For the first time since the start of the war on October 7, Hapoel Tel Aviv and Maccabi Tel Aviv will meet tomorrow at the Shlomo Group Hall for a derby.
A lot of water has passed in Yarkon since that derby that was not played at the end of September, and since then Israeli sports - like Israeli society as a whole - have experienced terrible tragedies.
Crowds of fans lost brothers in the stands and friends on the road in the difficult war, and fans who before her were considered "haters" - just because they support different teams - found themselves fighting shoulder to shoulder for the homeland.
Nitai Aryeh, a die-hard Hapoel Tel Aviv fan, was caught by the war unprepared like everyone else. Aryeh, 33 years old from Givatayim, is married and works in the field of human resources as a recruitment coordinator. With the outbreak of hostilities, he was drafted into Order 8, served as an artillery fighter and participated in the hard fighting in the south. The pain And the intensity of the conflict did not escape his company either, when one of the commanders who fought alongside him also struggled at the same time to return his brother who had been kidnapped in Gaza.
Nitai Aryeh at Hapoel Tel Aviv's match, photo: Private
"The difficult war and the events we experienced as a society gave me proportions in my relationship to sports, in relation to the rivalry, the hatred has changed. I say all the time now that it's just sport in the end, before that I felt there was hatred," Aryeh describes his feelings for the urban rival.
"If before the war we would laugh and say that if our biggest enemies were playing against Maccabi Tel Aviv we would support them, today I think it is clear to everyone that it has changed.
There is a real world, which is worse or bigger than Maccabi or Hapoel."
Tom Kobchi, 36, a Maccabi Tel Aviv fan, a long-time subscriber and member of the "Brothers of the Symbol" fan association, sympathizes with Arye's words. "For me, the proportions of sports have changed since October 7.
I remember going to the after party during the fighting and arriving for the first time since Black Sabbath for Maccabi's away game against Bnei Herzliya.
I remember that we won easily, but I don't remember much from that evening, I felt disconnected from reality."
Kobchi, a lawyer by profession, returned to Israel on the eve of the war after accompanying the Maccabi soccer team in an away game against Gent in Belgium.
After two days, he was drafted by order 8. Kovchi, who previously served as a reserve company commander in the Combat Engineering Corps, moved from the north to the south, and just two weeks ago he returned to his home in Tel Aviv after three months in the reserves.
Tom Kovchi, photo: Private
The derby games in basketball have always been charged, but in recent years have become an event that is often one big nightmare, one that humiliates Israeli sports - no less.
It is clear to both fans that something must change in the discourse between the fan camps and that the evil spirits that have prevailed so far must pass from the world.
"We need to focus the negative emotions on our real enemies. I served in the reserves alongside Maccabi fans, I have friends who are Maccabi fans. It's okay to have a rivalry, but we have to remind ourselves that in the end it's just a sport," explains Aryeh.
Kovaci presents a similar opinion.
"I hope that the terminology will change, that the degree of animosity and the type of songs that are heard in the stands on both sides will change, something that I tried to eradicate even before the war. I don't mean that we will hold hands in the games, but the intensity of the hatred should be reduced and remain within the limits of sports only."
The heavy losses in the war, as mentioned, did not escape the sports community either.
Hapoel and Maccabi Tel Aviv worked throughout the last few months to help the families who lost their loved ones and sympathized with the team, as well as the families of the kidnapped and injured. Both groups also worked hard and set up moving commemorative works. Even now, the friends of the murdered and fallen are trying to continue their path and legacy.
Hapoel Tel Aviv fans at the Drive In., Photo: Alan Shiver
"These are welcome actions. I want to believe that any commemorative action that will take place in the derby will be respected by both audiences," Kovechi says, sending an emotional and powerful message of support for the abductees who are still in the Strip.
"Emily Demari, Gali Berman, Ziv Berman, Itzik Elgart, Omri Miren, Dolev Yehud - Maccabi fans who have been in hell for 105 days and we are waiting for them in the stands and keeping chairs of honor next to us. We are waiting for everyone's safe return home. We are in the association We don't forget the 250 families of Maccabi fans who joined this cycle of pain. We are with them, Maccabi is not only until death - but also after it."
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Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, photo: Alan Shiver
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