"In the 1977/78 season, Hapoel Hadera returned from League A, then the second league to National. We played at home against Maccabi Netanya, they were fighting for the championship title, we are against the relegation back to the national level. In Hadera, Maccabi Netanya veterans Victor Sarosi, Zohar Solomon and Yaakov Shmuel played in Hadera that season. They had a particularly great motivation to score points. In one of Netanya's attacks, a penalty was awarded in their favor, their kicker was Oded Mekans. He approached to kick, but Zohar Solomon prepared a neat block of lime during the preparations for the kick, and while Menkans approached the ball, he threw it. Menkans kicked the ball that moved towards The corner and the outside.
"There was a huge riot, but there was no ruling for a return ball.
TV broadcaster Yair Stern said that Solomon threw a stone at the ball, but it wasn't a stone, it was a well-fastened block of lime.
The funny thing is that Solomon did this many times in training, his success was not as great as in real time.
The affair was in the headlines for a long time, and to this day it is known to fans in Hadera and Netanya."
The speaker is Ami Elhadad, the brakeman of Hapoel Hadera, to whom we will return immediately, but what does Mekans say?
About that affair?
"It was difficult at that time to play on Hadera's bad field, and I took the ball for the penalty kick on myself. I remembered that Solomon throws lime balls at the ball in training, but during the kick I didn't have time to stop the run and kick the ball, which went to the side away from the goalkeeper. The referee ordered to continue playing, All the claims and ours were of no use, the game ended in a 0:0 draw, but we won the championship."
good memory
Ami Elhadad (photo: courtesy of the photographer)
Ami Elhadad was born on December 3, 1955. "Father and mother immigrated to Israel from Morocco, father was 18 years old and on his first day in Israel he was immediately sent to military service, mother was 14 years old at the time of immigration. We were sent to live in Givat Olga, where I studied elementary school at the 'Amishab' school and high school. Amal' in Hadera. I have a degree in economics from the university, and today I am a private investment consultant, married plus 3 and with 14 grandchildren, living in Hadera, where we moved when I was 15 years old."
His career is full of memories.
"In the same season, there was also a story with Sholem Schwartz against Maccabi Tel Aviv. The management of Hapoel Hadera promised him beds for the children's rooms two days before the match in Hadera against them. On Saturday morning before the game, Schwartz, our most important player, announced that he would not show up for the game because the beds he was promised did not arrive to his home. The club leaders sent representatives to his home, promising that on Sunday the beds would be at his home. The team's fan was sent to Schwartz, he brought him to the stadium during the break. Shalom entered the game at the start of the second half, scored the first goal, I scored the second goal and Schwartz completed a brace. We won 1:3, Maccabi Tel Aviv was hampered in the fight for the championship."
Mekans, a book about Elhadad as a brakeman.
"I got to know Ami very well, we held a lot of training matches between the two teams at the Wingate Institute. Elhadad was in demand and suitable for any top team, but at that time the sports centers of Hapoel and Maccabi did not easily transfer players from center to center. There is no doubt that Ami's move to a big club would have done great things for his career His. He was an exemplary athlete."
An actor who grew up in Hadera once every fifty years.
The late Shalom Schwartz (Photo: Shlomi Gabai)
Hadad grew up in Givat Olga.
"Everything I got in life is from there, from social life to security in life, the happiest childhood, the kind I don't see in children today. The Olga hill of my childhood was around the houses of the neighborhood, lots of children in the neighborhood surrounded by cyclamen and cycads, on which they built clay soccer fields."
At the age of 15 he moved to Hadera.
"They told me to go and try to get accepted to Hapoel Hadera, the leading team in the city. At that time there were also Maccabi Hadera and Hapoel Nahaliel teams in the city that played in the national league. Coaches Rafi Avitan and Eli Zubiv accepted me to the boys' team and I immediately went up to the youth team."
Who was your most admired actor as a child?
"Benyamin Belnero. Anyone who didn't see Belnero play football missed one of the greatest players in Israel. He had unimaginable dribbling, wonderful control of the ball and a perfect banana kick. Belnero is the type of footballer who was ahead of his time. I was sad that not many came to his funeral when he passed years ago To his death. He used to come to Hapoel Hadera's home games. Many fans waited outside the wall and did not buy tickets until Benjamin arrived. Hapoel Hadera had a fan who worked as a porter, they called us 'Pushkash'. He would wait a short distance from the field, and when Balnero was seen approaching, Pushkash would He ran towards the fans and in German shouted 'Benyumin e coming'. This was the signal for the fans to enter the field."
Everyone was then talking about Hadera.
Elhadad with the only title he won (Photo: Maariv, Adi Avishi)
Before the age of 18, Alhadad joined the senior team.
"In those years, it was customary to hold practice games between the youth and senior teams on the weekend. In 1973, after the Yom Kippur War, Nahum Stelmach coached us. In the youth game against the seniors, I played very well, our quarterback Haim Tal talked to Stelmech, who promoted me to the senior team." .
