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Until the next pleasure Israel today

2021-01-20T06:34:38.620Z


| Israeli soccer The frustration of the fans, who see how in plague-ridden European countries continue to play as usual • The attitude of football decision-makers as a subculture • and the thunderous silence of the players • The return of the leagues this weekend will make us feel normal again, but only for a moment Firecracker Photography:  Maor Alexelsi coral Photography:  Ami fat After two weeks of unn


The frustration of the fans, who see how in plague-ridden European countries continue to play as usual • The attitude of football decision-makers as a subculture • and the thunderous silence of the players • The return of the leagues this weekend will make us feel normal again, but only for a moment

  • Firecracker

    Photography: 

    Maor Alexelsi

  • coral

    Photography: 

    Ami fat

After two weeks of unnecessary break, professional football in Israel is back.

This brought me back to the well-known story about that pilot flower who was expelled from the course and enlisted in the air force unit, because if he did not fly - no one would fly.

In our country the term reward and punishment does not work according to reasonable logic.

The professional football leagues here (super and national) acted as an orderly, of course without an audience in the stands, and to my surprise, in an almost exemplary order throughout the complicated corona months.

The players lived in capsules, and when isolated cases of positive or sick players were discovered in Corona (out of hundreds of players), urgent and necessary actions were taken of entering isolation as well as postponing games.

Despite the league breaks in the first closures, the footballers performed not bad at all and also physically withstood the frequent loads of two games a week often.

But football here is sick and fragile, and in fact has never been told by decision makers.

It has always been a subculture here and not a real cultural event, as it is perceived overseas.

That's why it's getting scarce resources to upgrade it, that's why the youth infrastructure here is neglected and neglected, that's why the future is not bright.

Continued shutdown or another fourth closure, as already knowledgeable hints, will wipe out the industry, which despite its scars leaves in matters hundreds of thousands of fans, who find in it an experiential refuge and mental therapy for the hardships of this unbearably difficult year.

Fans' frustration only increases when they see European countries such as Italy, England, Spain and France, which are much more immersed in the mud than Israel in terms of the epidemic, very slow in the vaccination process, and still impeccably guard the top football leagues in their country.

One of the sources of oxygen in the sports industry here is the toto, which injects about NIS 3 billion a year, and without games and sources of income, it condemns them to destruction.

So it's true that football teams have received refunds, but this is paracetamol.

Long - it has no use.

The last stop of the league, in addition to the previous ones, makes this season sick anyway.

Sports cannot be conducted in a discontinuous manner.

Over the years, polls conducted before election campaigns have shown that most Israeli footballers vote for right-wing parties, especially the Likud.

And yet, the last two weeks in which the professional leagues have stalled have once again reinforced the well-known and not-so-surprising trend for our players - zero action when necessary for the public interest.

Precisely this time I expected them to make "their home," but I was given absolute passivity and a reluctance to use their popularity and public influence to try to persuade decision-makers to stop the shutdown, the damage from which far outweighs the benefit.

Only the voice of one righteous man - Idan Vered from Betar Jerusalem - is heard, but where the hell are his friends?

I would also expect the team owners, the football captains in Israel, those with a significant and respectable public profile like Yaakov Shachar and Izzy Sheretzky, to knock on the table - this time in the TV studios of Yonit Levy, Tamar Ish Shalom and Doria Lempel, and shout the sport's cry, which closes even more This parade of folly.

So this weekend the super leagues in football and basketball will open, without a vow.

For a moment we will feel normal, until the next pleasure.

Source: israelhayom

All sports articles on 2021-01-20

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