YIKES

MA School Football Team Used Anti-Semitic Words During Practice: Report

A 56-page investigative report found that the team used words like “rabbi” and “Auschwitz” to describe plays during practice.

Football players at Duxbury High School, in the seaside Massachusetts town of Duxbury, used anti-Semitic words for plays during practice, recited a Christian prayer before games and went to Catholic mass before a yearly Thanksgiving game, according to an investigation reviewed by the Boston Globe. Reports of anti-Semitism first emerged in spring, prompting football coach Dave Maimaron to be fired. Schools Superintendent John Antonucci resigned on Friday, just after releasing a 56-page report that detailed the team’s many violations over the years. “By all accounts, at that time [2010-2012] the varsity team started to use the word ‘Rabbi’ to call a play that had originally been called ‘Rabbit,’” the report said. “‘Rabbi’ then evolved into other Jewish terms such as ‘dreidel,’ ‘yarmulke’ and ‘Hanukkah’ being used for the ‘Rabbit’ play.” The team used “Auschwitz” for another play.

Imposing religious events on the team was also a violation of school policy, the report said.