Shaun Goldberg speaks after the landing of the Israeli national team/Photo: Avi Rokah Video editor: Shiran Golan
Since the humiliating loss of the Israeli national team to Iceland, we have witnessed the clear hints that the chairman of the association, Shino Zoertz, is already looking for the next coach, when it seems that Yossi Bennion is also on the way out. Any decision that Zoertz makes will be legitimate, but the question that will lead to it is where he is aiming: should he just replace team because the general frustration with the defeat requires him to make a shock, or does he have a real plan for how the national team and Israeli football will look different.
First of all, as one who before Iceland really wanted to see Banyon continue, because he believed in the way of the professional manager, Zoaretz should think for a few weeks at least and to understand that he must not make a decision just to shock, or based on an understanding of what he does not want. Appointing a professional manager and coach is not done "on the spur of the moment", he does not rely only on the prominent candidates available on the market. Sometimes there is a need for thinking outside the box, one that takes into account the young national teams and the way they want to lead local football for years to come.
The attitude of the chairman of the association towards the current team is ambivalent.
Many people around him expected him to end the contract at the end of the Euro qualifiers, but Zwartz insisted on his faith in Benion and continued with him to the playoffs.
After Iceland and the idea of moving on, his associates simply flooded him with countless options and names that leave no room for a sane decision, but will lead to an emotional decision designed to please everyone and create peace, at least temporarily.
By the way, one mistake that Shino Zoaretz already realizes he made, is putting pressure to return Eran Zahavi to the team.
At the end of the day, regardless of who is right, what was done in the room case could not be fixed.
Zahavi did return after the events of October 7, but the atmosphere between him and the professional staff and some of the players was not similar to his previous terms.
The team felt that Zahabi was not with them, around the striker they talked about the fact that they did not spare poison against him, and the renewed connection did not do any of the parties any good.
Although this is not the only reason for how the team looked, but when there is such energy around the most dominant player in it, it permeates and it is not surprising that everyone showed a lack of passion in the most important game.
This issue has been hovering over the team in recent months and has not done anyone any good.
In dealing with him, they were already wrong.
Eran Zahavi/GettyImages, Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP
When Zwartz is done with the national team issue, he will have to provide a solution to deal with the extremists in the football fans, who are trying to destroy every good part of the industry.
The actions of the Hapoel Tel Aviv fans in basketball caught the focus this week, but in football the problems are bigger.
The preoccupation with the court and the frequent changes in the point balances only delay the treatment of the real problem that is growing - the extremists in the fans have long been in control of the stands, neither fear nor feel that there is anyone who can stop them and for them the only law in their arena is that there are no laws.
the truth?
It didn't come out of nowhere.
They have reason to believe it's okay.
We know these problems well in football;
Clubs with huge budgets who prefer to deal only with specific situations, to minimize damage to the fan organizations, but certainly not to harm them.
Whether they admit it or not, in the big teams the popular opinion is that it is the cheering crowd that makes the stadium fill up and the atmosphere be different.
The clubs want to avoid a boycott from the stands or any behavior that would harm the atmosphere or relations with the management.
There are five clubs in Israeli football that really have a large audience - Maccabi Haifa, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Hapoel Beer Sheva, Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Tel Aviv. In terms of the level of "aggravated offenses" and the number of criminals in the stands, Hapoel Beer Sheva is not in the league of the other four The reason for this is that in the capital of the Negev, even though we are not talking about righteous people, sanity rules the crowd and not criminality. The crowd that started as a cheering group in the days of Vasermil is still dominant and does not allow those who are not wanted to be dominant in the stands and try to take over it.
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burning issues before him.
Shino Zoertz/Niv Aaronson
In the other four clubs the problem is much bigger.
Young people with a criminal background who have joined over the years are now a force in the stands.
Some of them have minimal interest in sports and live much more the ultras culture than the sympathy for the team and love for football.
They are more into showing "who has the bigger one".
If we start from Maccabi Haifa, it seems that a few in the stands have already gotten used to the titles and the atmosphere of the summits of Europe, so he looks for the thrills in the stands and outside the field instead of on the grass.
In Maccabi Tel Aviv there is a handful that it is important for him to emphasize that he is a racist, a belligerent, and this status is as important to him as the success of the team.
In Beitar it was already out of control. Unlike other owners, Barak Abramov did not get into it in advance. He asked "La Familia" what they wanted, and gave it to them, hoping that they would back him as the owner and not wait for him near the house - an agreement that holds to this day. In Hapoel Tel Aviv it has not been under the control of the owners for years. Maybe in basketball Ofer Yanai will still do something, but in football the Nisanov brothers in the past and the Mintzberg brothers in the present have not done, are not doing and will not do anything, because they know that once they do, they are done here. Every now and then they show A little backbone, for visibility or in preparation for prosecution. They know they are at a disadvantage in front of the audience and are powerless in this battle, so they give up in advance.
It is important to note that in the last decade there is no longer a separation between the encouraging group and the violent and problematic group. The part that leads the encouragement is also the one that waits for the audience of the opponent after the game, throws flares, violates the regulations under aggravating circumstances and harms the club in any way. This trend has been created in the last decade. There are enough fans (they are even the majority) who just want to engage in cheering displays and not violence, but there is no one to protect them from the criminals who took over the stands with the aim of instilling a criminal culture.
It's out of control at Beitar: watch the fans attack Teddy
Watch the violent incident at Teddy: Beitar Jerusalem fans went down to the grass, trying to attack the Maccabi Tel Aviv stand/documentation on social networks, according to Section 27 A
And here Shino Zoertz will soon have to take action, before it reaches his doorstep.
With all due respect to the reform and the court, only maximum cooperation with the state institutions and the police will lead to a solution.
There was a big uproar over Miki Zohar last year, but apparently the alternative facing Israeli sports is for the police to go into the thick of the action to eradicate crime from the stands and bring order to the stadiums, rather than security guards or weak attempts by the clubs to come to an understanding with the unruly.
A criminal in the stands is no different from a criminal in the street.
The clubs and the good crowd do not need and cannot deal with this handful, which is only getting more and more extreme and attracts with it more and more bored people who have no interest in sports, but have a great interest in chaos and violence.
And, if necessary, that they return police officers to the problematic stands, that they increase the entire level of checking, that they know how to deal with masked people or anything that makes identification difficult - and make life miserable for them.
It is no secret that there is a problem with the courts, so if the courts do not provide a solution, at least under police force in the stands, a fan will know that if he does not behave properly, he will have a real problem and it will not amount to spitting on a security guard.
It's not ideal, but it's the least bad, because the other option is that stadiums will be closed and maybe the sport will stop.
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Shino Zoartz