Arsenal have called in Police to deal with prominent fan group’s antisemitic messages

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After enjoying a brilliant Premier League season for the most part, Arsenal Football Club can be rightly proud of their progression over the 2022/23 campaign, however, things have soured a little with the news that a prominent supporters group aligned with the club have been sending antisemitic messages on their WhatsApp group.

The Guardian (subscription required) report that the Ashburton Army are now being investigated by the Police, even though many of their disgusting messages are historical and date back to 2019.

It isn’t the first time that an Arsenal supporters group has been in trouble either, with Arsenal Fan TV sacking one of their main contributors, Claude Callegari for xenophobic behaviour towards Son Heung-min back in 2020, detailed by The Sun.

“We are aware of the historic messages on a private WhatsApp group,” Arsenal told The Guardian.

“And we strongly condemn the abusive and discriminatory language being used. We are liaising with the police on the matter.

“Our ongoing action shows that abusive and discriminatory behaviour will not be tolerated at Arsenal. We recently announced that 31 members and season-ticket holders have been banned for abusive and discriminatory behaviour since the start of the 2021-22 season.

“The bans are the result of behaviour online (18) and in the stadium (13). Five of the 31 sanctions are for antisemitism.”

The Met Police clearly want to crack down on any form of hate crime, and appear steadfast in their desire to catch the perpetrators.

“We are aware of antisemitic messages and can confirm that an investigation is ongoing,” The Guardian quote the organisation as saying.

“There have been no arrests. We do not tolerate any form of hate crime and will do everything in our power to identify offenders and bring them to justice.”

That such behaviour is clearly still rife amongst the football going fraternity is a huge disappointment, and it shows that for a minority of people, it isn’t just about the entertainment on the pitch.

It’s high time that all clubs and the Police got to grips with those carrying out these appalling acts and dealt with them accordingly.

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