Voice of Jewish Sport

WHILE THE Maccabi Masters Rep side and Hendon United C may have fallen short of the 46-45 shoot-out between Beecholme Colts and Woodley Saints Jaguars’ U15 sides in 2004, they still nevertheless spent the best part of half an hour working their way through 28 spot kicks to take part in the longest-ever penalty shoot-out in Jewish football history. A matter of the players keeping their nerve? By all accounts some of them couldn’t keep their feet as they wearily stepped up to take their kick. The players, managers and referee all say they’ve never seen anything like it before and one has to say it will be an extremely long time before they, or anyone of us, see something similar again.

THE ENGLAND Athletic Hall of Fame could only ever boast one Jewish athletics personality in it. That was until a few weeks ago; the figure has now trebled. Stanmore resident Mel Watman was recently inducted in recognition of his services to the sport. A founder member and honorary president of the British Athletics Writers’ Association, Mel has reported on every Olympic Games since 1960, and has written or edited 20 books, including official histories of the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) and Women’s AAA. Joining him is the late Sir Ludwig Guttmann, the founder of the Paralympic Games. Fleeing Germany in 1939, he believed severely disabled patients could benefit by taking part in sport, and is generally considered to be one of the founding fathers of the Paralympic Games. His daughter, Eva Loeffler, was Mayor of the London 2012 Paralympic Games athletes’ village, and accepted the award on his behalf. Both are in good company as they join Harold Abrahams, the 1924 Olympic 100m champion.

JUST TO clarify, the first event of the Board of Deputies’ Young Professional Group takes place next Thursday evening, 12 December. Email james.martin@bod.org.uk for more details.