Mac PT loses as storm clouds still swirl over IFA

Hapoel Beersheba reestablished a three-point gap over Maccabi Petah Tikva and the relegation zone on Monday night, a day after having it erased by a controversial Israel Football Association High Court decision.

Yossi Shivhon’s 13th-minute goal from the edge of the area after a solo effort was enough to give Beersheba a 1-0 victory and all three points against Maccabi Petah Tikva at a Vasermil Stadium buzzing with 11,000 outraged fans.

Israeli soccer was plunged into turmoil on Sunday after the High Court chose to partially accept Petah Tikva’s appeal and delay to next season the three-point deduction it was handed the previous week following the violence displayed by its employees after the match against Hapoel Haifa.

Beersheba owner Alona Barkat resigned from her position in the IFA’s secretariat in protest of the ruling that benefitted Petah Tikva, which was run in the past by current IFA chairman Avi Luzon and is owned by his brother Amos.

Earlier Monday, soccer legend Eyal Berkovic called for Avi Luzon to quit and preached to fans to stop buying tickets to matches in a rally he arranged outside IFA headquarters in Ramat Gan.

“I call on Avi Luzon to resign,” Berkovic told around 250 soccer supporters who attended the rally organized by the former Israel international.

“I don’t care if Maccabi Petah Tikva gets relegated or not, but the Luzon family has brought this on itself.

“The protest will only continue to grow. There were 300 people here today, but next time there will be 5,000. At some stage, everyone will understand that we are going to bring about a real change. Around 99 percent of the people think as I do, but they are scared to speak up.

“I demand to set up a new league administration which will run soccer without a conflict of interests. Teams need to break away from the IFA. “The current system doesn’t allow the IFA to correct the real problems plaguing Israeli soccer.”