33 years ago, at the end of May 1990, under Giora Spiegel and Rami Levy, Bnei Yehuda won its historic and only championship. A variety of stars played in the team - Moshe Sinai, Hezi Shirazi, Roni Levy and more, but the captain was defender David Salman and together with him played midfielder Roni "Bambi" Meir.
"We won the championship because of the professional management of the team, which knew how to connect the puzzle of the players into one unit," says Salman, "The fans and the home field in the neighborhood were the huge push for this historic championship title."
Bnei Yehuda's championship team - what would be its place if it played in the Premier League today?
"The team of 1989/90 would not be contending for the championship today. We would have easily made the top playoffs, but we couldn't have finished ahead of Maccabi Haifa, Be'er Sheva and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Bnei Yehuda's advantage could only have been in the position of manager, Giora Spiegel."
Two big stars. Roni Meir (right) and David Salman (Photo: PR)
"One season before the championship, Bnei Yehuda struggled against relegation to the second division," says Meir, "the management parted with Ehud Ben Tovim with surprise, and the players didn't like this move. Gad Solemi brought Giora Spiegel, the huge football man who brought a change in thinking and professionalism to the neighborhood, in everything related to the conduct of a footballer vis-à-vis the club. I didn't want Spiegel's training to end, we wanted everyone to listen and learn more and more. Giora stopped our custom of going to eat after training to bake and junk food, we learned how to eat pasta, he changed the world order in Bnei Yehuda."
Salman adds: "The current Bnei Yehuda will not win another championship title in another 30 years. The move by which the club's leaders chose to leave the neighborhood's beloved home field and move to Bloomfield was a huge mistake. It was possible to renovate and arrange the field in the neighborhood, today it's a team without a real home, it's a team without real fans."
What do you mean by fans?
"Before the mistaken move to Bloomfield, over 5,000 fans would come to home games, most of them from the neighborhood and the surrounding area. Today there are almost no fans at Bnei Yehuda games. The Hatikva neighborhood is not what it used to be, Bnei Yehuda has disappeared from the landscape in the heart of the neighborhood, many of the residents no longer live there. It has more foreign workers than our residents, who have lived there for many generations."
Believed all the way. Roni "Bambi" Meir (Photo: Maariv, Adi Avishai)
"Spiegel and Solemi's winning move was bringing Moshe Sinai from Hapoel Tel Aviv, which dropped out to the national league," says Meir, "Sinai was a role model for all of us, a super professional, a player who never missed training, directed and guided the young players, definitely the leader of the championship. Sinai's goal from a free kick against Maccabi Haifa has not been forgotten to this day."
When did you realize you could win a championship?
"The start of the season was pretty mediocre, but we came to the YMCA to play against Hapoel Jerusalem. The pitch was on their faces, freezing cold and their fighting game. I kicked a goal, the ball hit the leg of a Jerusalem defender and went into Jerbi's net. From here we came together, we understood that it is possible to fight against Hapoel Petah Tikva, Maccabi Haifa and Maccabi Tel Aviv for the championship title."
"Goalkeeper Yaakov Asayag was an island of stability," Salman explains, "Moshe Alo in the defensive position was an important player defensively and offensively. Bambi the giant, there is no player today who gave more heart and soul than him in every game, a player we all loved to go to championship battles with. Spiegel's decision to bring Ronny Levy into midfield after David Gordana's unfortunate injury was super huge as bringing in from Hapoel Yehud the wonderful defender Roi Hadad, Guy Sharabi and Yossi Zana gave a huge season."
A true leader. Salman with Hezi Shirazi (Photo: Maariv, Adi Avishai)
"Salman was the guide and the guide at the back," Meir explains, "a super offensive defender. To this day, there is no defender who knows how to raise the ball from the wing while running like Salman, an asset and a personality for Bnei Yehuda."
What about the attack? "Spiegel put in place an offensive lineup in every game. Sinai was the main axis, but alongside him flourished Nir Menachem, Discovery of the Season, Hezi Shirazi, and the wonderful acquisition striker from Argentina Gerardo González. After every training session, Gonzalez would write down Giora Spiegel's drills and things, he said that when he became a coach, he would be like Spiegel."
Are you in touch with Gonzales?
