"Until around a decade ago, songs such as "The train is going to Auschwitz" or monkey changes at African players were a regular occurrence in our stands, but then we decided we would declare war. At first, I tried talking, but then I understood that doesn't work, so we took action. That is the only way to defeat racism," states Gabor Kubatov, president of the Ferencvaros Torna Club, Hungary's largest soccer club, states at the start of an interview with Israel Hayom in the lobby of a Tel Aviv hotel.
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Indeed, it is doubtful that anything remotely similar to the measures undertaken by the Hungarian Member of Parliament to combat racism at Ferencvaros, a mega sports club that, in addition to soccer, runs men's and women's teams in over a dozen sports.
Kubatov is in Israel to seek recognition from the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center of one of the greatest stars in the history of Ferencvaros, Istvan Toth, as a righteous gentile for his actions to save Jews in the Second World War, for which he paid with his life. "As long as I was busy fighting racism, I would never have thought of such an idea. But now something has happened at the club and the atmosphere has changed completely," says Kubatov. "Could you have imagined our Ultras, with their tattoos and shaved heads, being able to say of a Jewish player, 'he is our hero?' We worked very hard to achieve that."
At the beginning of the 2000s, when it seemed that Hungarian soccer was undergoing a renaissance, it was the supporters of Ferencvaros who made sure to mess things up for their team after years in which Hungary, a former soccer power, was looking for a way to be relevant on the field. Ferencvaros fans stabbed two supporters of the English soccer team Millwall, beat up the coach of a rival team, and, of course, spiced all that up with racist chants against Jews and blacks. This caused huge economic damage to the club, which failed to recruit top players as a result, and saw its stadium fall captive to soccer hooligans.
"To change the behavior of soccer fans, you have to give them a good feeling on their home court, so we moved to a new, modern stadium," says Kubatov. "When I heard the racist chants, I gathered our most hard-core fans and tried to talk with them. I asked them, 'Who really believes in these chants that you shout out at the stadium?' They all raised their hands. I understood that there was a problem and that talking wouldn't achieve much."
Ferencvaros instituted measures to identify ticket holders and make sure unwanted fans couldn't get in. That of course didn't go down well with the thousands of members of the Ultras and was also criticized as an invasion of privacy.
"They waited for me outside my home, they threatened me and my children," says Kubatov. "Then they beat up our own fans who were allowed to enter the stadium. But I understood that this is a change I could not compromise on, and I knew we had to go ahead with it.
"I think the most significant thing about the process is the fact that it was bona fide. We didn't broadcast one message to the outside world while saying with a wink to the fans that they could go on with business as usual. I meant everything I said, and I was willing to go all the way. That's the most important tip I can give to other clubs who want to make a change. In the end, we succeeded, but the process is not yet over, it is one we continue to deal with all the time."
The Hungarian national team is also facing similar problems. While it was hugely successful at the 2020 European Championship – but failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup – off the field, the racism that Ferencvaros has managed to remove from its stadium has moved to the national team's games. Hungary has been disgraced by its fans with violence and racist chants, and the national team has been fined, and fans have been banned from attendance.
"Our soccer culture is changing for the better, and while of course, my primary concern is Ferencvaros, if we look at where we were in the past and where we are today, then you can see that we are only talking about a handful of fans that need to be dealt with. Soccer in Hungary has become part of the culture, something that it hasn't been for many years because families and children didn't want to come to the stadiums - and now they do. You can see it in all our achievements, in all our departments. When parents come to see their kids' games at the club, I don't want to see them sitting somewhere far away, I want them to have a cafeteria and a comfortable place to watch the game. When we sign players, we tell them, 'You are our partners, not our players.' There is a process underway that is much bigger than soccer, as important as that may be."
In addition to his mission to gain recognition for Toth, Kubatov is in Israel to advance joint projects between Ferencvaros - in all its various departments - and Israeli sports teams. "We would be happy to see an Israeli player play for us. I think it would only be natural in view of the process we are undergoing," says Kubatov. "We have Muslim players on our team and I asked them, 'What would you say if we were to sign an Israeli player. Would you have a problem with that?' They didn't even understand the question; it's simply not an issue for them."
As part of the club's work with the Israeli embassy in Hungary, Kubatov met with Yossi Sharabi, the director-general of the Israel Football Association, and also visited Kiryat Shalom where he met with Maccabi Tel Aviv's board chairman, Moran Meiri. Ferencvaros tried to sign Maccabi midfielder Dor Peretz last summer, but he preferred to sit on the bench in the Italian top division with Venezia over a place with the Hungarian champions who are competing in the Europa League.
Ferencvaros is not just a big club, it is huge: In addition to soccer, it has produced 32 Hungarian Olympic medallists and participates regularly in men's and women's water polo and volleyball, and employs thousands of people. It is an institution that has made sure on the one hand helps the children in its teams receive help with their homework during the coronavirus lockdowns. But on the other hand, its supporters cannot forgive it for losing the championship. Second place is unforgivable for a team that has won over 30 Hungarian titles. "Our fans count championships and they can tell you about each one, but ask them how many times we have come in second? They are in complete denial about that, so no one will know."
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