A suburb of Tel Aviv, before the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas: For the first time in a long time, recreational footballer Oded Breda meets with friends for an evening game. The teams are lining up for a corner when a siren sounds. Missile alert. In the distance, lights rise into the dark sky; they are interceptor missiles from the Israeli security system Iron Dome.
Oded Breda knows what to do in these situations: “We are not afraid in these moments, but we follow the rules. From the moment of an alarm, we have about 90 seconds until a possible missile strike. We are quickly off the field into the We ran to the next shelter, that took about 30 seconds. One of our players had a child with him. We waited in the shelter for ten minutes, then we continued.”
Football as a distraction from war
Oded Breda will soon celebrate his 70th birthday. As a soldier in the Israeli army, he fought in the Yom Kippur War in 1973 and the Lebanon War in 1982. Breda has also been interested in football for decades. He develops historical projects to use sport to remember the victims of the Holocaust. And he plays with old colleagues from the army and also with active soldiers who want to change their minds while playing football.
“After the Hamas attack there was no amateur football at all for two or three weeks,” says Breda. “People were in shock and gave up their hobby. But after a while, many wanted to get back to everyday life, we have no other choice. We want to maintain a bit of normality, and football can help with that.”
First football league resumes operations
The first football league in Israel is now starting operations again. 100 people are allowed to stay in the stadium per game. Each team can nominate 30 players, coaches and other staff. In addition, few doctors and journalists are admitted, but not ball boys. If there is a missile alarm, the game time will stop. Those present then have to go to a shelter, reports sports journalist Felix Tamsut: “If you can go to an official shelter, then that’s best. These are rooms with walls that are particularly strong. If that’s not possible, Then you have to look for a room where there are no windows. I have to say, there is no club in the Israeli first league where you have less than 45 seconds before you have to go to a safe room.”
Israeli sports reporters like Felix Tamsut, who lives in Germany, not only deal with players, tactics and fan culture, but also with security precautions. Even in older stadiums, the changing rooms are often located a little deeper in windowless rooms, so teams would not be exposed to the risk of splinters of glass in the event of an attack. “The league is starting because many clubs are not in a good financial situation,” says Felix Tamsut. “So it’s a bit similar to the restart debate in the pandemic. And the clubs want to get the money from television and from the official Israeli betting provider.”
Basketball is hit even harder
Some football clubs in Israel are calling for the league to be temporarily expanded from 14 to 16 clubs and for the relegation rule to be suspended. This way you can generate additional money. The second major sport in Israel, says Tamsut, is being hit even harder, basketball. Maccabi Tel Aviv, three-time winners of the Euroleague, play their international home games in Belgrade. There are considerations of running the Israeli Basketball League in a tournament format, without spectators, as some leagues have done during the pandemic. But it is possible that a number of foreign players would not return to Israel. Felix Tamsut says: “As an example: If a football club lacks foreign players, then there are solutions. There are youth players, there are backups. When it comes to basketball, foreign players play a much bigger role than in football.”
In other Olympic sports, many Israeli athletes avoid competing abroad. And those who do travel face problems: the Israeli fencers in the Swiss capital Bern were not allowed to enter their hotel for hours because of a bomb threat. In addition, competitions are accompanied by demonstrations, says Israeli sports journalist Yossi Medina: “The European Judo Championships recently took place in Montpellier. Many people outside the arena protested against the participation of the Israeli team. There will be more situations like this. That’s why they are Athletes rely on larger security teams.”
Athletes drafted as reservists
Qualifications for the 2024 Summer Olympics will take place in the coming months. Some Israeli athletes may be missing, for example at the World Swimming Championships in Doha in February. Several Hamas leaders live in the Qatari capital. And there is another reason why the Israeli national teams are in a state of emergency, says historian Moshe Zimmermann: “The athletes, who are young people, i.e. 20 to 30 years old, are precisely the people who have now moved in , so they are reservists.”
Incidentally, the Israeli national soccer team can still qualify for the 2024 European Championship in the playoffs in March, which would be their first participation ever. Maybe sport can then create a bit of normality, at least the illusion of it.