"I'm still in touch with Gonzales, he and his son are Bnei Yehuda fans."
The children of Judah are deep in his heart. Gerardo González (left) (Photo: Kobi Eliyahu)
Salman, a story from the championship season?
"Before practice started, we would run around the field. I didn't like fast pace, so I told the players that whoever passed me in my head would break a leg. The actors were apprehensive, until Spiegel asked me to let go of the superstition. The one who didn't listen to me was Alon Mizrahi, who severely sprained his leg in training."
Bambi, memorable games from the championship?
"You can't forget the 3-4 victory in the neighborhood over Maccabi Tel Aviv. The field was packed with spectators, a championship atmosphere. The victory over Hapoel Petah Tikva was 0-1 thanks to a tremendous goal by Hezi Shirazi. We came to Gad Sulmi and told him that you can't win a championship without players from the neighborhood who came from Iraq."
The victory over Beitar Tel Aviv in Ramat Gan closed the story. "The whole stadium was painted orange, we won 0-3 and the crowd burst onto the pitch at the end and hoisted the players on their shoulders for a long hour."
What was on the bus back to the neighborhood?
"Tens of thousands of fans were waiting for us, already on the way a band of singers from Brazil got on the bus. We celebrated two weeks, in the neighborhood all the restaurants invited us to eat for free, there is no money, sponsor Bezalel Mizrahi arranged for us five days vacation at the Ganei Shulamit Hotel in Eilat, performances every evening, yacht and sea bike, unforgettable fun."
Bambi, what would Giora tell you before every game?
"Spiegel demanded, at the start of every game, to start with crazy pressure on the opponent. He added that if we lead 0-2 we will be able to enjoy and make heels like Little Brazil. Spiegel knew better than anyone what it was like to move the ball responsibly and orderly."
Salman, are there players of the championship generation who have gone deep back to religion?
"Absolutely. Moshe Aleu is now Rav Moshe, teaching religious lessons to children and a great Torah scholar. Uncle Gordana now with a big beard, deep in religion."
Bambi, will Bnei Yehuda win another championship in the future?
"It's hard for me to believe that there will be another championship, without the home court in the heart of the neighborhood it won't happen. Bloomfield is not a real home for the team's players, most of the residents of the neighborhood of the championship season left and fled unfortunately. As a player, when I left the house on the way to the field in the neighborhood there was a shiver all over my body, to see all the neighbors, old and old people greeting successfully and the children running forward with love to the children of Yehuda."
Salman, did you make money in Bnei Yehuda?
"Money, lol. I got pennies. Not only me, but the other players such as Rami Levy, Malihi, Alon Zubari and others did not receive financial indulgence. I got crumbs compared to the money the players who signed in the neighborhood from other clubs, it's annoying and annoying to this day. That was their minus until today, unlike Shimshon Tel Aviv, who took care of the home players for work and apartments."
Demanded pressure. Spiegel with Ben Tovim (Photo: Flash 90, Moshe Shai)
Meir, who turns 59 in June, was born in the neighborhood. "I was born on Tidhar Street, parallel to Bnei Yehuda's lot. My parents were born in Iraq, married to Naama and have three children. My wife is Hezi Shirazi's cousin, my wife and Moshe's wife immigrated cousins, the relationship Hanoch Marrero is married to my wife's sister. I am married to the sister of coach Nissan Yehezkel, he is married to my sister. Nissan said that if I took his sister, he would marry my sister, Dynasty Stories. I am an only child alongside 6 sisters, and for Iraqis this is a special event. My son Tal played in Maccabi Tel Aviv's youth team and reached Bnei Yehuda's graduates."
Today Roni is the manager of the Israel Post in Givatayim, and the scout for the graduates at Maccabi Tel Aviv. We were interested in where the nickname Bambi came from. "In the children's team, we played early games for adults in the neighborhood. The fans claimed I was agile and running like Bambi. I love that nickname, and my grandchildren, seven in number and eighth on the way, also call me Bambi. When my name is Ronnie, I rarely turn around or answer, Grandpa Bambi is great."
What was the championship bonus in the neighborhood?
"With the exception of Moshe Sinai, who had a grant from Gad Solemi, and maybe Ronny Levy, no player even had a dream to think about asking for a championship grant."
