“I knew by speaking out that I would get a backlash,” Joe Jacobson says. The Wycombe Wanderers defender, who is one of a handful of Jewish footballers playing in England, is speaking with depressing honesty. Jacobson, who hopes to lead Wycombe out at Wembley when they face fellow League One side Peterborough in the EFL Trophy final on Sunday afternoon, was targeted after posting on social media about Hamas attacking Israel on 7 October.
There was nothing particularly controversial about the 37-year-old Welshman’s comments. Jacobson simply questioned images of people in London and Sydney appearing to celebrate the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. “We got a few comments back,” he says. “And then about a month later I started getting a lot of messages. There had been a march in High Wycombe. I think it may have been a Free Palestine march, but it was peaceful. But people associated my earlier tweet with that march, even though you can see the timeframe is six weeks earlier.
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“I did get a couple of tweets. One from someone who had worked at the club. Then the club started getting a lot of letters. An email was sent to the club saying: ‘Joe needs to apologise, he’s supposed to be your club captain.’ One said: ‘If he doesn’t apologise and the club has been seen not to do anything then we could barricade the gates at Adams Park for one of the games.’”
Wycombe, the club that Jacobson has called home for the past decade, took it seriously. The former Cardiff, Bristol Rovers and Oldham player drove to Adams Park for a game and was immediately met by security waiting to usher him inside. “I didn’t realise,” he says. “I was saying: ‘No, no, I’m happy’ – there were some friends and family I was having a chat with. I didn’t realise that they’d have to put on security in case something went on. It was just for the one-off game, so it was fine.”
Jacobson ponders the online abuse. He thinks about Wycombe posting tweets about a dinner to celebrate their captain’s testimonial. “Every one would have a comment underneath saying: ‘I won’t be supporting that genocide-supporting blah, blah, blah.’ That’s antisemitic. I’ve never spoken about Israel. You’re taking my religion and using it to have a go at me.”
Jacobson, whose time at Wycombe is drawing to a close, stresses that he has never encountered antisemitism inside a dressing room. “Most people are inquisitive,” he says. Self-deprecation often breaks the ice. “Around Passover time I say to some of the players: ‘If you walked into my family’s dining room when we’re having a Seder and you see everyone leaning to the left, or everyone’s looking round the room while a ghost comes in and drinks a glass of wine, you’d think we’re crazy,’” Jacobson says. “But I think that’s the way to get people asking questions.”
Was Jacobson worried about the abuse? “Yeah,” he says. “I don’t think anything’s going to happen. But for the club to put security in place … I got to that game and afterwards I was a bit like: ‘Actually it could be serious.’ But I have to speak out. If I’m not because I’m worried then nothing’s ever going to be done.”
Jacobson is involved in a taskforce that intends to tackle antisemitism in football. He was disappointed with football’s response after 7 October. The Football Association was criticised by the Jewish community for not lighting the Wembley arch in the colours of the Israeli flag. Alex Goldberg, a rabbi who chaired the FA’s faith in football group, resigned.
“Football does amazing things when it needs to,” Jacobson says. “It just sometimes needs to be prompted. It shouldn’t have to be for a rabbi to resign from his role within the FA to prompt an apology. But there have been steps and we’ll see what comes from it.
“Antisemitism has risen because of the conflict. That needs to be dealt with. The only way you can do that is through education and through big organisations doing things about it. The Premier League can reach a billion people in a minute. It’s not difficult for them to put out a video condemning antisemitism.”
Jacobson, who is desperate to help Wycombe win silverware before his contract expires this summer, is optimistic. There have been discussions with the FA, the English Football League and the Professional Footballers’ Association. Jacobson has met Lord Mann, the government’s adviser on antisemitism. He has joined forces with another Jew, Dean Furman, the former South Africa and Oldham midfielder.
“We’ve had a call with Dal Darroch, who is head of diversity and inclusion at the FA,” Jacobson says. “He showed us steps the FA is taking. They are making progress.
“I spoke to the PFA today. They were great. They have a booklet for players and clubs. It’s about the Muslim community but they want to create a Jewish one so players can understand what you can say if you have Jewish players in your team. I’ve been reading the Muslim one, learning about Ramadan and what it means to Muslim players.
“I remember the League One playoff final against Sunderland in 2022, I was on the pitch holding a Ukraine flag with the other captain. Football can do amazing things. With antisemitism it’s been a little bit behind. But I think they’ve realised they need to do more.”
