Trauma, Diversity and Fanaticism: Israel and Soccer after October 7th

The Assistant Professor of Football: Soccer, Culture, History.

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I thought today’s episode needed a long rationalization. But as I was writing it, I thought f*** it, I don’t need to be doing verbal gymnastics. I know human beings, there, and our guest does too. So we’ll just let these stories speak. About soccer, about trauma, about peace and coexistence, and about youth cultures both left and right of center in what is a diverse and divided country. This was a hard episode for me to prepare and process. But I am deeply grateful it came together.

From Israeli ultras killed or kidnapped, to the Arab soccer club that won the Israeli cup, to what football and medicine in Israel have in common, we go to Ashdod, in the south of Israel, to Felix Tamsut. He is a self described lefty journalist who covers football and fan cultures for outlets in Germany and Israel. And he is also a wonderful human to talk us through a strange time and, I hope, stretch our empathy muscles.
Plus, 2 bands from Israeli ultra groups on the way.
HELPFUL LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:
Select recent texts by Felix Tamsut:
"Israel Protests: What Have Football Fans Got to Do With It?" (on the protests against Netanyahu's judicial reform)
"Israel at War: German Football Clubs Offer Support" (after Inbar Haiman's murder was confirmed)
Former Israeli Football Star Lior Assulin Murdered by Hamas (on the Jewish striker at Arab club Bnei Sachknin)
"Seeking to Divide Palestinians, Netanyahu Splits Israelis" (most recent, not on soccer)
"Israel Struggles to Discuss October 7th Sexual Violence" (not on soccer)
Felix on X/Twitter, Bluesky and Instagram
Havat Ma2Or (Maccabi Haifa band) on Spotify

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Artwork for The Assistant Professor of Football is by Saige Lind
Instrumental music for this podcast, including the introduction track, is by the artist Ketsa and used under a Creative Commons license through Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/