Latest from Kieron Monks
An Israeli Soccer Team’s Toxic Fan Base
None of this is out of character for one of the most toxic fan bases in world soccer, with a rap sheet that includes beatings, stabbings and continual displays of overt racism. The songbook from the stands is spine-chilling: “Death to Arabs,” “May your village burn” and celebrations of mass murderer Baruch Goldstein and Yitzhak Rabin’s assassin Yigal Amir. But how did Beitar Jerusalem become this way?
Newcastle’s Soccer Strife
Yemenis living in England are obsessed with Newcastle football, yet the club’s new Saudi ownership leaves these superfans with mixed feelings, against the backdrop of the ongoing war in Yemen.