Passion and Life !

Me and friends had some discussion about our football teams and to how you actually pick them or how they stuck with you to the rest of your life.

When I was little there was an amazing player, Moshe Sinai, the legendary number 7! maybe one of the best players ever played in Israel. Sinai started his career in Maccabi Yafo (Jaffa) and a year later moved to Hapoel Tel Aviv where he played till the end of his Israeli career (he played one year in Bevern, Belgium) except one year - 1989-1990 when he played for Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv.

Bnei yehuda won the only Championship in the club's history. Sinai got back to Hapoel the following year while I got stuck with Bney Yehuda. Funny how the worlds treat you, huh?

Bnei Yehuda represent a small neighborhood in south of Tel Aviv. I won't bother you with the Jewish Israeli etnicity culture but there is absulutly no connection between the Kibbutz i was grew up in and that neighborhood. Totally opposite.

During the 80s and 90s Bnei Yehuda had the ability to fight the big teams from Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa though when the money started to get bigger and more important the influence of the crowd and the atmosphere reduced as well, Bnei Yehuda faced the reality which many small teams faced in the 90s. From top league team in start of the 90s, Bney yehuda found herself fighting for survival each year until end of the milenium.

In may 2000 Bnei Yehuda relegated after 25 years in the Premier League. Everyone thought that this was the end of the club. Bnei Yehuda wanted to prove differentlly and in the following year promoted back to the top league. Bnei Yehuda qualified twice to europe games, once back in 2006 when they did it through the Israeli Cup and the second one was during the last year when they played in the Europa League qualifications from first round and was only team who pass to the last qualification there they lost to great PSV Eindhoven 2-0 at the end of the two games.

Bnei Yehuda proved that even a small team can survive in the modern football and that money is imported but its deffinately not everything. And I got stuck with Bnei Yehuda for the rest of my life, For better and worse! Thats what football and sport is all about, Thats what makes us happy ! at least sometimes...