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Curators: Yoram E. Shamir and Rotem Kislev

    

Common Ground

When thinking about the relations between population groups in  Palestine-Eretz Israel, it often seems as if there has always been a state of confrontation between Jews and Arabs. A similar image of confrontation between the Jews and the British during the Mandate Period also emerges, mainly with regard to the struggle of Jewish groups such as the Irgun (Etzel) and Stern Gang (Lechi) against British mandatory rule, as well as opposition to British treatment of illegal Jewish immigrants (ma'apilim) during this period. Nonetheless, the sporting ties between Jews, Arabs and the British, as manifested in football, suggests that at least in the realm of sport, a single complex reality existed in which cooperation was the rule and not the exception. While national identity remained a key characteristic of sports in Mandatory Palestine, athletic events served as an arena for encounters between diverse communities.
 
This does not mean that the tension did not affect the relationships between athletes. For example, due to the protests sparked in the Yishuv (organized Jewish community) following publication of the Passfield White Paper in 1930, games between British and Jewish clubs were halted; and in 1934, in protest against the treatment to which they were subjected, the Arab groups left the Football Association of Eretz Israel, establishing a short-lived parallel organization of their own. It must also be noted, though, that crowds were also known to extend warm receptions to teams from other population groups. For example, the report of a game between the Moslem Club of Jaffa and Maccabi Rehovot held at the Rehovot Soccer Field in 1941, stated: “The Arab teams were welcomed with sympathetic cries from soccer enthusiasts in Rehovot." Throughout the Mandate period, the rulings of the Association were made in the spirit of good sportsmanship and without any evident bias in favor of the Jewish teams.

 

A New Middle East

Football was played not only within the borders of Mandatory Palestine, but also on the international stage. The main athletic ties of the Jewish groups with the Arab countries of Egypt, Lebanon and Syria began in 1927. No confrontations are reported in newspaper reports of these games through the beginning of the 1940s.

 

Kicking in Wartime

Considering the football ties between the different population groups in Mandatory Palestine, it seems that the lens of conflict through which we are accustomed to view the history of this place must be removed. Conflict did not always exist, but rather developed over the years, as can be readily observed on the football pitch. Over time, in the realm of football, a process of separation between the Jewish institutions and teams and those of the Arab and British becomes apparent. This took place mainly during the period of WWII, when confrontations with both the Arab and British teams (as well as the other military teams) intensified.

While ending the games with the “foreign” teams was a natural process, due to the departure of most of the forces and government personnel from the area at the end of the war, stopping games between Jews and Arabs was the outcome of Association decisions which deviated from the spirit of good sportsmanship.

 

A Red Card

In the 1942 League Cup games, Maccabi Haifa was scheduled to play against the Royal Hellenic Army team in the quarter-finals, but the Greeks left Mandatory Palestine prior to the game and Maccabi Haifa was automatically promoted to the next round. One of the three remaining games in the quarter-finals, between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Shabab al-‘Arab, ended with a victory for the Jewish team, which had added to its roster two players slated for conscription. As such an addition was forbidden according to the rules of the Association, Maccabi Tel Aviv was disqualified from tournament play. Nonetheless, it was not the Arab team that benefitted from this disqualification. Maccabi Haifa, which had already been automatically bumped up to the semi-finals, was now automatically  placed in the finals. Shabab al-‘Arab’s appeal of this decision was rejected by the Association. Following the decision, a conflict ensued between the Arab teams and the Association, leading ultimately to their renouncing membership in 1943 and establishing the Arab Sports Association in May 1944.

The story of football in Mandatory Palestine illustrates how at the personal level, as manifested in athletic encounters, hostile relations did not always prevail between the Arab population and the Jewish Yishuv, and between both of these groups and the ruling British. In the 1930s and 1940s, Jews, Arabs and others continued to meet on the football field, almost through the end of the Mandate Period. During these years, it can be seen how, gradually and unfortunately, football came to function increasingly as a tool for political struggles rather than for cooperation and coexistence.