Israel recently tied with Canada for eighth place in a major Gallup survey to find the happiest people on earth. It’s wonderful Israel finished so high in the rankings, especially when you consider what its people have to contend with from their neighbours.
In other uplifting news, Arab-Israeli football star Beram Kayal recently spoke about his experiences in Israeli football and society. “The life between the Jews and the Arabs is very good,” he smiled. “I’m an Arab and my agent is Jewish but we’re like family…Maccabi Haifa has seven or eight Arab players and that’s normal. The only difference is their religion, but there’s no conflict.”
Finally, and speaking of football, Hapoel Tel Aviv striker Itay Shechter had a very special way of celebrating when he scored in the Uefa Champions League this week. Like!
Nice
Chas you probably know that as professional victims themselves, Celtic fans have adopted the “palestinian cause” (along with the basques, etc., etc., yawn). Wonder how they now feel to have an Israeli on their team. Not just an Israeli, but an Israeli Arab who represents his country in international football. What a delicious conundrum for that manky mob!
Schechter’s kippa was very thoughtfully colour-co-ordinated with his strip and yet he received a yellow card. It is not like he immodestly took off his shirt or anything. The ref must be a Philistine.
I hate it when referees book players for celebrations – rarely is it warranted. But I guess we can’t have people playing sports enjoying themselves or entertaining people, can we?
We can dismiss Beram Kaya’s comments though, as he is Only Someone Who Knows What He’s Talking About. These kind of people are not welcome in any Israeli bashing debate.
I don’t follow football, but can anyone explain why a player would get a yellow card for wearing a kippah to say a brief prayer of thanks? Would Christian players get them for crossing themselves after scoring a goal, for example?
There’s strict rules about what objects players can and cannot take onto the field of play and “props” for celebration aren’t allowed. The Christian equivalent would be ensuring that, for example, a player wasn’t wearing a crucifix neckchain.
PS Beram Kayal had a very good debut for Celtic last night. Long may it continue
PS there’s always a story behind the story:
The JC can reveal that the kippah was given to Shechter by Moshe Zinger, a 60-year-old religious Hapoel fan who travelled to Salzburg despite suffering from cancer. He said: “Seeing Hapoel win and Shechter put on the kippah gave me such a lift that I reckon if they checked me now they would find I am healthy.”
Hapoel have now ordered 20,000 similar small red knitted kippot with the team’s emblem on and plan to give them out to fans at next Tuesday night’s second leg match.
Actually Jonathan I think there might be a ban on “religious” goal celebrations, so maybe that was it. Have to keep an eye open and see whether Kaka still flashes his I <3 J. T-shirt.
Jonathan, in addition to the other replies, a player will get booked for taking his shirt off in celebration of a goal, or jumping into the crowd, or doing anything exuberant. I doubt the religious angle came into the referees mind when he booked him.
got you. It seems a little unfair to this non-football follower. A kippah is almost like clothing, right? What if a player wanted to wear one *all the time*? would it be allowed? And footballers should all be encouraged to take their shirts off, if you ask me.
I like the story about the cancer sufferer. It is very sweet. Worth getting a yellow card for, I’d say
I’m just looking at the laws of the game – available on the FA website, and it says “Players must not reveal undergarments showing slogans or advertising. The basic compulsory equipment must not have any political, religious or personal statements.
A player removing his jersey or shirt to reveal slogans or advertising will be sanctioned by the competition organiser. The team of a player whose basic compulsory equipment has political, religious or personal slogans or statements
will be sanctioned by the competition organiser or by FIFA.”
Having said that, his kippah is not part of his basic compulsory equipment (shirt, boots, shinpads, shorts, socks) so maybe it would be allowed. Goalkeepers are allowed to wear caps to keep the sun out their eyes, and players have played with casts on their arms, so as long as it didn’t interfere with play I imagine a case could be made for allowing it.
It’s religious discrimination!
I think you’re allowed to wear religious articles when playing, you’re only not allowed to make religious “statements”. The blanket reason here is “incitement”. If Jewish players regularly pulled out kippot and prayed after scoring, then it would be regarded as less of a statement and more a custom (like crossing is for Catholics). There was however a Celtic goalkeeper (Artur Boruc) who pointedly used to cross himself in front of the (anti-catholic) Rangers supporters and was I think sanctioned for that on grounds of incitement.
I know, players pay the price for supporters being mindless animals. Hey, that reminds me of something….
Remember this, aparatchik? http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/07/21/article-1036791-00C1A67300000190-34_468x286.jpg
he he, yes i do. someone in the rangers dressing room must have put him up to that!!
The thing that drew my attention in that survey is that Palestine is ranked before Turkey – 96 versus 103.I guess that means the next flotilla will sale from Gaza to Turkey.