LONDON — English soccer faced another racism investigation after a Premier League match between Tottenham and West Ham was marred by anti-Semitic abuse by fans.
West Ham pledged to impose lifetime bans after some of its supporters were heard Sunday making chants about Adolf Hitler and also praising Italian club Lazio after an apparent anti-Semitic stabbing of a Tottenham fan on Wednesday in Rome ahead of a Europa League match.
“I was very disappointed to hear some of the songs yesterday and it was embarrassing,” Israel midfielder Yossi Benayoun, who is on loan at West Ham from Chelsea, wrote on Twitter.
The Metropolitan Police is looking into the chants heard during Sunday’s match at White Hart Lane after receiving a complaint from a crowd member.
Police had already arrested two fans at White Hart Lane for making Nazi-style salutes, described as a “racially aggravated public order offense.”
“There is no place for anti-Semitism or any form of discrimination in football,” the English Football Association said after launching a formal investigation.
Tottenham is known to have a large Jewish fan base, which has long been subjected to anti-Semitic abuse at matches.
West Ham, whose chairman David Gold is Jewish, said it is assisting Tottenham with the investigation “into the conduct of a small number of supporters and alleged inappropriate chanting.”