Last week, Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C. won its first group stage game at the UEFA Champions League against S.L Benfica. It was an emotional moment, both good and bad; Israeli football reaching its European neighbors' threshold, as the apprehension of the rarity of the occasion slowly sunk in. While the main objective is our own Israeli league championship, and more particularly winning the games against our archenemy -- Maccabi Tel Aviv -- we were all elated to a certain extent. But in Israel, like in Israel, happiness is a short-lived event when people around us tend to bundle us all together, and refuse to understand that many of us have a different mentality, political view and beliefs.
The following morning, football forums and other blogs began publishing the objection of Olympique Lyonnais (Lyon, France) fans and other bandwagoners, to Israel, and their preparations for a sort of protest prior to the Champions' League game on December 7th. Casting Hapoel fans as representatives of Israel is quite frankly nothing short of criminal, especially by football fans who are all well aware of the allegiance to the club vs. representation of ones' country. In other words, I cannot imagine the doom these fans would have brought on any other group that would dare presenting them as representatives of France! Football fan 101 is you are your team, not your country. It is no different for Hapoel fans.
More...
0 comments
Post a Comment