"Those who should have protected me did not"

As a scion of the family that founded and shaped Maccabi Petah Tikva, Eyal Beglavter still remembers his expulsion from the club ("Everyone hurt me"), the derby on the wedding day ("I didn't even take photos before") and his disgust with Israeli football ("I only see it on TV, I don't want engage with it more")

Asher Goldberg

06/10/2022

Thursday, October 06, 2022, 4:55 p.m

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"The 1996/97 season has started, I am the captain of Maccabi Petah Tikva and I have a contract for two more years. In the opening round we lost 3:0 to Beitar Jerusalem, who were champions at the end of the season.

After the game, Amos Luzon and his right-hand man Zvika Berkovich called me for a conversation and told me not to come to the team's training anymore.

I didn't understand where it came from.

The damage was caused by the fact that all the people of the club, starting with the chairman and the old board members who knew me, my father and my grandfather who identified with Maccabi Petah Tikva more than anyone else, kept quiet, disappeared and let the move against me continue.

"I got into a conversation with the coach then, Abrasha Marchinsky, who was probably under pressure. I will never forget what he said to me. He told me, 'Eyal, you are not suitable for the team's squad now.' I was sent to the stand of honor. I led a legal process at the arbitration institution, then an addicted institution that did not give me the contract I had. After the legal coercion, in order to reduce the alleged financial damage, I moved to Hapoel Taiba for half a season and then retired from football. This is an affair that still hurts me very much, I had to leave, a team and a club in which my family has the deepest roots. Those in the club who should have protected me and could have acted did not do so, I was not a junior player in the team. I could have played for several more years in the club."

An extraordinary talent.

In Glavter (photo: Maariv, Adi Avishi)

Only later did Eyal Baglevter, one of the great symbols of Maccabi Petah Tikva in the 80s and 90s, realize that the reason for his forced separation from the club was the signing of Idan Tal ("I don't know about other reasons").

Beglavter was born on 5/12/1963, married to Nirit, they have three children and two grandchildren.

In recent years, he has been engaged in real estate entrepreneurship in Athens. According to him, he was no longer a player in Israeli football in general and Maccabi Petah Tikva in particular - the Beglavter family has the deepest roots in Haaretz Israeli football and the State of Israel, alongside the Mekans and Ben Dror families.

Eyal's paternal grandfather is Shmuel Baglevter, who played for Maccabi Avshalom Petah Tikva in the early 1920s.

He was one of the founders of the club's football field in 1926 on Stampfer Street, one of the founders of the Football Association in 1928 in Israel and the head of the Maccabi Center and the Football Association.

Father Danny Baglevter was one of the leading footballers of Maccabi Petach Tikva in the 1960s until his retirement in 1971, and was also part of the Israel national team.

Eyal's mother is Nili Spiegel, daughter of Hadassah and Eliezer Spiegel, who is considered the greatest player of all time at the club.

By the way, Menachem Begin, who was wanted by the British as the commander of the national military organization, hid in the Spiegel family home during the British Mandate. His grandmother Hadassah's brother, Yosef Levy, was the commander of the Israel Defense Forces in Tel Aviv and sided with Natan Pentz in 1948 for the occupation of Jaffa.

Eyal's wife, Nirit, is the daughter of Hapoel Petah Tikva's greatest striker of all time, Boaz Koffman, who won six championships and one cup in Hapoel Petah Tikva.

As you can see, this family's past is glorious by any standards, but what about the future?

"My son Dor was a huge talent, he was in the youth teams with Natcho and Bozgalo, but at the age of 17 he decided he didn't want to invest and left football," says Baglevter and tells how it all started with him.

"Obviously, as a child I spent a lot of time on the soccer fields and training at father Danny's and Giora's games at Maccabi Tel Aviv. I started soccer at the age of 8, but I retired for handball for about three years, and then I returned to soccer at Maccabi Petah Tikva. I thought I wasn't talented enough, but I saw that I was, You saw this in the boys and youth teams. The coach of Maccabi Petah Tikva Nahum Stelmach wanted me to play in the seniors already at the age of 15, but the law did not allow it."

The one who did bring him up to the seniors was coach Yosla Mirmovich, at the age of 16 and three months as a substitute against Hapoel Beer Sheva.

