And all we have left to do is pray that the first death does not come: the rising violence in football

The director and the association really do not have the power to make a change, the owners of the groups have no interest in making it and it seems that everything is already ready for the inquiry committee

Moshe Boker

28/01/2022

Friday, January 28, 2022, 11:00 p.m.

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Summary: Betar Jerusalem - Hapoel Tel Aviv 2: 0 (Sport 1)

With all due respect to the championship fight and the intriguing question of who will be the champion and whether Betar Jerusalem will be relegated, the only and most significant bet in the current football season is who will be the first to be killed on

the pitches. To the death of Moti Kind, a Maccabi Rehovot player, during a football game in 1975, we miraculously survived another tragedy: the verbal violence of players and team owners against referees, the physical violence of football fans, and more recently of team owners, brings us closer to another murder in Israeli football.

The atmosphere on the pitches has become more violent than ever, the statements of the team owners have become much more extreme than those of the fans, the outbursts of referees, the media discourse in TV studios and radio channels, only sharpen the stakes, the question, who will be killed this season in Israeli football.

A fan, actor, referee, official, or journalist.

The poison had already been scattered everywhere, we had reached a point where the fire had already been ignited, and the question now is only when a disaster would happen here.

If a team owner beats a football coach, if a team manager in the Premier League calls a referee "corrupt," the meaning is one: Israeli football needs bypass surgery, just before it dies in our hands.

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12 detainees in a game between Betar Jerusalem and Hapoel Tel Aviv, suspected of stabbing

To the full article

He does not have too many tools.

Kalfon (Photo: Reuven Castro, Ruby Castro)

Once the chairman of the association, Oren Hasson, goes on the air and condemns the violence on the pitches, and once Erez Kalfon, the chairman of the league, does so.

Hasson and Kalfon have good intentions.

They both do not want to see the ugly pictures on the football fields, they both do not want another murder to take place here, certainly not in their shift.

But the truth is, both Hasson and Kalfon are limited.

They both do not have the ability to make a real revolution in Israeli football.

Nor a kind of revolution.

In a reality in which the team owners (not all) have become the great instigators in Israeli football, in a reality in which the team owners (not all) have become the big problem of Israeli football, Hasson and Kalfon have no chance of making a difference here.

The truth must be told: the owners of the teams in the Premier League are not interested in the football industry.

All they care about is just their interest, their group.

They will fight in court, they will discredit the judges, they will criticize retired Supreme Court President Amnon Strashnov, they will fight against any plan that will lead to the fight against violence, they will do anything to thwart any idea of ​​returning sanity to the football fields, the main thing is that they will not be harmed.

Not physically, financially.

Yaakov Shachar and Avi Luzon (who are not on the board) are like 20 others in the association (Photo: Ariel Shalom)

In the reality of 2022, one of the most inciting factors in Israeli football is the owners of the teams, the managers, they have become one of the most serious problems of Israeli football.

After there is a murder here on the football fields, everyone will wake up.

The fact that the murder in Israeli football is around the corner and every cycle that passes without disaster is a miracle from heaven, does not cause the team owners to take action.

Many of the team owners sit on the board of the Football Association, many of whom also have a chair and a finger on the board of the league.

And Kalfon, if you did not understand, works for the group owners.

He has no possibility to make decisions, to lead a move for change.

is nothing.

Without the finger of the group owners nothing will be.

All that interests the group owners is money.

Where they will win, and where they will not lose.

Violence rages on the pitches, on the pitches, on the pitches, on the media, and everywhere.

And they?

They will disappear whenever there is a violent incident here, unusual as it may be, they will shut down an engine, the fear that there will be real bleeding here soon does not impress them.

They will not have a serious discussion about violence on the pitches, and even if they do, it will only be to please the media.

At the end of any such discussion, some of them will go out into the microphones and rattle off a few trivial statements and then continue to act in their narrow interest.

Only theirs.

The Meron disaster has been around the corner for years.

Everyone knew, everyone warned, and everyone did nothing.

After the terrible disaster, a commission of inquiry was set up here and decisions were made that the government then had to make.

Thus, in one decision that was not made, 45 civilians were killed.

For years the writing in Meron was on the wall, but as with the politicians, the self-interest prevailed over everything.

The life too.

The chairman of the association, Hasson, and the chairman of the Kalfon board have plans, there are ideas, but those who sit on their board (do the owners of the teams remember?) Will not let them do anything that might harm them. Hasson (Photo: Official website, Football Association)

The chairman of the association, Hasson, and the chairman of the Kalfon administration have plans, there are ideas, but those who sit on their board (do the owners of the groups remember?) Will not let them do anything that might harm them.

They, as I recall, care about the interest of their group, it does not bother them that the industry is dying, that the industry is bleeding, they have no problem that the next murder is waiting for us around the corner.

They sit on the association and the board and torpedo any revolutionary plan to eradicate violence.

