Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Sydney chairman Andrew Pridham has labelled the reaction to the removal of references to the Jewish community from a tribute honouring victims of the Bondi terrorist attack as “incredibly frustrating and disappointing”.
Swans chief executive Matthew Pavlich on Monday confirmed he altered the script from a speech delivered ahead of the Opening Round clash with Carlton, which removed direct references to “the Jewish community” on March 5.
Pridham reiterated on Tuesday that “it was 100 per cent our decision to amend the script” after the AFL was referred to the antisemitism royal commission over the incident by Senator James Paterson.
Pridham said the tribute was done with “good intention” and the amendment of the script was made to be more inclusive, given there were non-Jewish members of the community being honoured by the club.
“It’s incredibly frustrating and disappointing,” he told SEN of the fallout.
“At the outset, I’d say, I think that the overwhelming response and… the overwhelming response from the Jewish community, including the leaders of the community, was one of gratitude towards the club for holding a tribute, which we had on Opening Round.
“It is a small section of the Jewish community and perhaps others that have taken offence.
“It is disappointing because it was all done with good intention. And for those who aren’t aware of the issue, all the controversy has been over the script that was read on the evening by Matthew Pavlich.
‘And the script was originally going to say ‘to all in the Jewish community, we stand with you’ and it was changed ‘to all in our community, we stand with you’. So that’s the crime.
“And I certainly think it’s understandable why it was changed given the focus of the tribute was to honour those on the field, which included members of the Jewish community but also lifeguards, we had Ahmed Al Ahmed on the field, first responders, who were not Jewish. So the focus of the script was to honour those on the field.
“That was a judgement call on the night, it was received incredibly well by most people but obviously subsequently it’s been very disappointing.”
