"It was a nightmare season. Instead of coming to the stadium players went to play snooker"

The development at Maccabi Netanya, the move to Hapoel Tel Aviv, the exciting championships and the trauma of relegation ("a slump that hurts to this day").

Yossi Zana, one of the heroes of the 80s in Bloomfield, recalls the great and despairing moments in his career and explains where the nickname "Sue Allen" came from.

Asher Goldberg

15/04/2022

Friday, April 15, 2022, 5:00 p.m.

• Share on Facebook

• Share on WhatsApp

• Share on Twitter

• Share on Email

• Share on general

• Comments

  Comments

"1988/9 was a nightmare season. The team was relegated for the first time in its history. There was a financial crisis under the management of the Histadrut and the Tel Aviv Workers' Council, there was no money to pay salaries to the players. The youth team was sent to Hapoel Petah Tikva with Felix Halfon and Yossi Aboksis. Most of the players did not show up for the away game against Maccabi Haifa in Kiryat Eliezer. Some of them went to play snooker instead of coming to the game. "31 We lost in the lower playoffs in the Hatikva neighborhood 1: 0 to Bnei Yehuda and were relegated, a low that hurts me to this day."

"During Eli Cohen's visit to the Brenner house, where windows and flower pots were broken, I was with him. The situation was on the face of it."

Yossi Zana (Photo: courtesy of the photographer)

The speaker is Yossi Zana, one of the most prominent players at Hapoel Tel Aviv in the 1980s.

Xana, 64, married to Aliza plus two daughters, Maya and Daniel, retired in 2019 from the Electric Company.

He was born in Hadera, went on to Kfar Yona and Netanya, a city that already as a child had a production line for football players.

"A classmate took me to the children of Maccabi Netanya, the coach was Aryeh Makhanes. The team included Oded and Gad Makhanes, Podi Halfon and Moshe Tobol," he says.

I asked him if he was going to pioneer a neighborhood called "Mario Camps" and he lit up.

"Wow, hear a story. Not long ago I visited Bnei Brak. I was walking down the street and I heard a voice calling my name. A man in religious clothes approached me. I thought he was wrong, but immediately introduced himself as Moshe Tobol, he was an excellent pioneer who repented and became a rabbi."

The boys' and youth team played from the front, as a midfielder and a striker.

"I enlisted in the army and was assigned to combat engineering in Sinai. I did not think to be a football player, I disappeared until he met me before the start of the 1977/78 season. "From the waiter to bring me clothes. When players asked him in amazement, 'Who is the new player?', Perlman replied, 'This is my gift to the team.'

Xana with Rifat Turk and Arie Bejarano in the mid-1980s (Photo: Maariv, Adi Avishai)

Xana recounts how Perlman turned him into a defensive player.

"He told me I would be the best personal guard brake in the country. We won a double, a championship and a state cup. My first game was in Bloomfield against Samson Tel Aviv, I personally kept my blood flowing. I did not play much, the regular brakes were Israel Hajjaj and Haim Bar "In the final of the State Cup against Bnei Yehuda, in front of 45,000 spectators in Ramat Gan, I came in as a substitute.

Perlman left and was replaced by Jacob Grundman.

"He had professional plans that did not include me on the field. I asked to leave, at a young age it was important for me to play, otherwise it is impossible to progress. I turned to Motla Spiegler, who contacted me with Betar Jerusalem manager Avraham Levy.

"I went on loan for one season to Betar, a particularly weak season for the team and a long injury of Uri Melmillian. We were relegated to the national league from last place, Maccabi Netanya won the championship."

"I received a check from the Tel Aviv Workers' Council for a considerable sum. I took a transfer form from the Football Association and went to Yitzhak Land's office at Maccabi Netanya. Land looked at the amount, took the check and quickly signed the release form without looking where he was transferring me. And I ran away like a missile before he informed the Maccabi center and the move would be canceled. "

His first derby, in 1981, is etched in the memory not only of him, but of every Hapoel Tel Aviv fan.

"For me it was the first time in full Bloomfield. I personally kept Bnei Tabak and we won 0: 3 with a pair of Shabtai Levy and a goal by Amir Lieberman. We won the championship, we missed the double in the cup final against Bnei Yehuda."

Escape before the Maccabi center notices.

Xana (right) as a child with Podi Halfon (Photo: courtesy of the photographer)

In 1983/4 Hapoel Tel Aviv did not win the championship, but it was certainly an active partner in the struggle, with an unforgettable game at the YMCA against Betar Jerusalem.

"On the eve of the game, we were at the hotel in Shefayim, where Maccabi Haifa players were also present," he recalled. Championship for Maccabi Haifa ".

"Hapoel Tel Aviv held a training camp in London and we played a training game against Ipswich, in which I personally kept the striker Cyril Riggs excellent. They approached Hapoel Tel Aviv who agreed to sell me, but a lack of games in the Israeli team prevented the move."

The next championship came in 1986, under David Schweizer, with Gili Landau's famous passive goal difference.

In 1988 came the third degree, under Yitzhak Schneur, who changed his position.

"He turned me from a front brake to a rear brake. Kobi Segal was the front brake. Later Shneur and Grundman invited me to the Israel national team, but an injury in the national team training and a torn groin left me with only three games in the national team."

Turned Xana from front brake to rear.

Yitzhak Shneur (Photo: Flash 90, Moshe Shai)

After the relegation of Hapoel Tel Aviv to the national team, Zana decided to retire.

"I suffered a groin injury, and decided it was over. I went on a long vacation in Eilat, but then the phone rang in the hotel room," he recalled. "

"

He asked me to meet with manager Giora Spiegel and chairman Gad Sulami.

The statement that I am retiring did not convince Bnei Yehuda. "

" This season, 1989/90, Moshe Sinai, who left Hapoel Tel Aviv, signed in the neighborhood.

Spiegel, Sinai and Sulmi persuaded me to return to training and join the team.

I sat down on the details of the contract and surprised Gad Sulmi when I demanded as a condition for signing a grant of ten thousand dollars for winning the championship.

Sulmi almost fainted, the championship never reached the neighborhood.

In the room they thought I was crazy, but we signed and the grant was given at the end.

"This section was only for Sinai and me."

In the 1990/1 season, he suffered a serious injury in Bnei Yehuda.

It was his signal to retire, this time for truth.

He started working for the Israel Electric Corporation and gave up an attempt by Hapoel Tel Aviv to return him to its ranks.

And what is his attitude to football today?

"I occasionally watch the games of Maccabi Netanya or Hapoel Tel Aviv, which I am a fan of. (Laughs) On television, football games are a good thing that occasionally helps to fall asleep."

"I demanded a championship grant. In the room they thought I was crazy, but we signed and the grant was given at the end. This section was only for Sinai and me."

Xana in Bnei Yehuda (Photo: Adi Avishai, Maariv)

And finally, it is impossible not to remember his famous nickname, Sue Allen.

"In the '80s, Dallas was the most popular series on television. One of the actresses in the series, Linda Gray as Sue Allen, had long flowing hair. Goalkeeper Arie Bejarano decided to call me that and it stuck but passed in the meantime."

"I did not have the big money of the day then, but through Hapoel Tel Aviv I bought a house in Tel Aviv. Today I live in Shikun L."

• sport

• Israeli soccer

Tags

• Hapoel Tel Aviv

• Maccabi Netanya