He got the inspiration from his uncle Giora Spiegel.

"He was a huge footballer that I admired. I saw Giora in many matches in France in the Strasbourg and Lyon teams, we flew to France a lot. By the way, I got to play against Giora, when he played against Ramat Gan, it was very exciting."

In that period, most of the players he grew up with in Maccabi Petah Tikva.

"I got to know this family club very well, the various members of the Ben Dror family, Doron Rabinzon, Menashe Nourial, they all played for the symbol of 'Abshalom', because we hardly made any money. The most significant acquisition was Nissim Cohen from Maccabi Herzliya."

"Definitely yes. Shlomo Sheraf in Haifa and Yitzhak Schneur from Maccabi Tel Aviv contacted me and offered a large amount of money and a number of players for my transfer, an offer that Maccabi Petah Tikva did not agree to."

Here he stops and tells about his father Dani, whom Maccabi Tel Aviv also courted vigorously.

"The Tel Aviv treasurer Bernard Hovest sent an open check to the chairman of Maccabi Petah Tikva, my grandfather Shmuel Baglevter, and asked to name and register the requested amount.

Shmuel returned the check and said that father will only play for Maccabi Petah Tikva.

He was added in 1963 to Maccabi Tel Aviv's dream trip to South America."

Only tribute games.

In Glavter in 2021 outside the Shlomo Insurance Stadium (Photo: Danny Maron)

He remembers one game from the early 80s in particular.

"In the 1982/83 season we came to Kiryat Eliezer, against Maccabi Haifa. It was a great team game and an excellent game by me, we won 5:2 with a goal of mine and more assists, it was definitely unforgettable."

Then he collaborated with the twins Gedi and Oded from a conference: "Two huge players, human beings and role models. They had beautiful years, their love for football is exciting. In the 1984/85 season we went to a match against Maccabi Netanya, with Oded and Gedi, we beat Netanya 2 in the box :5, Oded was among the scorers, I also scored a goal and had two assists. Simply great players in unforgettable years."

Then came the move to Europe.

"I asked to play in Belgium. Because of the laws at the time in Israel, when the ticket belonged to the club, it was impossible to leave. I was transferred on loan to the SK Haslet team from the second division in Belgium, I clearly wanted to advance my career. After a year there, I moved to Mechelen."

Here it should be noted that this was not the same Miklan of Eli Ohana ("We lived close in the same city, we also had derby meetings").

He admits that not only was he unable to make a dent in Belgium, he also did not earn much money there: "I suffered from a thigh muscle injury, a tear and surgery and an absence of several months, which led to my return to Israel. The late chairman Aryeh Zeif led a move to bring me back, I received a reasonable financial contract most".

An impressive family tree.

Giora Spiegel with his sister Neely Baglevter, Eyal's mother (photo: courtesy of the photographers)

When talking about Petah Tikva, it is impossible not to mention the derby games.

One that he particularly remembers took place in 1986: "We won 2:3 with two goals from Doron Rabinson and one from Oded Mekans, it was one of our biggest games."

There is also a colorful story from the cup derby on your wedding day with Nirit.

"We were drawn in the round of 16 against Hapoel Petah Tikva, a match that ended 0:0. The return match was scheduled for my wedding day with Nirit, 3/31/1987. It was also dragged to overtime, again 0:0 and this time penalties. I missed a penalty along with another Two of my friends flew away from the cup. I arrived at the hall at the Hilton Hotel together with the guests, we didn't even have time to take preliminary wedding photos."

He had only one appearance in the Israeli national team, in 1986 against Scotland in Ramat Gan.

"It was difficult then to get into the lineup, where Uri Malmilian and Moshe Sinai played in the midfield."

A place in the lineup?

It's hard with players like that.

In Glavter with Uri Malmilian in the Israeli national team (Photo: Maariv, Adi Avishi)

He hardly comes to Maccabi Petah Tikva games: "Since retirement, I only come to a few games to honor or invite friends. I'm sick of football, I see a lot in Europe, but in Israel only through the TV screen."

"Yes, and that was the period that was enough for me to realize that I don't want to deal with it anymore. My family was also hurt, I didn't see my future there."

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