racism Out of Soccer campaign. Stressing coexistence, the teams encompassed all sectors of the Negev population including Bedouin, new immigrants from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union and veteran Israelis.

A survey commissioned by NIF from one of the country's top pollsters demonstrates that 60% of Israelis feel that the authorities should be doing much more to eliminate the racist and violent behavior of soccer fans.

The survey has been featured in the main news section of Yediot Ahronot, the country's largest circulation newspaper, and in a Jerusalem Post article. Read it here.

The survey found that 37% of Israelis do not attend matches for fear of racism and violence, thus making it in the commercial interest of the Israel Football Association (FA) to tackle the problem. In this way, the survey has already achieved its aim of pressuring the authorities to intensify their efforts to tackle racism and violence.

NIF's campaign to combat racism in Israeli soccer, which began operating in 2003, has been successful and influential. Avi Luzon, the new President of the Israel FA, has emphasized that his top priority this season is to eradicate racism and violence. To this end, he has worked with the government to formulate a new policy of zero tolerance and more severe punishments for racist and violent fans.