FOOTY FAIR

Ink: Hapoel Tel-Aviv

2015-03-28T20:00:00.000-04:00

This week on Ink we visit Israel, where some of the most inked supporters are those of club Hapoel Tel Aviv. The 'Red Devils' as they are commonly known domestically are well supporter both at home and away and their fans love tattoos as much as any other group.

Weekend Recap - Tel Aviv Derby Gets Wild, Referee Abandons Match

2014-11-04T08:00:00.000-05:00

The Tel Aviv Derby is always a heated affair and creates for both a tense and exciting day in the calendar of the Israeli Premier League. This season's first league meeting between the two on Monday eve at Bloomfield Stadium created a few more sparks than usual, the conclusion of which was the abandonment of the match before the teams even managed to play a full half.

Eran Zahavi (left) was attacked by an Hapoel Tel Aviv supporter

At around the 32nd minute of the first half an Hapoel Tel Aviv supporter ran onto the pitch and attacked Maccabi footballer Eran Zahavi. Zahavi who had previously played for the red outfit of this bitter rivalry scored from the spots moments earlier to draw the match level at 1-1 and seemed to taunt the Hapoel supporters in celebration of his goal. One shirtless fan was not too pleased and decided to show his displeasure by attacking Zahavi, which seemed to be too easy to do as the security did not take him away before he had enough time to attempt two kicks at the Maccabi player.

Hapoel Tel Aviv was Zahavi's first professional club

To the surprise of many, Zahavi was sent off for trying to protect himself and that seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back, as Maccabi Tel Aviv Director of Sports and former Manchester United and Barcelona player Jordi Cruyff seemed to encourage his club to leave the field of play in protest. When Hapoel Manager and former West Ham, Celtic, Manchester City as well as Maccabi Tel Aviv footballer Eyal Berkovic was trying to convince Cruyff to keep his squad on the pitch all hell broke loose.

Supporters from both ends of the rivalry spilled onto the pitch, attacking players and police officers. One officer seemed to have been assaulted by a fan as he fell to the ground. Both teams left the pitch and the match was officially abandoned.

Eran Zahavi spent two seasons with Palermo in Italy before joining Maccabi Tel Aviv to the dismay of Hapoel supporters

Eyal Berkovic was later quoted saying "This was not a game of football, it was war... I'm stunned and ashamed to be involved in football on a day like today. Both clubs and both sets of supporters must be severely punished for what happened here".

It is not yet clear whether either of the clubs will be punished and what will be the faith of this particular match.

Throwback Thursdays: My First Live Football Match (Hapoel Tel-Aviv vs. Hapoel Beit She’an)

2014-08-21T15:00:00.000-04:00

FootyFair’s Pedro and Steve did a great job describing in their “My First Live Football Match” their first live football experience in Portugal. But while their first live match involved giant European football clubs, mine was nowhere near the events they attended.

For one, my first stadium experience was in Israel where I lived through my childhood and early teenage years. But also on that day in 1994, my favorite Israeli side Hapoel Tel-Aviv did not play against a giant team like Benfica or Parma, but rather against a club that actually no longer exists. Nonetheless, nobody forgets their first live match experience and neither have I, because that fixture holds a very special place in my heart.

By the time 1994 had rolled around I was already 10 years old and wasn’t only playing football, but had been religiously watching the domestic league and other European competitions in the capacity of a true football fanatic. With my parents’ financial instability however, it was unthinkable for me to attend my favorite team’s games (Hapoel Tel-Aviv) at their stadium, which on top of all other obstacles was in another town.

I had been to a few local third tier matches before that year, mainly because they were free for us to enter, but I will never consider any of those to be my “first live experience” as we were there more for our own entertainment value, rather than to watch the match.

That year however, everything I thought I knew about the game would change in a span of two hours. As I was playing football in the yard in front of my building, my mother called for me from the window. For those of you who have experienced that feeling before, you know that usually it’s for a totally pointless reason like to eat or do your homework, but on this day it was different. One of our neighbours was over at our house and my mother introduced me to this odd looking “manly” woman.

