Junior sport is an exhibition match where antisemitism is defeating social cohesion

Weekends on the sidelines of junior sport are an Australian staple: the clusters of parents, siblings and dogs lining the grounds; the shouts of encouragement and (unsolicited) advice; the ubiquitous quartered oranges.

But when a Jewish team is involved, these games often end in injuries that can’t be treated with an ice pack.

On Saturday, a woman at a Sydney netball game was alleged to have abused Jewish players with the words “Fuck the Jews” and “Jews should be eradicated”. A confrontation between the alleged offender and Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), Co-Chief Executive Officer, Alex Ryvchin, who happened to be at the courts, was videoed and went viral on social media.

Police were called to Heffron Park in Maroubra, and the woman, aged 42, has been charged. The Saints Netball Club, which had been playing the Maccabi Netball Club, issued a statement that it "unequivocally condemns and disavows antisemitism in all forms" and Netball Australia “provisionally suspended” the woman.  

It’s tempting to dismiss this as a minor incident well-handled. After the Bondi massacre and the arsons, or attempted arsons, at synagogues over the past year, a hateful suburban woman with a foul mouth did little comparative harm.

But for Jewish Australians the ubiquity of such cases is very much the core of the problem. Antisemitism is not just threatening us in the actions of a few violent extremists or sponsored terrorists.

It is invading our lives as ordinary Australians – in schools and universities, workplaces, arts organisations and sports teams. In a sense, an incident at a kids’ game is the worst of the problem, because it takes the threat into the mainstream of Australian society, undermining our rights to do what many other Australians do without a second thought.