"At 2:00 in the morning I found myself on the main road"

The illusory episode in the national team ("Shaffer threw my bag from the room to the path in the yard"), the championship as a boy in Maccabi Netanya ("In high school they cut out newspapers for me") and the reaction of the owner ("He told me to get out of here, Fisher boy").

Oded Mekans, one of the greatest Israeli pioneers ever, reproduces

Asher Goldberg

01/09/2022

Thursday, September 01, 2022, 4:50 p.m

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"During Emmanuel Shafer's second term, in 1978/9, the Israeli national team gathered for a training camp at the Wingate Institute. We went with the professional team to the show. We returned before midnight and the old players brought their wives back home. I accompanied my friend Einat to the car of one of the players so he could bring her back. Shaffer was standing next to us and witnessed the escort. When we returned, he waited near my room and attacked me with shouts. I explained to him that I did not run away, I did not do a drill and I was not avoiding, I simply wanted to return my friend to her home. He entered my room, demanded that I leave Wingate and go home . My explanations did not help, I asked to stay until morning, but he did not listen, took my personal bag of belongings and threw it from the room on the second floor to the path in the yard. After 2:00 I walked to the main road, waited for a ride. A passing taxi driver recognized and drove me home My way with Shafer in the national team is over."

A bright boy, pants on his shoulders after another victory of Maccabi Netanya (Photo: Reuven Castro, Maariv)

Oded Maknes was born on June 8, 1956. He is married to Einat, the same one from the story with Shafer, and they have three children and a grandson.

"After two daughters, my mother gave birth to twins, me and Gad," he says, "Ged was named after my grandfather's brother, one of the immigrants from the mother of the colonies, and one of the founders of the city of Netanya, there are streets named after him in Petah Tikva and Netanya. My mother chose my name, Oded , so that I can encourage her."

Today there is a meeting of the head of football schools in several places in the Netanya area, where one of the coaches is the Gad twins.

He has been employed for four years in the management of the leagues in the youth star program.

The program, which is accompanied by respectable financial grants, examines, among other things, the implementation of professional programs, goals for the soccer year, rosters, training, youth tournaments in Israel and Europe, professionals as coaches and instructors, medical staff at the soccer fields, and more.

They came from a home full of football.

"My father, the late Aryeh Maknes, was a soccer player for Maccabi Netanya in the 1940s and 1950s, a soccer player for the Maccabi Israel national team and captain of Maccabi Netanya for years.

Father played in 1954 in the final match of the State Cup in a defeat to Maccabi Tel Aviv 4:0.

Einat Uri Afek's father, who in the early 1950s was called Uri Pinchuk, was a goalkeeper for Maccabi Netanya, they played together."

"After the girls, Dad was happy to have sons, and from a young age he took us to the beach. For hours, Gadi and I were with the ball. At the age of 9, we signed up for the Maccabi Netanya children's team, Dad coached there. We both played in the striker position until the youth in the youth teams, every season we scored More than 50 goals, we won the Israeli championship titles for children and boys."

"There were various statements that we were playing because of him. It didn't upset us, we knew the truth and already from the Bialik elementary school, the direction was for Maccabi Netanya graduates.

Shmuel Perlman separated the attack twins.

"He decided that I would continue to be on the wing, but in my clothes he saw a professional fit for a midfielder and defender."

They brought another important asset to Maccabi Netanya, one who later became a particularly productive partner.

"David Lavi played with us and other boys on the field at Tschernihovski High School," says Mkans, "he loved and excelled in basketball, we convinced him to come to Maccabi Netanya football, where he became one of the greatest scorers in the club's history."

He won his first championship with Maccabi Netanya as a high school student at the age of 16.5.

"The coach in the 1973/74 season was the late Aryeh Radler.

Even before that, at the end of 1972, Gadi and I played as seniors in the 25th Cup for Medina in a 2:3 victory over Hakhar RG, a game in which we both scored.

The championship fight was mainly against Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Mutala Spiegler left for France, and in the attack Radler placed George Burba on the left, Victor Serosi in the middle and me on the right.

Serosi scored 10 goals, I the 16 and a half year old boy 8 goals and Burba 4. The game that brought the championship to Netanya was against Maccabi Tel Aviv several rounds to the end.

I came in as a substitute, received a pass from Burba, passed the ball over the brake and subdued Lupa Kadosh.

We widened the gap from Maccabi Tel Aviv, and the headline was "Kens entered and entered".

The experience on the field was nothing compared to the experience off it.

"The students, the students and the teaching staff were busy with Maccabi Netanya and their student. The interest was at its peak, the girls and boys collected sports press clippings for me and made albums throughout the period."

But not everything was rosy.

"After the win, I didn't receive a single lira from Maccabi Netanya for expenses or a grant. I went to Reuven Friesner, the decision-maker at the club, and asked if I didn't deserve a little money. Friesner's answer was: 'Get out of here, Fisher boy, you don't deserve money.' It was offensive and ugly."

In 1975/6 he won the top scorer title for the first time.

"This season ended in fourth place, Hapoel Beer Sheva's second championship year. I scored 21 goals in it, it was fun to see the ball hit the net. Lavi scored 15 goals that season. In the quarter-finals of the State Cup we lost against Beitar Jerusalem with a 4 loss: 2.

The following season, 1976/77, I scored 14 goals."

His goal against Maccabi Petah Tikva is considered one of the most beautiful of all time. "I loved scoring against them, I scored against them in the away games.

