Shabbat soccer in Israel about to be ruled offside

Soccer games in Israel’s top two leagues may be called off this weekend, and Saturday soccer may be called off for good, in a labor dispute surrounding whether players need to suit up on the Jewish day of rest.

Both the Premier and National leagues, as well as youth leagues, may cancel their games as the Israel Football Association’s ultimatum to Economy Minister Aryeh Deri requesting he issue authorization for teams to play on Shabbat draws near its Tuesday deadline.

Last week, IFA Chairman Ofer Eini announced that unless Deri issued a work permit officially allowing players, coaches and association staff to practice or play on Saturdays, all matches would be suspended until further notice, starting this weekend. Deri, the leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, is unlikely to intervene.

Eini’s ultimatum came on the heels of a ruling by a Labor Court Judge Ariella Glitzer who last week said that organizing or participating in soccer matches on Shabbat was technically illegal, and ordered the IFA obtain a work waiver from Deri.

Glitzer made her decision after hundreds of players petitioned the IFA, refusing to play games on the day of rest, which lasts from sunset on Friday until nightfall on Saturday.

In their letter, the athletes claimed that requiring them to play on Shabbat violated Israel’s Work and Rest Hours law, a largely ignored 1951 piece of legislation that prohibits employees from working on the Sabbath without a special dispensation from the economy minister.

IFA officials argue that the majority of the 30,000 players on 1,000 teams that will be affected by the Saturday soccer suspension are school-aged children.

“If the minister doesn’t give permission to play on Shabbat, soccer will stop. From the professional level to kid’s leagues, there will be no more soccer in Israel,” IFA spokesperson Shlomi Barzel said last week.

Since then, neither side has budged. Club managers insisted that the teams play on Shabbat, while players, some religiously observant and others not, have refused.

Without waiting for the final decision, Israel’s Lottery, Toto, announced Monday that it had already replaced the Israeli teams with European teams on this week’s “Winner 16” ticket.

On Sunday, Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev said she was working with both sides to reach a compromise, but had yet to reach a breakthrough.

Barzel said he is confident that a compromise can be reached that would involve letting teams play on Saturday.

“I don’t think we’ll have a religious war because I think religious people have understood with the years that if you decided to be religious you have to pay the price. Aryeh Deri is ultra-Orthodox but on the other hand he is a pragmatic man,” he said.

IFA spokesperson Eitan Dota told AFP last week that “if the government denies us authorization to play on Shabbat, all matches, including the national league and youth championships, will be canceled until further notice from September 12.”

Barring government action, the ruling officially enters into effect on that date.

AFP contributed to this report