Resources ‘will not be determining factor’ in whether Maccabi Tel Aviv fans can attend Aston Villa game, Nandy says
Culture Minister Lisa Nandy has promised that sources will not prevent Maccabi Tel Aviv football fans from attending next month’s match against Aston Villa in Birmingham.
He confirmed that the government was working with West Midlands Police and Birmingham City Council to “consider all available options” to enable “fans” from both clubs to attend the match.
He added that the initial decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from Villa Park next month “preferred the exclusion” of Jewish people.
Ms Nandy faced questions in the Commons after Birmingham’s safety advisory group – the body responsible for issuing safety certificates for every match at Villa Park – informed Villa last week that no away fans would be allowed to watch.
He appeared in Parliament when the Tel Aviv derby between rivals Hapoel and Maccabi was canceled on Sunday following violent clashes between fans.
Ayoub Khan, whose Birmingham Perry Barr constituency is home to Villa Park Stadium, claimed MPs hoping to overturn the decision were playing “fast and loose” with community safety.
And Wavertree Paula Barker, the Labor MP for Liverpool, warned there would be a “slippery slope if safety concerns are ignored” at football stadiums after the Hillsborough crowds in 1989.
“This decision was not made in a vacuum,” Ms Nandy told the House of Commons.
Referring to the attack on the Heaton Park Hebrew Community Synagogue earlier this month, the Culture Secretary continued: “This attack forms the backdrop to rising antisemitism here and around the world, and the attack on a synagogue in Manchester in which two innocent men were killed.
“It has a real-world impact on a community that already feels marginalized and afraid.
“It is therefore entirely legitimate to support the independence of the police to conduct this risk assessment and to question the outcome when they exclude those at the heart of this risk.
“Following the decision taken last week, the government has been working with West Midlands Police and Birmingham City Council to support them in considering all available options and to tell us what resources are needed to manage the risks and ensure fans from both teams can attend safely.
“If the assessment is revised, the security advisory group will meet again to discuss options.”
Ms Nandy also said: “It is not the government’s role to assess the risks surrounding this football match, but we are clear that resources will not be the deciding factor in whether Maccabi Tel Aviv fans will be admitted and that this fundamental principle that no one in our country should be excluded from participating in public life because of who they are must be upheld.”
In response to former Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston’s pressing question in the House of Commons on Monday, Nandy said the final call on whether Maccabi fans should be admitted would eventually have to be made by the police.
But he said the country “should be appalled”, arguing that the initial risk assessment was “largely based on the risk posed by fans who support Maccabi because they are Israeli and Jewish”.
He added: “The proposed solution to exclude a group from participation is wrong. Rather than looking at all available options for managing this risk, it chooses to exclude.”
“This is about who we are as a country.”