Spiegler handed me a ball which I left in the air, passed with my right foot to my chest over David Spivak and then over the tough stopper Itcha Drucker.

It wasn't easy, I looked and saw that all the organs in my body were intact.

The ball with me entered the area in the air and against the goalkeeper Shimson Levkovic I kicked into the net, it ended 0:3 with a goal that was then chosen as the most beautiful goal in the league."

"Spiegler started the season, but didn't finish and left. We took every possible title, a young and vibrant team that fights a general offensive game with the goal of winning. We loved each other, we didn't want to steal the show. I scored 14 goals in the league, after Lavi he had 16 goals."

"The RG Stadium was full of 45,000 spectators in May 1978. My goal in the 3rd minute and Geriani's in the 16th minute were enough for us against Bnei Yehuda, despite a goal from Ben Tovim.

The trophy was on the roof of the bus on the way to Netanya, the entire coastal road was full of honking cars and team flags.

Many thousands filled the square in Netanya, on a wonderful evening, one of my most beautiful at Maccabi Netanya."

Two years later came the happy championship with Jacob Grundman.

"That was a season in which we were ten points ahead of Hapoel Tel Aviv in the table. Grundman was an amazing man who knew how to combine laughter with seriousness, football that we loved. I scored 14 goals, Lavi was ahead of me here as well with 18."

He tells how Grundman is related to Bnei Lem's flash kicks.

"As a player, Grundman used to kick incredible kicks. In training, he saw Lem trying to kick, took him and improved this special type of kick for him. To this day, no one can come close to this level of performance."

A conference was then at its peak, which led him to an anecdote related to the 1980 beauty queen Ilana Shushan.

"The crowning of the beauty queen used to be done by the mayor of Tel Aviv or the minister of tourism. The two were absent from the country at the time, Noni Mozes invited me to the event. I, the soccer player, crowned Ilana Shushan the beauty queen with a lot of headlines in the media."

"We got to know the French league from Spiegel, Spiegler and Vicky Peretz. I got an offer to play for the Ange team, but Yitzhak Land refused to sell me and that's how it ended."

1981/2 ended with a feeling of deep disappointment for him.

Mechans tore down nets and finished with 26 goals, which, of course, placed him in first place in the scorers' table, but the one who won the championship was Hapoel Kfar Saba.

"We scored 63 goals, but this season is remembered because of the 0:0 between Kfar Saba and Samson. The championship slipped from under our feet."

The next season, the "Netanya and more 15" season was already unequivocal.

He scored 21 goals and the gap in the table was huge.

"Motla would have stayed with us to kick the goal, created a great atmosphere. He pulled out a picture of himself in the Cosmos team with Pele, he said I could go there too."

The sequel was disappointing, professionally and financially.

"At Maccabi Netanya, they promised Gadi and I an apartment in exchange for a three-year contract. I was one of the first to have a lawyer by their side, a family member, attorney Yadin Mekens.

They pulled out the season, didn't sign the apartment contract and we reached a salary arrangement for the whole season.

I didn't want them to do me favors."

Signing at Maccabi Petah Tikva.

Pretty amazing.

"Yes, we asked to be released, in Netanya they didn't give us too many problems, we were even released quite easily. Maccabi Petah Tikva coach Moshe Meiri really wanted me, I moved to Mother Colonies, it was great to play there, a lot of love. Connecting with the players is more important than honor and money." .

"I will not coach a group of graduates."

Today's conference (photo: official website, courtesy of the photographer)

The next stop, in 1986/7, was Maccabi Tel Aviv.

"Coach Shimon Shanhar brought me. I didn't have a good season, I scored only three goals. I helped bring the Toto Cup in the victory over Maccabi Haifa in the final 1:2, I came on as a substitute in the 70th minute, equalized the score and later handed it to David Azoulai who scored the winning goal Ours. I later left for Hapoel Hadera in the national league."

He returned to Maccabi Netanya and soon left for Hapoel Tiberias.

"I started the 1988/9 season at Maccabi Netanya, coach Ze'ev Seltzer didn't let me play much, I got an offer from Po'al Tiberias, which was struggling at the bottom of the top league. I got there together with Aryeh Alter and Gabi Lesri, we couldn't stay even though I scored 7 goals. Tiberias was a good place then And warm, she is well remembered."

The final chord was in holon whistles.

"I came to the whistles of coach Dror Bar Noor and I was there for half a season. I started studying business administration at the branch of the University of Haifa, and then my football days as a player on the field ended."

We end the interview about his days as a player where we started - the Israeli national team.

Mencas' success in the league did not translate into goals for the national team, in which he took part in only 14 games, most of them as a substitute: "I participated in the Montreal Olympics in 1976, including the quarter-final match against Brazil in which we lost 4:1. In the 1977 World Cup qualifiers, I played twice against a national team Japan and I scored twice in Israel's victories 0:2. I have one game against the Belgium national team in 1978, in which we won 0:1, I started in the lineup together with Gadi."

He didn't quite find himself.

Meeting in the national team with Jack Mansell (Photo: Reuven Castro, Maariv)

And he also had a short episode as a coach, when in the 1994/95 season he was called upon to save Maccabi Netanya from relegation.

"I took the reins after the departure of Vico Haddad. They offered me to coach, it's hard to refuse such an offer. The club's financial situation was difficult, players were released, it was difficult to get paid, I came to the conclusion that there was no chance of staying in the league. They brought in the great Perlman, but we were unfortunately relegated Big through last place in the table. This is the reality. I don't want to coach a mature team anymore."

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