Club Deportivo Palestino in 1952
One of Britain’s longest-serving NFL fans is calling time after 18 years: “It’s priced me out”
ABOUT a year ago, I was up late watching some Chilean football online (even before coronavirus I didn’t get out much) — a game hosted in Rancagua by a side called O’Higgins versus a team called Club Deportivo Palestino. No wonder Latin America is the home of magical realism.
Some say Celtic don’t play in Ireland, but they play for Ireland. Similarly, Palestino don’t play in Palestine, but they do play for Palestine. When they won the Copa Chile in 2018, Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas sent a personal letter congratulating the team on their victory and inviting the players and coaching staff to the country.
As Abbas pointed out, Palestino are more than just a football team. They represent both the nation of Palestine and the “just cause for freedom, justice and peace.”
Football may not solve the working class’s problems, but it does matter — and politicians know it, writes BERT SHOUWENBURG
ROGER MCKENZIE argues that it was correct to ban the notorious Israeli side who were likely to cause trouble in Muslim areas of Birmingham, but asks, given the occupation and slaughter in Palestine, why any Israeli team is being hosted anywhere
JAMES NALTON writes on the bizarre Aston Villa v Maccabi Tel Aviv scandal
The ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans was based on evidence of a pattern of violence and hatred targeting Arabs and Muslims, two communities that have a large population in Birmingham — overturning the ban was tacit acceptance of the genocidal ideology the fans espouse, argues CLAUDIA WEBBE