Still living the game.
Burba/Courtesy of the photographer
Less than a month ago, former striker George Burba, who is mainly associated with Hapoel Tel Aviv, celebrated his 80th birthday. "Time flies faster than my dribble," he says in "David Vaitzik's Shakshuka" in Hadar Yosef, a meeting place for former footballers. Media people and nostalgic football fans.
He arrives there regularly several times a week before noon.
"It's fun to come to a place where the main topic is football, and the talk is about the stories of the past and Maccabi and Hapoel Tel Aviv. I'm 80 years old, and I hear that the ranks of the past footballers I played with and against are getting shorter and shorter. I'm very sad, I'm secretly shedding tears. I feel younger than 60 years old , still runs fast and can play quietly in the national league."
Burba was born on 12/2/1944.
"Father Zarahia and mother Liza are from Tripoli. World War II created fear for the lives of the Jews. The British advised to help those who wanted to move to live in Italy until the situation in Europe and Africa ended with the victory of the Allies. I was born in a town called Macerta, but Italian fascists informed on the family, we were transferred to a camp Arrested and from there the family, which also included five children, to Germany to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. They took me straight to an orphanage there, where I was circumcised, far from the family."
George Burba kneeling first from the left, Ronnie Calderon kneeling third from the left/courtesy of the photographer
With a lot of luck, the British army released the family.
"I was in the orphanage in Bergen-Belsen for over six months, a baby who knew nothing about the situation. The parents said that the English army entered the camp and released everyone, it was a few days before they intended to eliminate all the Jews in the camp."
George was then King of England.
"My parents decided to call me after King George VI. We sent a letter to the English royal house in London, about the family and my binding name."
Did the answer come quickly?
"The British offered us to come to England or return to Tripoli. Mother led the move to return to Tripoli, father agreed, we returned."
what did you find there
"According to what the narrator says, we had a nice house and a jewelry store. There was nothing left, the house was taken over by the locals, everything was taken from the store. We had nothing left but the clothes we were wearing. We turned to the English royal house, they gave us some money and clothes, we decided to leave and go to the State of Israel . We went up with the establishment of the state, first to the Beer Ya'akov crossing and from there to the Neve Sharet neighborhood, where the family expanded. We were ten children, 5 boys and 5 girls, today there are five of us left."
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"I loved Golani, but I lost football"
He studied at the 'Ram' elementary school.
"I gave up high school, football was more important to me than studies. Near the school there was a wide sand field, quicksand, on which I organized the company to run away from studies and play football."
what was your dream
"Near the house was the football field of Hapoel North Tel Aviv, a subsidiary team of Hapoel Tel Aviv. I dreamed of playing there, a team made up of players from Ramat Hay'il and Hadar Yosef, it was the pride of the local residents. In Ramat Hay'il and Neve Sharett they sympathized with Maccabi and Hapoel Tel Aviv, I I loved Hapoel Tel Aviv, I only went to their games."
He started at Hapoel North Tel Aviv.
"I started with the boys, quickly moved to the youth and before the age of 17, Nissim Besa, the coach who was a former player, promoted me to the senior team. It was a dream come true."
He says that Hapoel North brought 3,000 fans to the home games.
"There were names like Haim Sinai, Avraham Waxman, Kathabi, Haim Goncher and others, in today's football they were in the Premier League. Football was super amateur, beatings in almost every away game, teams were not allowed to lose at home."
He enlisted.
"I was sent to Golani's 12th Battalion, 1st Brigade. I had excellent physical fitness, the company and the commanders asked that I not run like a sprinter with a weapon and a backpack. When we played football, they did not understand where my ability came from, I explained to them that I am not able to run slowly, all at speed."
But the love for football prevailed.
"I loved Golani, but I lost football. There were few vacations, no training, absolutely nothing, only combat training. I took my legs, went home. The army came to me, they sent me back and I was sentenced to 30 days of detention in prison 6. After the prison, I was returned to the base In Tel Hashomer, I became a S.G. thanks to my brother who was a lifeguard in Barakah there. Football and Hapoel North came back to my life, I was the king of the world."
A football legend that Burba did not play alongside in the end.
Eli Ben Rimoz/Government Press Office, Moshe Milner
Eli Fox almost changed his career path.
"The IDF Championship was held and Fox, who was the coach of the Central Command team and at the same time Hapoel Jerusalem, heard about me and invited me to the team.
After my first training under him, he invited me to train at the Katamon court.
I trained with the legends Eli Ben Rimoush, Zvi Single and Leon Azoulay who welcomed me with great love.
It's hard to describe what it's like to train with Ben Remouge and Single in the attack.
I was supposed to sign, I wanted to be in Hapoel Jerusalem, so the top team in the city."
