Maccabi Masters Football Tour 2014
search

The latest Jewish News

Read this week’s digital edition

Click Here

Maccabi Masters Football Tour 2014

Twenty players and 12 supporters comprised the Maccabi Football Masters Israel Tour 2014, which saw the MGB football team play three matches as well as visiting the Sports Centre for the Disabled.

After an absence of three years, 17 players were making return visits, whereas three players and three supporters were joining the tour for the first time. Tour organiser Stuart Lustigman and Brian Cowan were the only ever presents.

Day 1:
PIC 1The group visited Dialogue in the Dark, a quite extraordinary experience where each individual is given a stick and is guided by a blind or visually impaired person through different sets of scenery for over one hour but in complete darkness and having to use other senses to determine the nature of the scene. The group then moved onto the Israel Sports Centre for the Disabled after being shown the outstanding facilities for rehabilitation, some of the group participated in wheelchair basketball. 

In the evening the team played their first game against a team of Chilean immigrants who, although veterans, were still some 10/15 years younger than the GB team. Despite two goals from Marc Morris and a long-range effort from Ian Leader, Chile ran out 9-3 winners.

PIC 2

Day 2:
The group spent a more relaxing day in Nachalet Binyamin and Carmel markets having lunch in lunch in Dr Shakshuka and then either shopping in Jaffe or a visit to the beach before Kabbalat Shabbat.

Day 3:
Shabbat

Day 4:
The group visited the Ariel Sharon Park which was, until quite recently, a major refuse dump for central Israel and now undergoing a major transformation into a leisure park and animal sanctuary. The long term plan is expected to take 15 years to complete.

The second football match was against a team of Argentinian immigrants which proved a much closer game with the South Americans winning 3-2. Both GB’s goals were scored by Marc MorrisPIC 3

Day 5:
A day in Jerusalem with the group having a conducted tour around the most impressive Supreme Court and an explanation of the Israeli legal system. After lunch the group headed for the Kotel where a Hagomel Ceremony celebrated Jonathan Kaye’s first visit to Israel having missed the 2010 tour due to a serious illness.

PIC 4The day was completed with the group visiting United Hatzalah, a remarkable volunteer organisation that operates a rapid first response for medical emergencies using fully equipped ambucyles designed to save lives by reaching destinations in the shortest possible time, usually within minutes.

Day 6:
The group returned to Beit Uri in Afula which the masters had last visited during their first tour in 2002. Beit Uri, is home for 110 Jewish and Arab children, youth and adults in need of special care, many of whom will spend their entire lives in the security of this small but beautifully maintained village. PIC 5 The final match was against Israel (Ashdod) who went one down to a Simon Lawrence rocket from some 30 yards although they fought back to take a 2-1 lead with just 10 minutes remaining. Maccabi Masters were determined not to finish the tour on another defeat and found a further gear with Marc Morris and Ian Leader scoring a brace each to see the team home 5-2.

Stuart Lustigman said: “This might have been our eighth tour but Israel provides so many wonderful opportunities to explore our heritage and learn first-hand how the fledgling Jewish State has successfully developed and evolved in such a short time. And, oh yes, the football was great too!”

Other results:
Argentina 6 v Israel (Ashdod) 0
Chile 9 v Israel (Ashdod) 4
Argentina 3 v Chile 3
Chile won the tournament on goal difference from Argentina.

Final Standings:

P W D L F A Diff Points
Chile 3 2 1 0 21 10 11 7
Argentina 3 2 1 0 12 5 7 7
GB Masters 3 1 0 2 10 14 -4 3
Israel 3 0 0 3 6 20 -14 0
Support your Jewish community. Support your Jewish News

Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.

For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.

Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.

You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.

100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...

Engaging

Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.

Celebrating

There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.

Pioneering

In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.

Campaigning

Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.

Easy access

In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.

Voice of our community to wider society

The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.

We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.

read more: