Football fans have heard some crazy audible calls, like Jared Goff’s “Halle Berry” call against the Seahawks in 2018. But one high school football team in Massachusetts took it to another level, one that was extremely offensive and cruel.
According to NBC Boston10, the Duxbury team was caught using anti-Semitic audibles during a game two weeks ago. School officials from their opponent, Plymouth, notified their counterparts at Duxbury about the calls, which consisted of “rabbi”, “dreidel” and “Auschwitz”. As a result of their ignorant and highly offensive actions, their upcoming varsity, JV, and freshman games this weekend have been canceled.
In addition, Dave Maimaron, the team’s head coach and a special education teacher at Duxbury, was fired from the team and placed on administrative leave.
“On behalf of the staff and players of the Duxbury High School football team, I want to extend my apology for the insensitive, crass and inappropriate language used in the game on March 12,” said Maimaron in a statement. “Using the term was careless, unnecessary and most importantly hurtful on its face — inexcusable.”
Yet he allowed it and is only sorry because he got caught.
Duxbury school officials issued a statement in response to the incident.
“We want to be perfectly clear that we recognize how serious this is, and it is getting our undivided attention. We also recognize that this is an emotionally-charged issue for our community, and many outside of our community. The outrage is real, warranted, and we hear it. The fact that members of our school community used such offensive language, including anti-Semitic language, is horrifying and disappointing. We are collaborating with the Anti-Defamation League regarding the seriousness of the allegations, and on our short-term and long-term response”
While the kids involved are wrong, the adults in charge hold the greatest responsibility and need to be held accountable. As an educator, Maimaron knew what those terms meant, especially what “Auschwitz” refers to. And in no way is that funny or careless.
That was straight-up repulsive.
“It trivializes Judaism and it trivializes the Holocaust,” said Robert Trestan, regional director for the Anti-Defamation League’s New England chapter. “Auschwitz is one of history’s worst known death camps. It really has no place being used as a substitute for a football play.”
“We believe this is a necessary step in light of the recent incident involving the use of anti-Semitic language by Duxbury football players,” said Duxbury superintendent John Antonucci. “A decision about future games will be made at a later date. In light of what we’ve learned over the past couple of days, and how serious the matter is, we felt it would be tone-deaf to play a football game.”
Don’t just blame it on a lack of education or poor decision-making. It was allowed by the coaching staff and it cannot be tolerated. That punishment was swift is good. Hopefully, it’s a lesson for players and future coaching staff. And that it leads to a weeding out of the ignorance planted by Maimaron
At least he didn’t blame it on diabetes.
