Drawing Level: Becoming a Yid

By Joe Schackman

Now its time to pick a team, and the Tottenham Hotspurs are the perfect fit.

I’m aware that the Euro Championship came to a close this past weekend, and that I should probably talk about that. But we have some club football to discuss first. With the start of the Premier League season just a few months away, there’s still the transfer market to examine and some U.S. soccer theories to discuss. But right now, there’s a more important task at hand. I need myself a team.

One of the things that has fascinated me about football in Europe is that the fanbase is so hyper-localized. Cities, counties, countries and religions are deeply tied to the team people support. When fans put on their club's jersey, it says more about their religion, ethnicity and political beliefs than an hourlong conversation could.

Since I did not grow up in Europe, this poses a bit of a problem for me. The rest of the teams I support I inherited through family ties and regional biases, and while I didn’t grow up there, I do have an allegiance to one place on in Europe: London.

I spent my time abroad in one of the world’s biggest cities, trying to experience life as a true Londoner. And while one semester was too brief to tie myself to the city completely, it was more than enough time to fall in love. So it only seems right that I base my search in a place that’s already provided me with many fantastic memories.

In London, the four major teams that come to mind are Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham and Fulham. I can rule out Chelsea right off the bat. The reigning European Champions are too much of a global force to make it fair. It’d be like purchasing some Yankees gear and claiming I grew up in the Bronx.

That leaves the other three, and between Arsenal, Fulham and Tottenham there are a lot of things to like. But Tottenham has something that the other clubs don’t: Jews.

Yes, that’s correct. Tottenham is widely considered one of the most “Jewish” clubs in Europe. That’s due to a few factors, but mainly because North London has a very large Jewish population. Tottenham’s fans are so intertwined with the city’s Jewish culture that they’ve become affectionately known as the “Yids.”

Now, the term Yids didn’t emerge from the best of intentions, and was originally meant as an insult. But in a symbol of solidarity, Tottenham fans adopted the name and took pride in it. Arsenal, also in North London has its share of Jewish fans but Yid became the unofficial term for all Tottenhams fan, Jewish or not.

It’s also a title I plan to take up for good at some point. It won’t happen overnight, and to claim that I’m a diehard Tottenham Hotspurs fan would be an insult to sports fans everywhere. But that will change. If my grand plan works, one day I won’t feel like an outsider. I will be indebted to the team that helped introduce me to a world that I’ve never experienced. It won’t be tomorrow, it won’t be this season and it probably won’t be next, but one day it will feel right to call myself a Yid.

Joe Schackman is an editor and co-founder of Began in '96