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6 - “Maccabi Haifa is my flag”: Arab fans of Jewish teams

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2009

Tamir Sorek
Tamir Sorek
Affiliation:
University of Florida
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Summary

The crowd in the stadium is divided into two: enthusiastic fans of Maccabi, and supporters of the rival team. Both Jewish and Arab fans of Maccabi sit in the same bleachers. High iron gates separate them and the fans of the opposing club; two hard iron gates which create an atmosphere of common destiny, uniting those imprisoned together behind lock and key. An iron fence divides the people anew, granting them temporary definition, an open space where the Arab can for the moment fit in as if he were one of the guys. The soccer stadium is a space dealing with temporary reconstruction of identities. A temporary project that creates a temporary and provisional “we” …

(Ra'if Zureik, “Through Arab Eyes,” Ha'aretz, April 20, 1999)

The presence of Arab fans in the bleachers of Jewish teams is a highly significant phenomenon, wide in scope and long-term in duration. As mentioned in chapter 3, the Haifa teams were the first Premier League teams in which Arab players participated. With time, additional teams that included Arab players won considerable support among Arab soccer fans. For the Haifa teams, based close to Arab population centers in the north, the inclusion of an Arab star turned out to be a highly profitable financial move; thousands of fans traveled from the Arab towns and villages in the Galilee and the northern Triangle to watch the team.

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Chapter
Information
Arab Soccer in a Jewish State
The Integrative Enclave
 , pp. 102 - 127
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2007

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