Tottenham fans have been heard chanting the “Y-word” just days after the club said it was “time to move on” from associating the term with Spurs.

Tottenham’s statement was released on Thursday but fans were heard using the word – a pejorative term or insult for Jewish people – less than three minutes into Sunday’s Premier League clash with Wolves.

Sky Sports News reporter Mark McAdam, who was at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, said: “Clearly the statement that came out on Thursday from the football club asking for the fans to stop using that word has fallen on deaf ears and within three minutes here I want to be talking about the football not about an antisemitic chant that the club has very kindly asked its fans to stop saying.”

In recent years, efforts have been made to try to convince Tottenham fans to cease using the term, with some claiming it is continuing to fuel antisemitism within football.

Jewish groups have said the word is antisemitic, regardless of the context, and in 2013, the FA even warned fans that using it could result in criminal charges.

Younger fans often unaware of the word’s meaning

Spurs fans have historically adopted the word in terrace chants but a review by the club in 2020 found that members felt uncomfortable with its use at matches, and that many younger fans were often unaware of its meaning.

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In the statement on Thursday, the club had said: “Tottenham continue to refrain from engaging with any social media handle or bio that contains the y-word and they do not permit it being printed on shirts in any official retail outlets or used in any official club context.

“The adoption of the Y-word by our supporters from the late 1970s was a positive response to the lack of action taken by others around this issue.

“Fans wish to see positive change”

“An increasing number of our fans now wish to see positive change again with the reduction of its use, something we welcome and shall look to support.

“We acknowledge that any reassessment of the use of this term needs to be a collaborative effort between the club and its fans.

“We shall be working to further outline the historical context of the term, to explain the offence it can cause and to embrace the times in which we now live to show why it can be considered inappropriate, regardless of context.

“Our supporters’ use of the Y-word should never be cited as an excuse for the real evil that is antisemitism. The adoption of the term was a direct consequence of the lack of action taken in the past on this matter.”

Asked by Sky Sports News whether he had a message for the fans after Spurs’ statement, manager Antonio Conte said: “I have to be honest, I don’t know too much about this situation, about this topic.”

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