TEL AVIV (EJP)--- The thousands of supporters of the English national football team who packed into the National Stadium in Ramat Gan were clearly disappointed with their teams performance in the 0-0 draw with Israel on Saturday night.
But across the board the fans, the majority of whom were on their first trip to the holy land, said they were surprised and delighted by the welcome Israel had shown them throughout the weekend.
The crucial Euro 2008 qualifying match itself was somewhat of a damp squib in the end, with few scoring chances for either team. Both sets of fans had few opportunities to get excited about their team’s play.
And the subdued atmosphere in the stadium contrasted completely with the raucous but rarely aggressive mood that was felt all over Tel Aviv from Thursday night through to Saturday.
Fans fill the beach front
From the time the threat of a general strike preventing England supporters arriving in the country subsided on Wednesday, thousands arrived in Israel. Many were handed free hats and T-shirts on arrival and headed straight for the Tel Aviv beaches.
By Friday morning Tel Aviv’s beach front promenade was awash with red and white St George flags displaying the names of teams such as Hull City and Rotherham, oldham athletic as well as more established names like Chelsea, manchester united,liverpool arsenal.
There had been fears that the combination of warm weather and numerous pints of beer may turn the atmosphere more negative. But at bars like Mikes Place and Buzz Stop on the beach there was only good natured singing, banter and mixing between the English and the Israelis.
“This is the best ever reception we have ever had and I have traveled to nearly all the England away games over the last four years,” one fan told EJP.
“When we were in Croatia we were greeted by the police with batons which they hit us with.”
A number of events were held in connection with the game on Friday, including a peace tournament in Tel Aviv’s Ganei Yehoshua park featuring mixed Jewish and Arab children’s football teams, a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem by a group of England fans.
Former Israeli star footballer Ronnie Rosenthal, who now lives in London and works as a player agent, was one of the many celebrities who flew in for the game.
Rosenthal told EJP he is impressed with the various activities that have been organised. “I think it is a good public relations event apart from the game itself. It is good that it has been able to touch other areas and its been very positive. Theres not been a game between England and Israel here for 20 years so its great for the fans to be here.”
Kick it out
Legendary English footballer John Barnes returned to the country to show his support of the Kick racism and violence out of Israel football campaign which he helped launch last year.
Barnes joined former Israeli international Avi Cohen in a visit to Abu Ghosh, an Arab town which shares a local football team with the Jewish town of Maveseret Tzion.
“When i first came here a year ago I wondered what would happen. Because when Kick it Out first started in England it was a few people with an idea. We knew the problems in england and we thought in many respects it wouldn’t get any better,” Barnes said.
“The project here in Israel has only been going for one year but I can already see the difference in coming back this year to last year and how far it has gone in terms of the attention and in terms of how much has been done.”