After all, if they raise a hand to any revolutionary plan, they will have to pay part of the price.

In order for there to be a real revolution here, in order for the chairman of the association and the chairman of the league administration to work just like any chairman of the company, the team owners have to vote against themselves. Hasson had to manage Israeli football with 28 members Hasson has to hold discussions with 43 businessmen sitting around the association's board. Most of them are only interested in their group. Kalfon has less people sitting around the table, but Yaakov Shachar and Avi Luzon (who are not on the board) are like 20 others. They navigate the ship well. Exactly where they want to be.The professional leagues should be run with a similar (almost) number of fingers and opinions.

Ofer Eini was a strong and dominant chairman. He enjoyed broad, wall-to-wall support, but whenever he wanted to make a change in favor of Israeli football, he had to convince Stern Haluba to support the move. If Haluba objected, Eini dropped the idea. Haluba (Photo: Bernie Ardov)

Will members of the association's management (group owners and their representatives) vote in favor of changing the association's disciplinary regulations?

Not a chance.

Should Hasson have a chance to pass a decision in the management of the association that any owner of a group or any other official who will be sent to Judge Yekens automatically in the amount of NIS 30,000, for example?

Not a chance.

Only insane fines for team owners and team officials, will cause deterrence and restore sanity to the industry.

Oren Hasson and Erez Kalfon are excellent managers, but their hands are tied, they have no power over the team owners, they are constantly busy chasing the desire to please them.

Embrace them.

Ofer Eini was a strong and dominant chairman. He enjoyed broad, wall-to-wall support, but whenever he wanted to make a change in favor of Israeli football, he had to convince Stern Haluba to support the move. If Haluba objected, Eini dropped the idea. For years he tried to persuade activists and team owners to abolish the association's board of directors and set up a board of directors with professionals, public representatives, and a few representatives for the team owners. Sturdy he is compatible with my eyes. He also tries to make changes, he also fails.

If the structure of the football association's management does not change, if there is no disconnect between the team owners and the management, if the association's chairman and the director do not have powers, the principal can be shut down. The power of the team owners, the violence will continue and the disaster in Israeli football is only a matter of time.

Amitai Levy, a retired non-commissioned officer, was the head of the security and security division of the Israel Police.

Levy was one of the leaders in the fight against violence by the La Familia organization.

In the midst of the wave of arrests made by the police against members of La Familia, Lt. Gen. Amitai Levy fought for the state to establish a sports court.

Lt. Gen. Levy was furious at the hilarious penalties the referees imposed on fans.

Levy then led the move of removing cops from the pitches, in parallel with preventive actions like activating technological means in stadiums like face recognition cameras.

Pilot also began in Bloomfield and Teddy, but the plan disappeared and was not carried out.

Why?

The owners of the groups did not agree to fund, the association was unable to pass the plan in the management of the association, and thus an opportunity was missed to fight violence.

Hasson was forced to manage Israeli football with 28 members of the board, another 3 public representatives and another 12 observers.

Avi Luzon (Photo: Maor Elkelsi)

Retired Lt. Gen. Levy says even today that violence on the pitches can only be dealt with if the state establishes a football court. Levy says that just as there is a traffic court, a special judge for the liquidation of companies, a special judge for economic matters, so there should be a special judge only for sports matters. He said only in this way would the punishment be aggravated, only in this way would it be possible to keep the violent fans away from the pitches for long periods, even permanently. As in England. "After hundreds of court hearings with fans we have arrested, we have come to the conclusion that it is difficult to convince a judge who a few minutes before a murderer has been sentenced to life imprisonment, to severely punish a fan for racist chants or other violence. You can't judge a football fan. "

Retired Vice-Commissioner Levy says that "only if the association fights against the government, will it succeed in achieving the goal. The association can train the judge, just as it was in England, this is the practice all over Europe today." Levy also says that at the same time, advanced technology should be introduced, as is the case in stadiums in Europe, and problematic fans should be marked with facial recognition cameras. It is possible to activate the isolation system using the summon announcer and track fans who have been removed from the pitches.

And if that dream comes true, we will still see group officials marching to court and being punished. By the way, it will be possible and desirable to change the outdated disciplinary regulations and reduce the fines that the groups absorb in the courts. Fines for team owners, players, coaches, and anyone who engages in verbal violence and calls the referee a corrupt example. By the way, according to the principal's regulations, Erez Kalfon may fine groups. It is a pity that he is held captive by the group owners and does not make effective use of this tool.

Meanwhile, until there is a revolution (or coup) here, activists will also continue to be involved in verbal violence, incitement, and sometimes physical violence, and a moment later they will rush to sit around the decision-makers' table in the association and league leagues to oppose any plan to fight violence.

Let us pray that we do not reach the moment when the state decides on the establishment of a commission of inquiry into the disaster that will befall Israeli football.

Amen.

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