Copyright birminghammail
‘In [the] city where Jewish football fans are banned…’ - that’s how the Sunday Times described us in a recent headline. Our Home. Our City. Birmingham. The place that is supposed to be the melting pot of the UK - the best of tolerance, integration, and diversity - now making global headlines for telling Jewish people they cannot be kept safe. The worst part? The headline looks to be justified. We have denied people their right to travel simply because of their religious beliefs and nationality. Read more: 'We stand with you sister' - residents speak out after 'racially aggravated rape' As a moderate man I am always careful not to exaggerate, but it is right to describe this outcome as a disgrace as it’s against everything our city stands for. I am also left with one big question - how have our leaders allowed this to happen? This city has had its troubles, both recent and historic, with community cohesion - but a phenomenal job has always been done to ensure hate and division never won, and the soul of Birmingham was never lost. Until now. As I hope readers will recognise, as a proud citizen and former Mayor I have always fervently defended this city and the wider West Midlands. I have championed the strength of our integration, our long record of tolerance, and our proud diversity in the face of political point-scoring and baseless attacks. But there is no defending this. And there is certainly no defending the leadership that have allowed the city’s reputation to be battered once again. There is no denying the heightened tensions that would have come with this game. Due to the atrocities in Gaza there is an incredible strength of feeling within this city - a strength of feeling that has been allowed to be communicated regularly and safely, not least in the form of protests. I therefore have no reason to question the professional advice West Midlands Police gave - and the resulting guidance provided by the Safety Advisory Group. Both groups would have had legitimate concerns about safety of all fans, and special measures would have been needed to deal with away fans with a bad record. But instead it’s from here that our city has let itself down so badly. For our leaders not to see - and then act upon - the inevitable political, social, and reputational consequences of telling a section of society they cannot be kept safe is at best naive - and at worst inept. The outpouring that came after the decision was made public meant this calamity should have been obvious to anyone. The Government, led vocally by the Prime Minister, were - to their credit - incredibly quick to call this out, and offer national resource to make Villa Park and the surrounding areas safe. So why was this additional resource not sought in advance? What is the point of our city and regional leadership having ‘close’ ties to Government if they can’t exercise them when needed? Rather than doing their job as leaders - standing up for their city even when it isn’t easy - they were either asleep at the wheel, or worse unwilling to stand up to other sections of society who were making their demands very clear. One is left wondering if politics and the electoral threat of the pro-Gaza Independents allowed our leaders to sacrifice our city’s principles and freedoms. Whilst there is of course no longer a decision for the Government and local leadership to reverse - Maccabi Tel Aviv have, as is their right, taken that away - the consequences of this are far from over. Our city’s reputation is in the mud - again. We reached the zenith with the Commonwealth Games - an incredible cross-party effort that was to herald a new, prouder era for our city. Since then we have seen Birmingham City Council go bankrupt, the same local authority allow a bin strike to run amok and make ‘rat’ headlines across the world, and now this. From the highest of the highs, we’re now plunging towards the lowest of the lows. And what about our sporting legacy? The Commonwealth Games put us firmly on the map for hosting major sporting events, and the success of those games was quickly followed by winning bids for the European Athletic Championships in 2026 and the Invictus Games in 2027. Don’t be surprised now if they’re the last we host for a long, long time. Dan Roan, the highly respected BBC sports editor, could not have been clearer when speaking on Radio 4 last week - “this decision will impact Birmingham’s ability to host other major sporting events.” Be not in doubt, Birmingham now has another major reputational rebuild on its hands - this time to restore a most important principle - as a place where everyone is welcome irrespective of their faith. Brummies will roll up their sleeves and fight for their beloved city - as they always do - but at what point will our leaders stop putting us in these positions?
