Voice of Jewish Sport

NICOLAS Anelka’s misdemeanours have been well documented over the past seven days, but he’s not alone in being engulfed in racial controversy. Eyal Berkovic, the former Southampton, West Ham, Celtic, Blackburn, Man City and Portsmouth midfielder, has never been the shrinking violet type, and he was giving it both barrels on Israeli radio this past week. Talking to MK Ahmed Tibi, a Palestinian-Israeli politician and leader of the Arab Movement for Change, there was more than a heated debate over the airwaves at 102FM. Discussing amongst other things, Beitar Jerusalem’s Israeli and Arab fans, Berkovic called him an “Israel-hater”, how he should be expelled from Israel and told him, on air, to “p*ss off”. Tibi responded by calling him “racist garbage” and that he “wasn’t worthy of my shoe”, before it really got tasty. Berkovic, who was once famously on the receiving end of John Hartson’s foot, said: “I can’t stand it that in the stands they’re flying Palestinian flags and flags of other Arab countries. … Either we’re playing in Israel or in Palestine.” Tibi responded: “What do you think of their chanting ‘Death to the Arabs’?”, to which the reply was: “If you’re allowed Palestinian flags, then they’re allowed to do whatever they want.” Tibi ended by labelling him “shameless, racist, and inferior…” By all accounts, this is just another day in Israel…

HAVING graced the likes of the Nou Camp and San Siro, played at World Cups and European Championships, Barnet’s 40-year-old player-manager Edgar Davids, who is also a Champions League winner, has revealed he’s considering retiring from playing. While it may not be a case of going out at the top – the decision coming after he picked up his third red card of the season at Salisbury – if he does finally call it a day, it would represent the end of the playing career of the most successful ever Jewish footballer.