Football (Soccer) in the Holy Land 80 Years Ago

Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta)

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Football (Soccer) in the Holy Land 80 Years Ago Was a Religious & Political Issue -- Version of an Earlier Posting Posted: 03 Feb 2014 Original caption "Police intercede in Orthodox attempt to break up  the Maccabee football game" (1930s) The neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo in northern Jerusalem is known for the dust-up between Israel and the U.S. Administration several years ago when Israel announced plans for expansion of the ultra-Orthodox housing project.   Aerial photo of the sports field, adjacent to the ultra-Orthodox Meah  She'arim neighborhood (1931).  See a view of the bleachers here, and the field here. Originally, Jerusalem's legendary mayor Teddy Kollek planned that the area, known as the Shuafat ridge, would house a 50,000-seat football stadium, sports facilities and tennis courts. But access to the stadium would have to be through Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods, and Sabbath protests and demonstrations were a certainty.  "Crowd of mixed Orthodox Jews who arrived on the scene en masse to force the discontinuing of the Maccabee football game" Eventually, the stadium was built in southern Jerusalem near Malcha, and the Shuafat ridge became part of a contiguous stretch of ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods.   The Sabbath tensions over public sports games on Saturdays were documented by the American Colony photographers some 80 years ago.    Some of the photographs identify the field as "near Bokharbia," meaning near the Bukhari Jewish neighborhood adjacent to Meah She'arim.  "Close-up of an Orthodox Jew in the  crowd."  View another close-up with the police - here (1930s)