Once upon a time in Jerusalem,
Second edition in honor of Beitar Jerusalem which won the state cup after 14 years of drought,
And this time – the YMCA field, the first football match, the final of the 1933 British Mandate Police Cup.
The construction of the YMCA building seen from behind began in 1926 and was inaugurated in April 1933 by General Allenby, and is considered the most beautiful of the YMCA organization buildings in the world.
YMCA is a global organization of Christian youth and even won a song from the YMCA Village People Band.
In 1946, the building served as the seat of the Anglo-American Committee for the Affairs of the Land of Israel, which examined the possibility of accepting Holocaust refugees from European countries into the Land of Israel.
The soccer field was built to the west of the building and the first game in the picture was played in 1933.
Since then, many emotions, stones, blocks, and gravel have flowed in the river.
From the end of the fifties, the field became the home field of Beitar Jerusalem and was used as its field (and later also Hapoel’s) until 1991, when Beitar moved to Teddy Stadium.
The atmosphere in the field during the Beitar games was unique and cannot be reproduced-
The stone walls around the field were decorated with wire fences, broken glass bottles were glued to the top of the walls, and grease was smeared on the electricity poles and every possible walkway, to prevent the crowd from sneaking into the field without a ticket.
Of course, it didn’t help, and memories of people climbing the walls and bleeding hands from the broken glass are still burned and alive in the memory of everyone who visited the place.
The field had two stands on both sides – the wooden stand, which was built on iron constructions, and on it were rickety and swinging wooden benches, which shook when the whole crowd stomped on the seats in times of tension, in penalties, or when Malmilian was preparing to kick a banana in a penalty kick, and a pungent smell of urine because the stadium simply had no toilets.
The stand sat 3 meters away from an ugly fence that surrounded the surface of the ground that was sometimes also covered with grass, and in each half that the goalie of the opposing team would stand at the gate closest to the stand, dozens of spectators would hang on the fence, 2 meters away from the goalie, and would review his family tree in front of him for 45 minutes His and his family’s, they reveal to him new details about the resumes of his mother and sisters and honor him with the best fruits of the season.
Beitar hospitality from the heart.
The stone grandstand on the other hand was considered the seat of the more relaxed fans, a concert audience.
In the derby games, the stone stand hosted the Hapoel fans, whose burning hatred for Beitar fans could provide electricity for the entire city.
On the west side, there was a low concrete tribune with 5-6 rows, which was the best observation point for the game, but hardly anyone was interested.
Cypress trees were planted around the field, on which fans hung for the entire game, demonstrating climbing skills that were later studied on the National Geographic Channel by anthropologists from around the world.
The residents of the buildings on Washington Street surrounding the court played host every Saturday to relatives, distant relatives, and passers-by pretending to be relatives, on the balconies, roofs, stairwells, and solar boilers.
The ticket offices were dark concrete blocks, and the same ticket was used by several fans at the same time –
So basically the cycle method was invented, which gained momentum later and spread around the world.
Phrases like – “Put me in with an adult card” of children who were adopted at that moment by adults they had never met, formed the infrastructure of the surrogacy movement that has become relevant in recent years –
It happened to us already 40 years ago.
In the event of a loss, God forbid, the fans would gather outside the magnificent YMCA building, where the teams’ dressing rooms were located, and wish the players hearty wishes, completing the hospitality with a flying fruit salad served without plates and money (even before Eyal Shani), and complete the missing parts of the family tree of the players.
Every Sunday we would come to school with a variety of new curses that we learned on Saturday, and what happened in the stands and before the game, was often more interesting than the mediocre game played on the field.
Later, after the clearing of the lot, the Keter David neighborhood was built on it, which is mostly inhabited by Diaspora Jews, and the matter of the improvement levy for the complex, which was unexpectedly canceled by the developer who built the neighborhood, will be a separate post.
Emotions and feelings, sports and history, Allenby and Dadash, Jano and Ben Rimoz, a group of passionate and impatient fans who cost the team dearly every year, and a state cup that came back to the capital, after 14 years.
This is Jerusalem.
Shabbat Shalom to all, far and near, from Jerusalem.
unknown photographer