Who brought you up to Bnei Yehuda graduates?
"One day the legendary Shlomo Scharf came to youth training. He turned to me, 'Come on boy, from now on you're with us in the first team. I couldn't fall asleep all night, went back and recited Scharf's words on the pillow until morning. Help me in the direction of the road Jacob Grundman, he was like my father. And of course the king of the neighborhood, Ehud Ben Tovim and David Salman. They gave me direction and confidence. During the championship season, I loved playing with Roi Haddad, a real professional player, serious and tough, focused on a goal."
Fast as Bambi. Roni Meir (Photo: Maariv, Naor Rahav)
Before winning the title, Bambi suffered a serious injury and underwent surgery in Germany. "In the season before the championship I injured my cruciate ligament, Gad Solemi sent me to Professor Schneider for surgery in Germany. He sent with me the fitness man Uriel Ne'eman, who stayed with me for about a month in Cologne, Ne'eman was by my side and made sure to bring me kosher food."
Yitzhak Schneur wanted you with him in Hapoel Tel Aviv.
"Shneur was a tough and meticulous coach, a huge coach. He left Bnei Yehuda for Hapoel Tel Aviv and wanted me there. Gad Sulmi set a sum that was defined as astronomical, the move did not come to fruition, and Nior took with him to Bloomfield the outstanding defender Kobi Segal, who was excellent in the neighborhood."
Was there big money in the neighborhood?
"Everyone called me 'Gad Solemi's son,' I didn't even have a practical signed contract with him. He paid little, financially you couldn't get by in life through Bnei Yehuda, certainly not if you were a house player."
Speaking of Solemi, tell about your wedding.
"For my wedding, he came with a fat envelope. When we opened it, besides the pool, there was also $5,000 in cash. That's the financial help I got, and it was exciting for me then."
Uri Malmilian was his problem. "In most games I was placed as a personal guard over the opposing stars, I guarded Sinai, Ionir, and only Malmilian I couldn't guard. I admired Ori on a crazy level, I couldn't enter him in Glitch, which I did to others freely. Against Malmilian I had a natural inhibition to hurt him, he was huge."
The Bnei Yehuda chapter is over, you moved to Maccabi Netanya.
"I had an offer from Maccabi Netanya under coach Shmuel Perlman, they offered me a contract three times higher than Bnei Yehuda, I left and played in Netanya for one season. The continuation was in Kfar Shalem and Hapoel Yehud, parallel to my integration into work at the post office in Givatayim."
Above all - Ronnie Calderon. Salman hoists the trophy in 1981 (Photo: Maariv, Reuven Castro)
David Salman was born in 1958, married plus 3. "I am the son of parents who immigrated to Israel from Iraq in 1951, the youngest son of ten children, five girls and five boys. Today I am a sanitation inspector in the Tel Aviv municipality, a position arranged for me by the group's patron Yehiel Paratzlina. As a child, in 1968 I participated in the biggest celebration in the neighborhood: Bnei Yehuda won the State Cup in a 0-1 victory over Hapoel Petah Tikva from Nahmias' goal.
"The person who took me to Bnei Yehuda for children was my older brother, Ovadia z"l, who was a diehard fan of the team. My first coaches were Eli Shasho and Ben-Hur Mizrahi, I studied at Torat Moshe School and high school in Uziel. My admired players were Spiegler and Spiegel, but above all I admired Ronnie Calderon, the football magician. My wife's father is Itzik Degani from Hapoel Ramat Gan who played with Calderon, and in conversations with him he claims that he was comparable to Berkowitz, Benayoun and Revivo."
Tell about the road to graduates.
"Coach Eli Fox promoted me at the age of 17 to Bnei Yehuda's graduates, I started as a striker and a personal guard. The people who turned me into a right-back were Zavik Seltzer and Itzik Schneor."
Ehud Ben Tovim?
"Ben Tovim is the most amazing person in the world, it's a shame and sad that Bnei Yehuda doesn't take care of its former players for coaching work. When they don't need you, they kick their ass."
Still recognized in the market of hope?
"Even though 30 years have passed since my departure, the market of hope recognizes me, calls me 'Hey Salman, come sit with us,' talk about football of yesteryear and laugh at today's."
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