In 1975 Elhadad and Hadra won the first title - the League Cup.
"In October 1975 we beat Hapoel Tel Aviv in Bloomfield. Yakovovski scored the winning goal, 0:1."
What was Hapoel Hadera to the city then?
"In the early 1970s Hadera had about 30,000 residents, about 4,000 spectators came to the games, hundreds of fans came to the training sessions. Football was a kind of local religion. After a game we went out to hang out or to the cinemas, where they only talked about Hapoel Hadera."
And what is the connection to the club today?
"I watch all the team's games, but only about a thousand spectators come to the home games at the stadium in Netanya, in a city with 110,000 inhabitants. Chairman Oren Golan is doing a holy job, but the task now is to survive in the Premier League until the team has a home field in the city, otherwise it will be Not easy to survive.
The construction of a magnificent training complex in Hadera is now being completed, but this does not allow the senior team to play.
It is necessary to drag on another four years until the new field is completed, God willing."
"Stabbed me with a 25 pin for the State of Israel."
Ben Tovim (Photo: Flash 90, Moshe Shay)
Ami's brother, Yigal, is six years younger than him.
"I got to play with him in Hapoel Hadera. Yigal is Hapoel Hadera's top scorer of all time, in the league and in the cup. Today he is a very well-known accountant."
Were there also derby games in town?
"There were derby games against Maccabi Hadera, in which players played who did not find a place in Hapoel's squad. In one derby in the second league, I played against my friend who is my brother, Naor Lubin. I entered it without an account, and his parents complained about how I was playing such a stiff game against him. To Hapoel Nahaliel It was a good team, players from it moved to Hapoel Hadera."
He did not play in the Israeli national team ("There were more connected defenders in football than me") and in 1976 experienced disappointment - relegation to League A ("We finished in 16th place out of 18 teams, along with Bnei Yehuda and Ramat Amidar").
Then came the drama in front of Bnei Yehuda.
"We came to the last game in the Hatikva neighborhood with two more points, but the goal difference was significantly worse. We needed a draw to come back. It was pouring rain, the field in the neighborhood was full to capacity. The atmosphere was really scary, Shalom Schwartz was afraid to score. I kept their top scorer Ehud Ben Tovim, while going up for the ball, Ben Tovim stabbed me with the point of a 25-year State of Israel pin. Coach Uri Weinberg complained to referee Avraham Klein, who promised to pay attention. The game ended in a 0:0, which was enough for her room to advance to the league. The fans in the neighborhood threw stones at us and the bus , the bus driver got stressed, instead of going to Herzliya he went to Holon city center."
We also contacted Ben Tovim, to check what he remembers about the event: "There was no and no creation, I have never done such an unfair and unsportsmanlike thing to Alhadhad or any other player with a pin. Many people use my name for such and such statements and it makes me laugh. Thank you for calling me, there Many who don't even ask me and write."
1978/79 - another relegation.
"We had a bad season of struggles at the bottom, we were relegated along with Hapoel Jerusalem and Rishon Lezion. In the cup we did better, in the round of 16 we beat Hapoel Tel Aviv 4:2 on penalties. In the quarterfinals we were eliminated by Bnei Yehuda, also on penalties" .
Hardly coming today.
Hapoel Hadera fans (Photo: Kobi Eliyahu)
"Schwartz's story about his children's beds explains everything. There was little money, and it is clear why a star like him left for Hapoel Haifa, he was a huge player who was born in Hadera once every fifty years."
There is no money in the team, they suggest you move to another club.
"After 10 years in the starting lineup, I was allowed to move. I met with Moshe Dadash and Beitar Jerusalem, but I decided not to sign there.
There was a meeting with David Solmi on the recommendation of Jacob Grundman to sign with Bnei Yehuda, but it was not ripe for signing due to the conditions that were offered to me.
In my place, Kobi Segal was signed to Bnei Yehuda."
Like Schwartz, he also received an offer from Hapoel Haifa. It was perfectly fine, but then Hapoel Haifa trained and played at the stadium in Kiryat Haim. Traveling there through the traffic congestion from the industrial area in Haifa made me refuse this offer."
Kiryat Haim is far away for you, but you respond positively to Kiryat Shmona?
"One evening I come home, and Uri Weinberg leaves a message for me to call him. Weinberg was my coach in the army at Northern Command and in Hapoel Hadera. He offered me to join Hapoel Kiryat Shmona, under an excellent financial contract."
Called and offered to join Kiryat Shmona.
The late Uri Weinberg (photo: Ido Weinberg, from Wikipedia)
After Kiryat Shmona, Alhadad returned for three more seasons in Hadera.
"It wasn't like the beginning, I came back not in the same capacity. I moved to Hapoel Taiba, Nazareth Elite, and closed a circle at Hapoel Givat Olga."
After retirement, Alhadad coached Hapoel Taiba, Hapoel Hadera, Maccabi Hadera and Hekh Ramat Gan.
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