After the Winnipeg South End United soccer club failed to enforce consequences for 5 players involved in antisemitic bullying, a mother who witnessed the incident and reported it to club officials is speaking out.
Part 1- Episode 21 opens with background from our exclusive Winnipeg Sun columns:
Winnipeg soccer club downplays antisemitic bullying
Youth soccer club’s antisemitism problem still unresolved
An 11 year old boy- mistakenly believed to be Jewish – was surrounded, intimidated and assaulted by club mates after a recent practice and forced to repeatedly state “Free Palestine.” The Jewish Federation of Winnipeg and Manitoba Soccer Association have become involved to aid the victim and his family.
11.40 – A soccer mom saw a kid filming his friends surrounding and harassing another boy. She complained immediately to a Club official on-site, and sent a detailed email. She saw and heard what was said and saw the victim get punched.. But when she tried to follow-up five days later, the club president had never heard about it.
As a Jewish person who has lived in Canada for only a few years, the aggressive antisemitism was shocking. But when she tried to follow-up five days later, another shock – the club president had not heard about it.
Listen to Erika, who has a younger child in the program, describe the dismissive attitude of the WSEU Technical Director who she had complained to, which led her to email the Board.
“I think that the board should know immediately. This was like, a bigger issue.”
She is critical of the failure of the club to impose any disciplinary measures after “those 4 kids were intimidating the other kid” and blocked his way to his mother’s car.
Erika believes a one week suspension of the instigator “is a way the kids can see they can instigate, they can harass, they can bully other people, and the consequence is to miss one game.”
She says she and another parent have sent emails regarding their concerns and the safety of all the other kids- not just the Jewish ones – in the WSEU soccer program, but there’s been no further communication from the Club.
“It’s really pissing me off to see that the club and the sport are letting kids do these kind of things.”
24.00 Part 3- Marty Gold wraps up the episode, which is the kind of grassroots investigative reporting that gets noticed.
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Coming up: City Four Plex Open House report, more drug injection site questions in Point Douglas, the complex issues undermining safety in the West End
PLUS – Like the Winnipeg Jets, riverbank encampments make a comeback- except nobody’s cheering.