Voice of Jewish Sport: Third time’s a charm for Hendon United

SUNDAY AFTERNOON proved to be a case of third time lucky for Hendon United as they finally got their hands on some silverware this season. Having seen Norstar snatch their Premier Division title and Cyril Anekstein Cup away from them, David Garbacz’s side do come away with something to show for their efforts from the past year, having beaten AFC Flixton in the Peter Morrison cup final. Calling it a massive win, he conceded: “it would have been tough to take to finish runners-up in everything. We deserved to win some silverware and it puts the icing on what has been a great year again.” The win also denied the northerners a league and cup quadruple, though they had no qualms about the result admitting the better side on the day had won. Hendon are happy with their win, Flixton still have two more trophies to fight for up north to go with their league title, and that’s about that for the football season for another year.

AS SEPP BLATTER headed off to Jerusalem to meet Benjamin Netanyahu for ‘crisis talks’ (and to suggest another Peace match), the Palestinian Football Association (PFA), who brought about the talks by putting forward a motion to vote on Israel being banned from FIFA, have no doubt had their feathers further ruffled. An Israeli Football Association appeals court halved a two-point punishment for misconduct against Beitar Jerusalem after their fans chanted racial abuse at a rival team’s Arab player. With racism in Israeli football one of five concessions the PFA want to see an improvement on before they even think about withdrawing the motion, this reduction in the punishment couldn’t have come at a worse time. The court said it deliberated long and hard in coming to their decision, saying: “After considering the matter, we have decided – and not without hesitation – to give the club and its fans one final opportunity to show that they have indeed learned the required lessons and that from now on they will work to eradicate any racist chanting.” Over to Mr Blatter.