Australia – Jewish Sports Body Backs Down from Ban of Non-Jewish Players

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    Australia – The Jewish community has forced its national sporting body into an embarrassing backdown on plans to ban non-Jewish players from its teams.

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    Maccabi Australia (MAI), the largest Jewish organisation in Australia, issued a directive early this month giving clubs until December 31 next year to get rid of any non-Jewish players.

    The national body, which has 9000 members aged from five to 85, claimed its constitution had always dictated that clubs should consist exclusively of Jewish players, without exception, and it was time to police it.

    The move was legally protected under the Equal Opportunity Act, which allows a club to discriminate if it is deemed to be acting to preserve a minority culture.

    However, widespread public outrage resulted in a sudden backflip by the organisation after it was accused of racism.

    MAI president Harry Procel, who had threatened to disaffiliate any clubs that did not jettison non-Jewish players by the 2010 deadline, said the directive had been withdrawn.

    “After consulting with our constituents and the wider community, we have reviewed our position and determined that no current members of the organisation will be required to leave at any time based on religion, gender or ethnicity,” Mr Procel said.

    “Every week, thousands of parents take their children to take part in Maccabi sports clubs’ activities. These clubs provide an opportunity for Jewish children to connect and form lifelong friendships through sport.

    “The issue of non-Jewish participants of Maccabi clubs was raised at a recent Maccabi Australia board meeting and the board felt this was an appropriate time to remind members of the need to respect the Jewish values of the organisation and adhere to the constitution.”

    Mr Procel said there were about 50 non-Jewish members of Maccabi clubs in Australia.

    Asked if non-Jewish people could still become members of Maccabi teams in the future, Mr Procel said: “Maccabi Australia has reminded member states of the need to respect the Jewish values of the organisation and adhere to the constitution. We are reviewing this position with our state members.”

    Maccabi Victoria president Miles Clemans said his organisation had always planned to ignore the national body’s directive.

    The directive provoked such widespread condemnation from the Jewish community that many people voiced their anger in letters to the Australian Jewish News.

    One letter said the Jewish people had been persecuted and excluded from aspects of the wider society practically since its creation and “it is incomprehensible then that a Jewish sporting organisation would see it morally correct to exclude non-Jews from participation”.


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    Milhouse
    Milhouse
    14 years ago

    And thus the barrier bein yisroel lo’amim collapses another inch.

    Though of course the whole idea of a sports organisation in the name of the Makabim is such an incongruous idea in the first place!

    mottel
    mottel
    14 years ago

    blind fools. the whole world is racist when it comes down to the wire, except for the ingratiating, snivelling left-leaning secular jewish tolerants. the only people THEY discriminate against are their religious brethren

    Melbourne Observer
    Melbourne Observer
    14 years ago

    There is already discrimination rampant in Maccabi on another front. Most of their activities take place on Shabbos so those who are Shomer Shabbos have been excluded for years. So much for “respect…Jewish values”.