Meet our first Jewish Supporters' Club

The project is the brainchild of two longtime Reds, Daniel Delew and Joseph Eskenazy, and to celebrate its formation, a delegation from the new club was invited pitchside before Thursday’s UEFA Europa League game against Athletic Club.

 

“This is a really nice opportunity to bring together a community which can celebrate passion for United but also Judaism,”

explained Joseph, when our matchday programme, United Review, spoke to both founders in late April. 

 

“It’s all about creating this environment which is inclusive, making fans feel safe, respected and really proud to represent both the club that they love and their faith.” 

Both Joseph and Daniel are regulars at Old Trafford, travelling from London for every home match. Originally meeting on a summer camp as teenagers, they started attending games together when Dan moved from Manchester to London a few years ago. 

 

“The Jewish communities in Manchester and London aren’t massive, which means there’s a lot of interaction,”

he explains. 

 

“We have so many mutual friends, so when Joe would come up for games, we’d meet them all in town, and then we’d go to games together. When I moved to live in London, I was thinking: ‘I don’t want to go up on my own,’ and he said: ‘Listen, I go up every week. Let’s make it a thing.’” 

Long car journeys on the motorway led to plenty of deep conversations (and hours listening to TalkSport!) before the idea of carving out a bespoke space for Jewish United supporters struck the duo. Unfortunately, an incident of antisemitism at Old Trafford was the impetus. 

 

“The Spurs games for me have historically always been a bit rough,”

admits Dan, taking up the story. “It was a few years ago, the game when Ronaldo scored a hat-trick. It was a late winner and everyone was absolutely buzzing... then on the way out, I overheard someone say something towards the Spurs fans and it just completely ruined my day. I could not believe I’d just heard it. It made me feel sick. Then again, last year when they beat us, there was a fan behind me taking their frustration out on the Tottenham players.

 

“I turned around to him and challenged his behaviour. It wasn’t a good experience at all.” 

Joseph and Dan felt that creating their own branch, which caters for Jewish Reds who might have suffered similarly challenging experiences, might offer a useful platform for the kind of discussion and support needed to help tackle incidents like the one Dan experienced.

 

“I knew I probably could have gone to the club about it,”

he reflects. “But it got us thinking: what would my options be, if I was subjected to it in future? We want to be able to give people a safe place to respond to incidents.”

 

At the time of writing, the group has around 30 members, but the planned launch of a WhatsApp group and the promotion of their social media platforms should soon swell numbers. And there are also big ideas for future events.

 

“One of the real standouts for me was seeing the Iftar at Old Trafford that you guys worked with on the Muslim Supporters’ Club,” enthuses Joseph. “That was amazing. Obviously we have our own religion, our festivals throughout the season... if we could have something a little bit like that, that would be amazing. We’re still very early days, though. We’d love to understand the needs of our members before we go to the club with anything.”

The branch are encouraging fans from everywhere to get in touch, and to join what they call

“a community within a community”

.

 

“It’s open to everyone: you could be very religious or simply a United fan who doesn’t live near any of the traditional Jewish communities based in Manchester, London, Birmingham...” says Dan. “I’m not necessarily religious,” he concludes.

 

“I was brought up Orthodox, in a religious house, but I don’t follow any of the traditions. But I’m very much about the community aspect. And if this is my way of reconnecting with the religion, fantastic.”