ILAN HERRMANN
This is what happened at the Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv on Monday night. In the 33rd minute after the teams were tied at 1-1, Elroy Yadi a Hapoel supporter runs on to the field shirtless and attacks Eran Zahavi, a player from Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Zahavi counters by lashing out at Yadi. This then prompts referee Roei Reinshriber to red card the player which in turn infuriates his teammates who claim he was merely defending himself.
The game was halted as Zahavi rallied his team to walk off the field. Eventually escorted by sporting director Jordi Cruyff (son of legendary Johan Cruyff) Zahavi walks off and the game resumes. Not a few seconds go before some Maccabi Tel Aviv fans run on to the field towards the Hapoel supporters’ section and taunt them.
The game is summarily abandoned.
But wait, there’s more! At the court hearing the next day fans from the opposing teams again start fighting.
Hapoel has called for Yadi to be banned for life. Zahavi has had to have a security company protect him because he has been threatened and talk is he may even leave the country due to intimidation.
The education minister noted that the incident happened on the very day the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin was commemorated. He said: “Nineteen years after, we say and repeat: no to violence, not on the political arena, not in the schools, and not in the soccer field. No more violence. Verbal or physical, hurtful, insulting, crude…”
This has cast a dark pall on what should be a very upbeat time in Israeli soccer. The national team recently defeated Andora 4 – 1 away from home to keep an unbeaten record in their Euro 2016 qualifying attempt. They are a point behind Wales in second place with a game in hand.
Some have suggested that it’s symptomatic of a tendency within a certain section of Israeli society to resort to violence. Others claim it is the old evil that has plagued soccer all over the world and it rears its ugly head every so often in incidents of violence, racism and anti-Semitism.
In a recent discussion I had with one of rugby’s all-time great referees Jonathan Kaplan, the subject of rugby’s outstanding gentlemanly conduct came up. Kaplan lamented how soccer needs to take a leaf out of rugby’s book.
Changes are needed to ensure an incident like the one in Tel Aviv doesn’t happen again. When a 600-strong police presence is not enough to prevent the ruckus that occurred at Bloomberg Stadium on Monday night, it’s a sign something needs to be done.
On November 16, Israel again takes to the field, this time against Bosnia Herzegovina and will seek to boost their run towards Euro 2016. It would be good for the fans to bear in mind that a team’s reputation is affected not only by what happens on the field of play, but also off it, by the conduct of those who support it and carry the nation’s flag.
