Summary: Hapoel Beer Sheva - Maccabi Tel Aviv 0:1/Sport1
In the early seventies, a rumor began to spread among Hapoel Be'er Sheva fans, about an unusually talented young striker, who scores huge amounts of goals in the Beitar Be'er Sheva uniform. The rumor was well-founded and the same player, Shalom Avitan, moved to Hapoel Be'er Sheva in 1972 and already scored in a game His first was against Maccabi Netanya. The 21-year-old player became one of the most identified players with Hapoel Beer Sheva, certainly before the boom of the last decade, the team's outstanding goalscorer and also a kind of symbol of the club and the city, in an era when we walked off the field and accompany the players to their homes.
Avitan was a great striker in a time when a striker was a striker, that is, a player whose role was to score goals, to threaten defenses and to decide games. It was difficult to find him in Hapoel Beer Sheva's half of the field, or to contribute something to the team game, but his role, as a man A goal, as a goal machine he filled and how. He was called "Gard Miller" and not only because of the West German championship in those years. Avitan was a cold-hearted player, one who did not panic in front of goalkeepers, goal-oriented and, it must be said, selfish. He was a star who was aware of his stardom.
In the stands of the municipal stadium - at that time he was not yet called Vasermil - he received his own call: "And who gave? Avitan!" And Avitan gave, and a lot. 100 goals in 251 games (he claims slightly more goals), Hapoel Be'er Sheva's all-time leading goal scorer and there are also those who claim to be Be'er Sheva's leading goal scorer. There were years when he really was like that, but those weren't the team's great years. He quarreled with coach Eli Fox already in his first season and moved at the end of the season to two successful seasons in the uniform of Beitar Jerusalem. He was even immortalized in the classic skit of the pale tracker as the beloved player who received particularly brutal treatment.
Avitan missed Beer Sheva's historic first championship season in 1975. He returned to the national champion the next season and was the team's top scorer in the second championship season with 12 goals, a fact that gives him a place of honor in the club's history, and also a place of honor in the hearts of the fans who had the privilege of seeing that groundbreaking team. For the children of this generation, Avitan is a memory The sweet childhood of a striker instills terror in the opponent's defenses, a player who was able to score both from the penalty area and from forty meters, with a tremendous shot, despite the height differences from the brakes, or with a kick from the middle of the field in the semi-finals against Hapoel Tel Aviv. A natural, sharp and sometimes unstoppable scorer.
But there were also other sides. Avitan brought with him to the dressing room, which was in turmoil even before his arrival, conflicts and restlessness that added to the charged atmosphere. "When I returned in the summer of 1975," said Avitan, "Bared and Rafi Eliyahu were the same players, but I was already a powerful player. I came as a star, not as a full-time player, and it was difficult for them to deal with me. There was a rivalry, a competition of who would scoop the glory, who would be the greatest , the symbol of the city. In the end I won and proved to the country that I am the best." His teammates have their own objections to this description.
Players began to fight over publicity, fame and bigger salaries, disputes arose in the stands on the background of neighborhood association and Beer Sheva barely limped to the second championship and then faded away. These, coincidentally or not, are Avitan's outstanding years. The undisputed star and the player who attracted attention and not only because of the goals.
The wit made him the "big mouth" as he was called in the press, or maybe "mouth for hire". He was sharp-tongued and funny, but he didn't always know the line between a legitimate sting and disdain for his teammates, ranging between a ripping line or a ringing slap at Vico Ohion, his young teammate, between being a media star due to his rare talent and massive goals or, in contrast, a phone for a lazy journalist who needs What a joke that fits the stereotype about Beer Sheva. Between "players hugged when I received the ball because they knew I would score" and "if I said that Ephraim Davidi was never a player, I say it even now, but it's not personal. I don't say it out of hatred or anger. Sometimes you need of ten people, and it doesn't matter that the ninth can't read." Davidi, let's remember, has 32 appearances in the Israeli national team (including in the big draw in Australia). Labitan two appearances, during which he managed to fight with coach Emmanuel Shafer.
Avitan also played and scored in Hapoel Jerusalem and was a junior partner in Hapoel Tel Aviv's championship season in 1986 with one goal in the derby. And yet, he was the Hapoel Beer Sheva in his soul. Despite quite a few jarring statements, he loved the club and the city and was happy with the team's rise back to the top of Israeli football. Shalom Avitan was Hapoel Beer Sheva's number 9 of all time, top scorer and outstanding scorer in a championship season. This is how we will remember him.