United in grief

Israeli basketball will never be the same after the untimely death of Uri Shelef.

By ALLON SINAI
Uri Shelef (photo credit: ODED KARNI/BSL)
Uri Shelef
(photo credit: ODED KARNI/BSL)
It is a well-known fact that no one person is bigger than the club.
However, in many aspects, Uri Shelef was the club.
His official title was team manager of Hapoel Tel Aviv Basketball Club. But Shelef was so much more than that. He was one of the founders of the fan-owned Hapoel Ussishkin, which ultimately became Hapoel Tel Aviv, and the everyday running of the club rested mainly on his shoulders.
His untimely and shocking death from a cardiac arrest at the age of 43 at the beginning of last week rocked the club to its foundations and left a void that will be almost impossible to fill.
Those who will miss him more than anyone else will of course be his family and friends, with Shelef leaving behind a wife and two children.
But he also had an extended basketball family.
Perhaps more than anyone else, Shelef was responsible for the resurrection of Hapoel Tel Aviv. Shelef, who played at the club in the 1990s but never recorded the success achieved by his brother Gur at Maccabi Tel Aviv, helped set up the fan-owned Hapoel Ussishkin in the summer of 2007 following the collapse of Hapoel Tel Aviv. He voluntarily coached the side for two seasons, helping it twice gain promotion, before becoming the team’s manager.
The club continued to climb up the divisions and in December 2009 reached another milestone when it took over the name and heritage rights of the original Hapoel Tel Aviv team after it was officially liquidated.
Hapoel finally returned to the top flight in the 2012/13 season and took another step forward on the way to reclaiming its place among Israel’s top sides when it moved into its new arena at the former site of Tel Aviv’s iconic drive-in movie theater in January of this year.
Shelef played a major role in every step of the way and his death united Israeli basketball in grief.
“Something in the club has broken and nothing will ever return to be the way it was,” said a Hapoel statement.
Hapoel’s league game against Maccabi Ashdod, which was originally scheduled for last Monday, was postponed by three days, with Shelef’s funeral taking place instead. A special ceremony honoring him was held ahead of the BSL contest last Thursday, eventually won by Hapoel, and after which many of the team’s players and fans were left in tears following such an emotional night.
It isn’t often that Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv fans unite in applause, but Shelef’s tragic death resulted in exactly that ahead of Sunday’s derby clash between the sides.
Uri’s brother, Gur, a former Maccabi captain, accepted a token from current yellow-and-blue captain Yogev Ohayon ahead of a minute’s applause that was respected by both sets of supporters.
Uri and Gur’s father, Ami, was also a basketball player and coach, playing for the Israel national team and going on to coach Hapoel Tel Aviv. He died at the age of 52 when his children were still teenagers.
Shelef’s love for the game and genuine belief that sport can change society for the better wasn’t lost on anyone. He was part of a group of a handful of visionaries who set out on an impossible dream eight years ago: a heartbroken group of fans embarking on a quest to build a club from scratch amidst the demise of their beloved team.
But the inconceivable became a reality and the resurrection was finally completed in January.
Rising from the ruins of the demolished Ussishkin Arena, Hapoel finally entered its new home at the former site of the drive-in. Hapoel’s homecoming party was perfect, with Oded Katash’s team beating Hapoel Jerusalem 81-67 in front of a sold-out crowd of 3,500 supporters.
Captain Matan Naor, the only player on the Hapoel roster to have also played at Ussishkin, had missed the previous four weeks due to injury, but there was no way he was not going to play on Sunday.
“I have never been so excited to get on the floor,” he said after the game. “I can’t put into words how much I waited for this game. I told the players that this was a special moment for me and the fans but that we still had a long road ahead of us.”
The red fans looked to be embarking on a hopeless journey in the summer of 2007 when they set up Hapoel Ussishkin. Hapoel Tel Aviv was on its way to relegation to the third division and the team’s Ussishkin home arena had been demolished by the Tel Aviv Municipality.
A supporters’ trust was created and the team began its life in the fifth tier. Membership was set at an annual fee of NIS 300 (since rising to NIS 400), with more than 1,900 supporters currently enlisted. Each member has the right to vote in the non-profit organization’s general assembly held at least twice a year and can put his name forward to be chosen to the club’s management, which is selected once every two years.
Despite the cost of running a successful team in the top flight, Hapoel fans have managed to retain an 85 percent controlling stake of the senior club and full control of the youth department.
In its first season back in the top flight, Hapoel claimed its first win over arch-rival Maccabi Tel Aviv in the derby in nine years. The side ended up reaching the quarterfinal playoffs, an achievement it repeated last season, while also progressing to the State Cup semifinals.
A few hours after the end of the team’s first game at the drive-in, Naor summed up the emotional night on Facebook.
“I know everyone might not agree with me, but today I can say this loud and clear: We are lucky Ussishkin was demolished,” he said. “Not just because we received a bigger home, but mainly because of the team that rose from the ruins of Ussishkin. I think the demolition showed a lack of respect to the fans and a lack of respect to sport and the history that was lost. However, from the destruction and despair, rose a team of people who achieved the impossible.”
In an interview with The Jerusalem Post four years ago, Shelef laid out his vision for the club to which he always remained true. He spoke of the importance of the fans retaining control of the club and of ensuring the roster always maintained a clear Israeli identity.
“We will never relinquish control of the club,” he noted. “We will never be just another team. With fans like ours we can’t be just another team.”
Hapoel has yet to name someone to replace Shelef, with his many responsibilities currently being split between those who had worked with him. That is only appropriate considering how unique Shelef was at the club and in Israeli basketball as a whole. He will be greatly missed.