“I always see you play football” she said to me, and then proceeded to tell me that she was a player on the women’s team for my beloved club. First, my brain started to wonder about whether she was joking or not, because at that age I have never seen women kick around a football. But when she told me that she would like to take me to Bloomfield Stadium to watch a (men’s) Hapoel Tel-Aviv match, I couldn’t care less if she was a woman pope, I was all-in and had begun counting the seconds to the upcoming Saturday.

When we arrived to the stadium it was like Disneyland, only without all the creepy cartoon characters. The woman, whose name I’m embarrassed not to remember, got me an Hapoel training shirt, just like the one the players wore in warm-ups, I felt special. We sat right in the middle of the field, she shook hands with all kinds of important looking people, but I could do nothing more than stare at my idols who were running through their pre-game programs on the pitch.

The opponents on the day were Hapoel Beit-She’an who had just been promoted to the top tier the previous season and eventually folded in 2006, needless to say, a boring opposition. And although the final score was a dull 0-0 draw, for me that day was the best match I ever witnessed. The supporters were like family, greeting each other as they entered. The atmosphere was electric, and even though it felt like it was close to 40 degrees Celsius that day, the fans were on their feet, singing in one voice until the very last minute of the match.

This was the day I fell in love with Bloomfield Stadium and reignited my lifelong passion with Israel’s Red Devils, Hapoel Tel Aviv.

Tel Aviv Derby - Football Rivalries - Hapoel vs Maccabi

2014-07-21T09:00:00.000-04:00

It may seem "small-time" to football enthusiasts outside of Israel, but the Tel-Aviv derby between Hapoel and Maccabi is a very heated one, and one I have attended in the past.

Maccabi Tel Aviv is the most successful domestic side in Israel with 20 league titles won in the club's history, while Hapoel is not too far behind with 13 of their own. The rivalry between the two sides dates back to the 1930's when the two sides met for the first time in league play in 1931.

Maccabi, a name associated more with the middle-class status compared to "Hapoel", a worker class distinction for the Israeli population with the word "hapoel" meaning "worker", having more of a blue-collar supporter base.

Overall Maccabi has enjoyed a bit more success both in league titles and meetings between the two associations. And while the rivalry stretches further than just football, in basketball Maccabi has been in the elite of Israel's league and European competition, Hapoel is known best for its football program and its incredible European run in the 2001-01 UEFA Cup season in which they managed to defeat Lokomotiv Moscow, Chelsea and Parma, before losing in the quarter-finals to AC Milan in a close margin 2-1 on aggregate.

Supporter clashes between the two clubs are not uncommon. Fans of the two sides often engage in disputes inside and outside of the stadium both on match-days and otherwise.

Hapoel Tel-Aviv's home ground is the 14,000+ Bloomfield Stadium, which the "Red Devils" of Israel have occupied as their home since 1962. And while Maccabi has played their home matches in that same field earlier in their club's history, they had a ground of their own for a few decades. But in 2000 it was decided that Maccabi Tel-Aviv would return to Bloomfield stadium and have it as their home-field venue; a decision that likely sparked an even higher degree of hate between the two rival clubs.

When the derby takes place in Bloomfield, sections 4 and 5 are occupied by the Hapoel Ultras, while on the opposite side sections 10 and 11 are reserved for the Maccabi fans.

Some notable figures in the derby include: Ghanaian footballer John Paintsil who has played for both clubs and waved an Israeli flag after scoring a goal during the 2006 World Cup, Nigerian goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama who has also played for both clubs but spent 4 years with Hapoel, compared to the one loan season with their rivals, Welsh international striker who had spent time with Maccabi and of course former Chelsea FC manager Avram Grant who had coached Maccabi on two occasions. The son of Dutch legend Johan Cruyff, Jordi, is currently the sporting director at Maccabi Tel-Aviv.