Paper short abstract:

The pandemic made us rethink our research and find new modalities to continue our work. This paper explores the complexity of moving talks on sensitive topics and punishable acts from our original field site to the online domain and the ethical considerations accompanied.

Paper long abstract:

This paper reflects on talking about antisemitism with football supporters in the Netherlands. Some football clubs in the Netherlands are regularly confronted with antisemitic behaviour on their stands. Supporters sing chants such as ‘Hamas, Hamas all Jews to the gas’. This behaviour is often linked to the rivalry with the supposedly ‘Jewish’ club Ajax based in Amsterdam (Spaaij, 2007; Gans, 2016). Most supporters do not see themselves as antisemites, even if they chant antisemitic songs or behave in an antisemitic manner, they attribute their behaviour to their clubs' rivalry with Ajax. However, discrimination and therefore football related antisemitic behaviour is punishable by Dutch law. Supporters guilty of discrimination or antisemitism face a stadium ban up to 10 years. In this paper I will discuss how talking with supporters about sensitive topics and illegal acts with football supporters is increasingly complex due to the ongoing pandemic. Some groups of supporters suffer from persistent negative stigma and are burdened with a reputation for violent behaviour. This makes it difficult to discuss antisemitism and violent behaviour in a ‘normal’ research setting, shifting these discussions towards the online domain has put another level of difficulty on the matter. While talking to people online might solve some of the delays in finding interlocutors, people might be even more hesitant to share their views and experience with antisemitism during a video call. This presentation explores possible solutions and ways to talk about sensitive topics in an online environment.