ISRAEL: FOOTBALL/SOCCER - Vandals break into offices of the Israel Football Association in Tel Aviv

Record ID: 396210

  • Title: ISRAEL: FOOTBALL/SOCCER - Vandals break into offices of the Israel Football Association in Tel Aviv
  • Date: 17th January 2008
  • Summary: TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (JANUARY 16, 2008) (REUTERS) LIGHTING EQUIPMENT ON FLOOR NEAR WALL READING "THE ISRAEL FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION" WIDE OF ASSOCIATION BUILDING LOBBY AND MEN MAKING REPAIRS MAN ON LADDER WORKING ON CEILING
  • Embargoed: 1st February 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA2S3NQ52WRJPL7V7ITRD37SSV9
  • Story Text: Vandals light fires, damage equipment and scrawl graffiti after breaking into the offices of the Israel Football Association in Tel Aviv.
    Vandals on Wednesday (January 16) broke into the offices of the Israel Football Association in Tel Aviv, setting fire to property, causing some damage to equipment and scrawling graffiti on the walls, police and fire officials said.
    Nobody was hurt in the attack, which took place in the early hours of the morning and the identity of the vandals was not immediately known, but the graffiti appeared to indicate that they were supporters of the Israeli team, Beitar Jerusalem.
    Ori Shilo, the chief executive of the IFA described the vandalism as "an act of barabarism".

    "We're going to keep going, with a lot of motivation, to fight the violence, racism in the sports - in the stadiums, outside the stadiums. We will not fear. We will not step back, and we will keep fighting and doing, and bringing it to the agenda - the fight against violence, the fight against hooligans. And we - until the end that we will win and we will keep them out of the pitches, and the stadiums," Shilo told Reuters after a press conference.
    Pictures posted on Hebrew sports Web site ONE (www.one.co.il) showed graffiti threatening to kill IFA officials, one of which said "Luzon must die", referring to the chairman of the IFA Avi Luzon.
    Another spray painted message said "We will harm whoever harms Beitar."
    Luzon has been targeted by Beitar fans after the club was punished by an IFA tribunal as a result of racist chanting by some Beitar supporters in a match earlier this season.
    Beitar's punishment was to play their league fixture last Saturday (January 12) behind closed doors, resulting in their first home defeat of the season.
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