LONDON—The English Football Association (FA) asked a professional soccer player Monday to explain why he tweeted comments that could be construed as anti-Semitic.
Fourth-tier club Port Vale also launched an internal investigation into Tom Pope’s early Sunday post about the Rothschilds after he scored a goal at Manchester City in the third round of the FA Cup.
Pope had been asked on Twitter to “predict the WWIII result,” a reference to American tensions with Iran.
“We invade Iran then Cuba then North Korea then the Rothschilds [sic] are crowned champions of every bank on the planet,” the striker replied.
The Rothschilds, a French Jewish family whose banking connections date to the 18th century, are a frequent target of offensive global conspiracy theories.
Port Vale said it had been asked by the FA for Pope’s “observations” on the tweet. The club issued a statement on Monday from the player distancing himself from anti-Semitism.
“Following the reaction to my response on Twitter about the Rothschilds, I was unaware of any link between the Rothschild family and the Jewish community,” Pope said. “If I have caused offense to anyone, I’d like to apologize enormously as this was never my intention.”
But in response to criticism on Sunday, Pope reiterated the offensive comments.
“Racist??” he tweeted, saying again the Rothschilds “own” the banks.
Pope scored his team’s only goal in a 4-1 loss to Manchester City.
Three people, meanwhile, were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the killing of a Bulgarian soccer fan during an attack by PAOK Thessaloniki supporters, Greek police said Monday.
A police statement said two Greek men, one 26 and the other 24, were taken into custody late Sunday and accused of participation in the attack a few hours earlier.
A 26-year-old Greek woman was also arrested on suspicion of having run over the fallen victim with her car and having abandoned the scene, an incident police believe was not linked with the earlier attack.
It was still unclear if the 28-year-old Botev Plovdiv fan was already dead when he was run over by the car. Another two Bulgarian men were injured in the attack by more than a dozen PAOK fans.
Botev Plovdiv supporters are linked with Thessaloniki-based team Aris—PAOK’s biggest rival in the city. On Saturday, the three had attended the Aris-PAOK derby in which Aris beat league-leading PAOK, 4-2.
Police said the three Bulgarians were among a group of people suddenly attacked by the PAOK fans. The others were able to run away. AP
Image credits: AP