The Polish Football Association (PZPN) has defended its use of the word “pogrom” to describe Poland’s 4-0 defeat of Israel on Monday.
Six minutes before the end of the match, when Damian Kadzior score the hosts’ fourth goal of the night, the PZPN social media team wrote on Facebook: “Goooooal! This is already a pogrom! We are beating Israel 4-0!”
The post was later amended to remove the word, but it caused anger among anti-racism campaigners, who said it contrasted with a tolerant atmosphere inside the stadium itself.
The word “pogrom” historically refers to the persecution of Jews, initially in the Russian Empire during the 19th and early 20th centuries, and subsequently in other parts of Ukraine and Poland.
