Beitar Jerusalem to start keeping Shabbat

The Beitar Jerusalem soccer team, which has tended to make more headlines of late for its racist and violent fan base than its on-field play, on Saturday announced it would stop conducting games on the Jewish day of rest.

The team announced that games would be held either on Saturday evenings or on weekdays, in line with a decision made by the club’s new owner, Eli Tabib.

“The club is convinced that the move is of utmost importance for a number of reasons, among them the wish to accommodate the religious-traditional crowd which is not able to attend the team’s home games,” read a statement released by the club announcing the change.

“Because games are played on Saturdays, many fans have given up on the possibility of coming to Teddy [Stadium] and purchasing a subscription. Despite the financial risk, Eli Tabib has decided to accommodate the fans and enable more groups to come [to games] and cheer their team on.”