The Greenwich High School (Connecticut) football team is rightly in hot water following the discovery of an offensive, anti-Semitic play call the coaches and players referred to as the “Hitler” play.
When the Greenwich Cardinals freshman team took the field against Trumbull on Thursday, the Greenwich players shouted the Nazi dictator’s name as a “war cry” as they entered the field of play, according to the CT Post. And, to erase any doubt that this was in reference to Adolf Hitler, mastermind of the holocaust, and not some other Hitler, the players also put their index figures above their upper lip, mimicking the tyrant’s trademark mustache.
One Trumbull parent, who had multiple family members die in the holocaust, was understandably shocked when her son told her this happened, and she confronted Greenwich coach James Briggs about the play call after the game.
“Briggs looked me in the eye and confirmed that they do indeed use a play called Hitler,” Levison said. “I repeated it back to him twice to verify that we were being utterly accurate.”
Levinson said he didn’t even look abashed.
The play apparently is not something that started this year. It has reportedly been used for years, as has a play called “the Stalin,” according to several sources, including officials from the Anti-Defamation League, who met with GHS players and coaches Friday.
Greenwich Headmaster Chris Winter posted a letter of apology to the Trumbull and Greenwich school district websites. The letter said the “admittedly offensive” practice has been stopped, and Winter also reached out to the local Jewish community to apologize. Leaders of these groups have responded by commending the school’s swift apology and urging that this incident be used as a teaching moment.
To really hammer the incredible idiocy of the Greenwich coaching staff home, this incident took place just one day after Yom Kippur—the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.
[CT Post]
