Israel Basketball

Hapoel Tel Aviv is an Israeli basketball club. It is considered the second largest club in Israel in terms of trophies and followers. It was established as part of the Tel Aviv Histadrut branch.

In 1995 it was sold to private businessmen, and since then it has suffered from financial problems which led to its relegation twice to the second division and a boycott by most of its fans, blaming the current owners for the club's poor status.

"Hapoel" (i.e. the worker) Tel Aviv basketball club (Hebrew: מועדון הכדורסל הפועל תל אביב), or "Hapoel" ,is the second largest basketball club in Israel. It was founded in 1935, as part of the Tel Aviv branch of the "Hapoel" sports cooperative, the sports department of the Histadrut labour union. The 15 years following the foundation of the Israeli national league in 1954 are still considered as the golden age in the club's history. During which it has won most of its trophies and risen to become a dominant force in Israeli basketball. However, since then the club has failed to repeat its past success and was forced to watch as its bitter city rivals Maccabi Tel aviv beat them constantly on the race to trophies and European glory.

In 1980 the club built the "Usishkin" arena, named after Menachem Usishkin, a famous Histadrut leader. With 2000 seats, it is generally considered as an architectural disaster due to its lack of air conditioning and poor facilities. The uncomfortable conditions, along with the fact Hapoel Tel Aviv's fans are considered amongst the most fanatic in Israeli sports, has contributed to the fact "Osishkin" is known for an extremely hostile atmosphere for away teams.

In 1995 the Histadrut decided to suspend financial support of all its "Hapoel" sports teams, including Hapoel Tel Aviv. The club was sold to a group of private businessmen. Since 1998, it is under the ownership of Shaul Eizenberg, an Israeli businessman and press officer of the Israel Football Association. Except for three years of financial support by Russian Billionaire Vladimir Gosinsky, the club has since consistently suffered from financial difficulties, mainly due to poor management. The result of this was an immediate deterioration in the club's status and stability, which led to relegation twice to the second league, in 1998 and 2000. During this period the club also conceded its most humiliating defeat of all times by the hands of no less than local rivals Maccabi Tel Aviv by a staggering 54 points difference. This being part of a previously unthinkable streak of 9 defeats in one season to Maccabi Tel Aviv.

For years "Hapoel" and "Maccabi" Tel Aviv were considered the top flight clubs of Israeli basketball. The Local derby matches between the two teams were always considered to be the most prestigious games in Israeli sports, and ones which led to a bitter and hateful atmosphere between fans of both clubs, often resulting in acts of mutual violence and Hooliganism. The tension between both clubs reached its peak in the 1980's. During this era they met for several times in the league's Play-off finals and state cup finals. Until this day, These matches are still regarded as the most exciting and attractive in Israeli basketball history.

During the years as Maccabi Tel Aviv strengthened its dominance in Israeli basketball and its status as the almost-eternal champions, "Hapoel" fans accused their rival's management of various wrongful doing, including offering bribes to referees, signing contracts with rival players during the regular season and playoff series, and receiving exaggerated funds from state television for broadcasting rights. With the decline of "Hapoel" in recent years the matches between both clubs became somewhat one-sided. This of course only led to the strengthening of hatred and repeated violent acts between the fans.