Czech pro football captain says he unthinkingly autographed an antisemitic version of his team's uniform with Nazi references, distances himself from racism
Ladislav Krejčí, captain of the Sparta football team, has admitted that he must take responsibility for the objects he autographs and has made a statement distancing himself from racist speech. Photographs circulated on social media of a particular autograph to which he then responded.
After Saturday’s match in Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic where Sparta defended their title with a 5:0 victory, the captain autographed a Sparta uniform with the number “88” and the phrase “Jude Slavie” [Slavia FC are Jews] where the player’s name should be. The 25-year-old defender has assured the public that he will pay more attention to the objects he autographs in the future.
The controversy was publicized by users of the “X” social media site. Not only did the uniform bear the antisemitic phrase “Jude Slavie” [Slavia FC are Jews], but the number on it was “88”, which neo-Nazis use to symbolize the greeting “Heil Hitler”, as H is the eighth letter of the alphabet.
The Czech Police are not investigating Krejčí’s actions. Ondřej Moravčík, a spokesperson for the Police Presidium, told the Czech News Agency (ČTK) that detectives believe what he did is not prosecutable.
“After the away matches we all do our best to spend as much time as we can with the fans and to give them a bit of our time so they can meet us, take photographs with us and we can sign autographs,” said Krejčí, who does not have an “X” account and issued his statement through Sparta’s Communications Director, Ondřej Kasík. He said he signed the uniform when he and his fellow players, after first celebrating in the locker room, headed for the team’s bus and were planning to return to Prague.
“We meet tens or hundreds of people a week all year long. You want to accommodate everybody so you can get to them all. We don’t have to do it, we want to… It never occurred to me that somebody could use that against us,” Krejčí said in the statement.
“I am not trying to claim that I am not responsible for what I autograph, what I do or how I behave. I have to keep an eye out for such things and I distance myself from racist opinions of any kind. Respect to our rivals after a hard-won fight for the championship, I wish everybody the best,” Krejčí said.
The antisemitic chant “Jude Slavie” [Slavia FC are Jews] is still being used by some Sparta fans despite the fact that the team has long rejected it. “That chant degrades us, the famous history of our club and the values of AC Sparta Prague. It does not harm the reputation of Slavie or their fans. It doesn’t say anything about the club from the Vršovice quarter. It does say something about us,” Sparta posted to its website five years ago in a letter to its fans.
