It’s not difficult to see why North London Raiders went for Daniel Shafron. There’s a certain calming reassurance from the man who by his own admission “has big boots to fill” after replacing Rob Richman and Jonathan Green at the helm of the hottest ticket in Jewish football.
The conditions in Spain will make things incredibly tough for the Maccabi GB boys. I’ve played cricket at the Maccabiah
Games in Israel in temperatures hitting 45 degrees but back-to-back games in a day will be a real test of their mental and physical fitness.
Dovi Fehler, David Garfinkle and Ethan Zone – the three most high-profile members of the squad – should be fine but the lower division players will find the going tough and squad rotation will be the name of the game.
I recall players dropping like flies at the 2014 EMFT at Rowley Lane. It was hot then but the Costa del Sol in June will be a whole new ball game.
David Wolff, the MGBSFL chairman, will lead the squad as Head of Delegation. He made some interesting observations in his end-of-season report (which you can read online).
He expressed “disappointment” about 17 defaulted matches (compared to 14 the previous season) and described the figure as “unacceptable”. He quipped: “The idea is to play, not to award matches at committee meetings.”
One bright spot was the continued proud record of 100 per cent coverage of match referees. The number of cautions issued and dismissals were down from season 2014/15, although there are fewer teams in the league so “a true comparison is not available”. For the record, there were 409 yellow cards and 30 red.
Wolff said: “There is still a small element who are reluctant to accept decisions and find themselves being cautioned and dismissed. These attitudes can only cause the league to lose officials which it can ill afford.”
* As a Liverpool fan, I’ll always have a soft spot for Yossi Benayoun. He had a love-hate relationship with Maccabi Haifa fans following a turbulent season, but I was surprised that he chose Maccabi Tel Aviv as his next club.
Being the experienced head in Hapoel Beer Sheva’s Champions League campaign would’ve made more sense to me. But Maccabi are determined to reclaim their title at the first attempt and it’s a good bit of business for them.
* In 2005 the Maccabi GB Open Football squad appointed Les Reed as head coach and reached the final. Let’s hope the presence of Chris Ramsey’s will be a good omen for the Women’s Football team.
* Shachar Head, who won several titles at the British Universities Powerlifting Championships in March, has been selected to attend a talent identification event for power sports in preparation for the 2020 Olympic Games.
* Putting Harry Kane on corners might just be Roy Hodgson’s “wally with a brolly” moment. I’m sure there’s some method to the madness but just what was he thinking?
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