Aston Villa ease to victory on tense night with Maccabi Tel Aviv
Aston Villa's Morgan Rogers argues with Maccabi Tel-Aviv's Raz Shlomo. Pic: Nick Potts/PA Wire.
After the warnings, bans and unsuccessful government intervention, came a sigh of relief.
That Aston Villa eased aside Maccabi Tel Aviv with a goal in either half was always going to be the secondary story on an evening when the cameras were trained on events outside as protestors and counterprotestors sought to make their feelings clear about an issue no one is going to change their mind over.
The Israeli team had arrived without any supporters, barred because Birmingham’s Safety Advisory Group ruled last month that their presence would mean a threat of widespread trouble.
Keir Starmer was among those to criticise the decision, even if Maccabi later said they would reject any tickets regardless, and those affiliated to both sides cried foul.
Which led to this weird, uncomfortable night which, fortunately, passed by without widescale disorder and only six arrests by the time Unai Emery’s team got the match underway.
Police had formed a ring of steel around the stadium long before kick-off. Schools in the vicinity sent pupils home a couple of hours early and some small businesses approaching the ground from Birmingham city centre were shuttered in advance of their normal closing hours.
Two hours before the game, there was a surreal quiet approaching one of English football’s great arenas from the nearest train station, Witton.
Police, visors and batons attached to their waists, stood approximately three metres apart. They were so conspicuously welcoming that one fan near the station stopped and asked why they have never been this friendly before.
“I’m not West Midlands Police,” joked the officer, drafted in from one of nine other forces across the country to offer additional support.
In one industrial estate car park a few goal kicks north of the stadium approximately 10 right wing protestors, one of whom wore a balaclava with a Union flag design, were filming themselves behind a metal fence, vastly outnumbered by members of the constabulary watching from a respectful distance.
As kick-off approached a larger pro-Israeli protest was penned into a basketball court and playground, with some of those in attendance reacting angrily because the other, bigger side were permitted to roam the streets.
At the opposite end of Villa Park, the pro-Palestine presence was undoubtedly much greater. By late morning their posters and banners were being attached to lampposts, with Villa staff moving quickly to demand one reading “Boycott Israel” be removed from the ground’s gates.
The messages of “Shooting babies in Gaza, playing games in Birmingham” and “Give Zionism the red card” remained attached to public property outside.
Along Trinity Road, the main route from town, the largest group of demonstrators were penned in by police vans and officers and, despite being nowhere close to the outlandish 50,000 predicted by one organising member in recent days, they were very loud.
Reminders of this being a peaceful demonstration were mixed with inflammatory chants of “From the river to the sea” and “Death to the IDF.” Local member of parliament Ayoub Khan was among those to give an address.
“When you see the images of children being massacred, when you understand that more than 800 athletes have been killed in Gaza, then you will understand the moral argument that if we can ban Russian football teams then the right moral stance is you ban any Israeli team from participating,” he told the crowd before conveying his wish that Villa defeat their visitors by a significant margin.
That was met by the loudest cheer with many matchgoers passing by joining in.
When one woman, in her 20s, stood with the flag of Israel stretched out she was met by a predictable verbal reaction before being escorted away for her own safety. That moment of tension did not boil over, though one right wing YouTuber was gradually escorted into the back of a police van after rejecting an instruction to leave the area soon after.
Shortly before kick-off there was a flashpoint when police on horseback intervened to ease tensions near the main pro-Palestine gathering but it soon simmered down.
The Villa fans who made it into the ground, past additional security checks, were quick to attempt some humour directed at the vacant away end once the match began with chants of: “You’ve seen the Villa, now f*** off home”, “You’ve only come to see the Villa”, “Shall we sing a song for you” and “It’s all very quiet over there.”
They went on to witness a game that lacked rhythm, though Villa eventually took the lead in the 45th minute when Ian Maatsen scored from a tight angle.
Donyell Malen converted a soft penalty, after Ezri Konsa was judged to have been fouled, to make it 2-0 on 59.
Yet as the full-time whistle went to signal another three points banked for Emery’s team, the real success was no major outbreak of violence on a night that promised trouble.
Martinez 6; Lindelof 6, Konsa 6, Torres 6 (Kamara 64, 5), Maatsen 7; Bogarde 7, Onana 6 (McGinn 75); Guessand 5 (Buendia 74), Rogers 7 (Watkins 64, 5), Sancho 5 (Tielemans 75); Malen 6.
Mishpati 5; Asante 5, Shlomo 6, Camara 4 (Heitor 15, 5), Revivo 6; Madmon 6, Sissokho 6, Noy 5 (Shahar 60); Varela 5 (Nicolaescu 78), Peretz 6 (Andrade 78), Davida 6 (Jehezkel 60, 5).
Julian Weinberger (Aut).
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