In the picture, you can see fans attending a match at the VIP entrance.
The field was established near the Yamka complex and its construction was completed in 1935.
In the 1930s, football matches between British and Australian soldiers were held here.
Later, after the establishment of the state, in the good old days of Beitar Jerusalem, the team played there until 1991.
Each match was unique and provided a rare anthropological experience, a fine Jerusalem blend.
The ticket sellers sat in a tiny concrete booth, with a narrow, dark opening, and sold tickets to the few people who actually paid. Those tickets would be passed from one person to another while they were standing in line so that each ticket was used by 4-5 fans.
Admission for children was free, so kids stood in line at the entrance, and every adult who arrived without a child ‘adopted’ one randomly for two hours.
The field was neglected and outdated. It had two opposite stands. The wooden stands were built on an iron structure and were shaking with every goal. During penalties and penalty kicks, the fans stomped on the wooden boards as the noise was supposed to confuse the opposing team.
The number of spectators in the field was the same as the number of spectators in the surrounding trees, the balconies, and the roofs of the apartment buildings on the opposing Washington and Hess streets. Later, security measures were improved to prevent ‘infiltrators’. The walls were decorated with broken bottles cast in concrete, and the nearby electricity poles were smeared with grease and linked by wire fences.
The short distance between the stands and the field made every fan feel like a coach for a moment and allowed viewers to hear what players were shouting at each other. Also, the opposing team’s goalkeepers were probably traumatized by having to withstand so much cursing and swearing from behind a fence located only 2 m from the goal line.
The last match on the field took place in 1991. Afterward, the teams moved to Teddy Stadium.
The field was destroyed, and a residential project was built in its place, which is now inhabited mainly by foreigners from all over the world.
If these tenants only knew what piece of history they literally live on … they would climb up the building on electric poles to reach their balconies.
Shabbat of peace far and near, and a good and blessed month from Jerusalem!
Photographer – Unknown
