Violence erupts at soccer match after fans of Arab team turn backs on national anthem

Hapoel Beersheba supporters rush stands holding Bnei Sakhnin fans who made insulting gesture before game; 12 arrested, match canceled, both teams likely facing punishment

By ToI Staff 3 September 2024, 2:47 am Edit
Footage posted to social media shows Hapoel Beersheba fans and Bnei Sakhnin fans fighting on the soccer pitch after the latter team's fans turned their backs during the national anthem, Turner Stadium, Beersheba, September 1, 2024. (X;used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

A violent clash erupted at a soccer match Sunday when fans of an Israeli premier league team charged across the field to fight fans of Arab Israeli team Bnei Sakhnin after some of them turned their backs during the national anthem ahead of the kickoff.

Twelve people were arrested during the ensuing police intervention, and although officials tried to restart the match, Bnei Sakhnin players refused to play and the game against Hapoel Beersheba was canceled.

Both teams were expected to face punishments over the incident, with Bnei Sakhnin suffering a technical loss.

The premier league match was held at the Turner Stadium in Beersheba, Hapoel’s home venue. The national anthem was played before kickoff but some Bnei Sakhnin fans were seen turning their backs in protest.

Dozens of Hapoel fans then invaded the pitch and charged toward the Bnei Sakhnin section, some of them carrying poles that were reportedly taken from flags they brought to the game.

Video of the clash showed that as the mob reached the Bnei Sakhnin section, some of those fans also burst onto the field and a fight broke out.

As the melee raged, the Bnei Sakhnin players abandoned the field and returned to their changing room. Police separated the opposing fans and 12 were arrested, five from Hapoel and seven from Bnei Sakhnin according to the Ynet outlet.

Although a new kickoff was set, the Bnei Sakhnin players refused to return to the field, fearing for their safety, even though police insisted that there was no reason to not hold the game. Eventually, the match was aborted.

Bnei Sakhnin chair Muhamed Abu Younis criticized security arrangements at the stadium as well as the police.

“I never thought this could happen,” he told Ynet.

“I want the game to happen and I want to win on the grass,” he said. “The question is, will we suffer a technical loss or will we not be held guilty for what happened.”

Alona Barkat, Hapoel Beersheba owner, said that she does not justify how her team’s fans behaved, but that what the Bnei Sakhnin fans did was “outrageous” coming as it did, after six hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip were executed by the Palestinian terror group shortly before Israeli forces reached them.

“I think what we saw today is part of the phenomenon of dishonoring the national anthem,” she said. “Even on such an emotional day, we can’t respect the anthem?”

According to Ynet, when the two teams met at the Turner venue in last year’s season, Bnei Sakhnin fans also whistled and booed during the national anthem, leading to suspicions that the Hapoel fans came to the Sunday game ready to take action.

Sakhnin mayor and former Bnei Sakhnin chairman Mazan Ganaim told the Kan public broadcaster in an interview Monday that the offense to the national anthem “crossed red lines” but accused the Beersheba fans of planning the violence.

“How do you explain that 200 masked people with sticks burst onto the grass?” he asked.

Police sources told Ynet that they had no intelligence indicating there would be a clash.

Both teams are likely to face an Israel Football Association tribunal, reports said. While Bnei Sakhnin, currently in fourth place on the league table, will suffer a technical loss, it will be considered a refusal to play the match, rather than the more serious offense of a no-show, Ynet reported.

Hapoel, in fifth place in the table, will be tried over the behavior of its fans and is likely to have points taken off its league standing as well as a heavy fine, the report said.

Without citing sources, Channel 12 reported that league officials are also considering banning Bnei Sakhnin fans from attending the team’s away games and not allowing visiting fans to attend home games.

Most Popular
read more: