Forest Green Rovers football club has been dumped by two sponsors after it flew a Palestinian flag on match day and displayed anti-Israel billboards around the pitch.
League One club owner Dale Vince also invited Husam Zomlot, head of the Palestinian Mission to the UK, to the ground for an interview in which the owner expressed his solidarity with Palestinians and explained how he and his club supported their cause.
Around the two men, digital advertising boards read: “End the invasion and occupation of Palestine”.
Forest Green Rovers FC owner Dale Vince
Advocacy group UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) has written to the club and the Football Association arguing that flying the Palestinian flag and using pitch-side boards to condemn
Israel is a breach of the club’s own charter, as well as FA regulations on keeping politics out of the sport.
Mr Vince, a wind-turbine entrepreneur worth £107m, has repeatedly flown a Palestinian flag at the club’s home ground The New Lawn in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire.
On one occasion, the flag appeared when the Jewish owner of a company that had paid to sponsor the match ball was at the game with his two sons.
This week, ethical pet care company Hownd announced it was terminating its three-year sponsorship deal with the club as a result of Mr Vince’s stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Palestine flag flying at Forest Green Rovers FC stadium
The JC has since learnt that innocent’s sponsorship of the club ended in May - just weeks after the flag was raised at Forest Green Rovers’ home match against Oldham Athletic in front of Hownd’s boss, Mark Hirschel.
The drinks firm claims the decision to end its sponsorship was taken independently of political stances.
Mr Hirschel told the JC that he and his two sons, aged 20 and 17, were VIP guests at the game because Hownd was sponsoring the match ball, a once-a-year commitment as part of the company’s three-year, £27,000 sponsorship deal, signed in August 2021. Mr Herschel said: “It was a very special occasion that we’d looked forward to.
“We were wined and dined before the game and were in the club’s function room with Dale and about 100 other VIP guests.
“Suddenly, my youngest son spotted a Palestinian flag flying high above one of the stands and told me. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was shocked and very surprised.
“In hindsight, I should have taken it up with Dale immediately, grabbed the boys and walked out, but at the time I didn’t want to act in haste.
“I watched the game, just wanting it to be over so I could leave the ground, but at the final whistle I couldn’t even do that because I had to meet the players afterwards.
“When I got home, I spoke to my business partner, who is also Jewish, and we agreed to write a formal letter to Dale asking him for an explanation.”
It is understood that Mr Vince failed to reply, but instead took to Twitter to explain himself.
He wrote: “We flew this flag at FGR’s game today. In solidarity with Palestine. The conflict there has all the same ingredients as the one in Ukraine — invasion, occupation, murder of civilians, destruction of homes and hospitals — and sieges.”
Two weeks later, the Palestinian flag was raised again and Mr Vince interviewed Mr Zomlot on the pitch in front of anti-Israel banners.
In its charter, FGR claims it is “determined to treat with equal consideration all supporters regardless of gender, race or ethnic origin, age, religious belief, sexual orientation, disability or any other unjustifiable reason”.
It adds: “The club is determined to eradicate racism in football.”
Mr Vince’s stance on Israel and Palestine created concern among fans. On the official Forest Green Rovers Forum, one commentator, “Kentrstripe”, wrote: “Like it or not this subject is toxic, any accusations of anything close to antisemitism or Hamas sympathies would be disastrous for the club’s reputation.”
White Horse Rover wrote: “It (the Palestinian flag) really ought to come down. It’s a symbol of dictatorship, overt and unambiguous and genocidal racism and terrorism. And the analogy DV (Dale Vince) makes between the Palestinian Authority/Israel and Ukraine/Russia is back to front.”
UKLFI said it had received a complaint from a Forest Green Rovers season ticket holder about Mr Vince’s “disgraceful use of his football club to spread hateful and dangerous lies about Israel”.
In its letter of complaint to the FA’s CEO, Mark Bullingham, UKLFI said Mr Vince’s actions breached the FA’s equality policy requiring club officials to confront and eliminate discrimination based on nationality.
Mr Vince responded by tweeting: “Your letter is a simple attempt to intimidate — as is often the way when people speak out in support of Palestine.”
He added: “Criticism of the state of Israel does not amount to racism in any form or to any degree. It is simply criticism of the state of Israel.”
Mr Vince also said: “For lawyers UKLFI seems incredibly detached from the facts. They claimed multiple rule breaches in their four-page letter to me, but there are clearly none.”’
An FA spokesperson said it had “reviewed” the anti-Israel advertising hoardings, but did not consider them to be in breach of its regulations.
The spokesperson added: “The FA can confirm that it is not a breach of its regulations for any internationally recognised national flags to be displayed in English football stadiums.”
