A Feyenoord fan was handed a stadium ban due to homophobic and antisemitic posts on social media.
The Dutch football association KNVB has handed Gijs van Delft, a well-known figure among Feyenoord supporters, a six-year stadium ban due to his homophobic and antisemitic remarks made on platform X, previously known as Twitter, reports the NL Times.
Gijs van Delft became known for filming football riots. Since the 2016 merger between the Feyenoord Supporters Association (FSV) and the De Feijenoorder, Van Delft has been a board member of De Feijenoorder.
The stadium ban comes after a court decision last month in which Gijs van Delft received 120 hours of community service, with half of those hours suspended, for his remarks on social media, which included a tweet „Feyenoord Jodenvrij,” which translates to „Feyenoord free of Jews,” referring to the German word „Judenfrein,” a Nazi term referring to designated areas that had been cleansed of Jews during the Holocaust.
He also posted an Ajax logo with a hooked nose drawn on it, a well-known antisemitic trope. Ajax has long been viewed by some as a „Jewish” team because the team is based in Amsterdam, though it has never been affiliated with any Jewish organization.
Van Delft also shared an image of a rocket with the abbreviation JHK on it, which stands for „Joden Hebben Kanker” („Jews have cancer”).
The Feyenoord fan also shared a picture of an antisemitic mural in Crooswijk depicting Ajax football player Steven Berghuis as a concentration camp inmate with the text „Jews always run away”. At the time, Berghuis had recently transferred from Feyenoord to rival team Ajax.
Van Delft also made homophobic insults, which the court called „rude, condescending, distasteful. Legally, it amounts to insult and discrimination against groups.” The Public Prosecution Service also said regarding his inciting, homophobic and antisemitic remarks: „It is extra harmful because you are a board member of De Feijenoorder. You have a lot of prestige and influence among the supporters.”
It remains uncertain whether Van Delft will retain his board member position in the supporters’ association since the stadium ban does not automatically disqualify him from the post.
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