Hapoel Tel Aviv intervened. "They heard about the planned move, sent representatives home and made it clear to me that I should come to Bloomfield, to coach David Schweitzer who asked me to come to training.
I was very uncomfortable with Fox, but the people who made the decision were the Hapoel Center people.
I was sent to Hapoel Tel Aviv, Amonica Kahlon to Hech Ramat Gan."
The first training session was a shock. "First time on the grass, seeing Switzerland and all the stars.
The Yugoslav coach Milovan Ciric was also there, he asked during the training 'who is the guy with the amazing run and start'?
Schweitzer decided to 'sign him quickly before they kidnap him.'"
Chirich continued to follow him. "After only two or three games in the team, he invited me to the Israeli national team.
He told me to come to the national team training in Ramat Gan, because tonight he is announcing the squad and I am inside.
A B league player makes history.
"Before my first game in Hapoel Tel Aviv, Schweitzer talked to me and made it clear to me that I am not going up now, he will share with me later. Half of the residents of Ramat Hay'il were in the stands. When the shark told me to go into the game, I gave a happy jump to the height, I hurried to get on the grass and I was still wearing my tracksuit. When David asked I told him that I was afraid he would still regret it."
The shark said, Burba entered.
Schweitzer/Flash 90, Moshe Shay
He married Shulamit.
"A special girl, before the wedding proposal I went to talk to her father. He was a fan of Hapoel Tel Aviv and liked me very much, he just made it clear to me to be careful and not cause problems for her. The wedding was in the hall in Ramat Hay'il, with most of the splendor of those days. We have four children , three sons and a daughter and ten grandchildren."
The job was with the postal authority.
"A good office job, but I wasn't always allowed to go to the football training sessions with the team and the national team. One day I left for training and left the office empty, without an answer. When they asked me the reason for this, I explained that they didn't bring me a replacement, and that football came first. The postal authority fired me, and it's a shame, Otherwise, I would be a pensioner of the postal service today."
The next stop was a newspaper distribution line.
"They arranged for me to distribute 'Haaretz' newspapers, I went out on a Vespa as early as 04:00 in the morning in an area of mostly private houses. I was a sniper throwing a newspaper into yards or balconies, an easy job after which I went to training with the team."
Financially, how was Hapoel Tel Aviv?
"There were many superstars of the time in the group. I purchased a plot of land in the Yashgav neighborhood in Ramat Hay'il. I sent the contractor to the head of Hapoel Tel Aviv, they paid the construction cost monthly. Today I live in the house they built with their help."
Already included Burba in the lineup and then took him out.
Shaffer/Wikipedia
First goal in the national team came in 1966.
"It was against Poland. Four days later, in a friendly match in Bloomfield against Romania, I scored a spectacular goal with a scissors kick, but the Romanians won in the end 1:2."
You have two championships in Hapoel Tel Aviv.
"The first with Dovid, a championship that made me dizzy with happiness. I scored five goals. The second championship was under coach Rehavia Rosenbaum in a game with two goals, they went down, we won the championship, we were one point ahead of Maccabi Tel Aviv. I scored nine goals, Feigenbaum scored 19. I have Also a cup in 1972 in the final victory over Hapoel Jerusalem."
He also played in Mexico 1968. "A once-in-a-lifetime experience, the Olympics under coach Emmanuel Shaffer. In the match against Bulgaria we drew 1:1 in overtime, but the draw in favor of Bulgaria made the players shed tears, missing out on qualifying for the semi-finals."
Then came the 1970 World Cup. 54 years later, he is still seething with rage.
"The greatest honor for any soccer player in the world is participation in the World Cup, Israel only has one of these. I was in the squad, I was also in excellent shape. Before the game against Sweden, Shaffer trained me in the starting lineup. Before every game, he used to have a personal conversation with each player in his room and he made it clear to me Because I'm in the lineup. In the meeting on the day of the game, Shaffer wrote down the names of the players in the lineup, he reached the far left and I'm not on the list. I got up nervously from the chair, I turned to the senior player who I knew influenced me not to be included in the game. I told him that he would go to the hospital from here. I'm sure he was the one who influenced Shaffer To take me out of the lineup and replace me with another player close to him. I have no record of participating in the World Championship and it doesn't leave me, as if it was yesterday."
"I wanted a change, I asked for a new atmosphere"
He left for Hapoel Ramat Gan.
"I wanted a change, I asked for a new atmosphere and there was also a good financial offer. We didn't manage to get promoted to the top league, I left the crater after one season."
He won another championship with Maccabi Netanya, in the 1973/4 season, after which he retired from football.
"Spiegler left abroad, but Netanya achieved a tremendous championship in a fascinating fight against Maccabi Tel Aviv.
It was with Oded Meshans the young man and with Victor Serosi.
I scored four goals, there was a great crowd in the stands."
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