1927–28 in Mandatory Palestine football

The 1927–28 season was the 1st season of competitive football in the British Mandate for Palestine under the Eretz Israel Football Association, which was established during the season, on 18 July 1928, and thus it can also be considered to be the first season of competitive football in Israel.

Football in Mandatory Palestine

Season	1927–28
1928–29 →

IFA Competitions

1928 People's Cup

Main article: 1928 Palestine Cup

The first State Cup, then called People's Cup was held during early 1928, with Hapoel Tel Aviv and Maccabi Hasmonean Jerusalem reaching the final. Hapoel won the cup by beating their opponents 2–0 in the final. However, the cup was later shared, as Maccabi Hasmonean appealed the result to the EIFA.[1]

26 May 1928

Maccabi Hasmonean Jerusalem	0–2	Hapoel Allenby Tel Aviv
		66' Poliakov  81' Nudelman

Old Maccabi Tel Aviv ground

Attendance: 6000

Referee: Adams

Mond Cup

During a visit to Palestine, Sir Alfred Mond suggested a forming a Jewish unified team to tour The UK. In order to set the squad of the team which will be sent abroad, a competition, named "Mond Cup", in honor of Sir Mond, was organized between the four top Jewish teams, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Hapoel Haifa and Maccabi Hasmonean Jerusalem in which The four teams would play each other in a league format, after which the best players would be selected to the team.[2] Eventually, after the competition, due to disagreements between the clubs no team was composed and the tour didn't take place.[3][4] The competition included the first ever competitive Tel Aviv derby match, which was played at Maccabi ground on 24 June 1928 and resulted in a 1–1 draw. The return fixture, played on 21 July 1928 was won 3–1 by Hapoel.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Hapoel Tel Aviv	6	3	2	1	12	4	+8	8
2	Hapoel Haifa	6	4	0	2	13	8	+5	8
3	Maccabi Tel Aviv	5	2	1	2	12	9	+3	5
4	Maccabi Hasmonean Jerusalem	5	0	1	4	4	20	−16	1

Source:

Results

Home \ Away	HHA	HTA	MHJ	MTA
Hapoel Haifa		2–0	4–3	1–0
Hapoel Tel Aviv	1–0		7–0	3–1
Maccabi Jerusalem	0–3	0–0		1–6
Maccabi Tel Aviv	4–3	1–1	–[lower-alpha 1]

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

1. The match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Maccabi Hasmonean Jerusalem, which was postponed from 16 June 1928 to 28 July 1928, wasn't played as both teams were already lost chance to top the table.

Notable events

• The first known match played by Hapoel Kfar Saba was held against Hapoel Magdiel in autumn 1927, and resulted in a 4–1 victory.[5]
• On 13 October 1927, Maccabi Tiberias celebrated the inauguration of its stadium in the presence of several dignitaries, including the president of the World Zionist Organization, and later President of Israel, Chaim Weizmann, with several sport events, including a match against Maccabi HaGibor Haifa, which ended with a 1–0 loss to the hosts.[6][7][8]
• On 12 November 1927, Hapoel Tel Aviv ground was opened with a match between the hosts and Wireless Company from Sarafand, resulting in a 2–1 to Hapoel.[9][10]
• During the second half of November 1927 Maccabi Hasmonean Jerusalem took a brief tour in Egypt, playing against two teams, International of Cairo, losing 2–5, on 20 November 1927,[11][12] and Athos club of Alexandria on 27 November 1927, drawing 1–1.[13][14]
• On 25 February 1928, Maccabi Tel Aviv hosted Hapoel Tel Aviv on Maccabi ground for the first ever Tel Aviv derby. Maccabi won the match 3–0,[15][16][17][18][19] A week later Hapoel hosted a rematch, this time Maccabi won 2–1.[20][21]
• In mid-March Hapoel Haifa went to Beirut upon invitation of the American College. The planned match between the teams didn't take place, and Hapoel played only one match, against a Beirut XI, winning 4–1.[22][23]
• On 7 April 1928 and 11 April 1928 Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv met for a double set of matches, the first was won by Maccabi 4–0,[24] while Hapoel recorded its first ever derby win on the second match, 1–0.[25]
• Hapoel Haifa and Hapoel Tel Aviv met in a two-legged tie for the Po'alei Mahane HaYarden Cup (Hebrew: גביע פועלי מחנה הירדן‎, lit. Jordan Camp Workers Cup). On 31 March 1928 Hapoel Tel Aviv won the first match in Haifa 2–0.[26] The second match, played on 14 April 1928, and kicked off by noted Belgian statesman Emile Vandervelde, was abandoned with a score of 1–1 after a Hapoel Haifa player was sent off and the team left the field in protest.[27][28]

References

1. Godlberg, Asher. "The Cup That Was Split Between Allenby and Hasmonean". football.org.il (in Hebrew). Israeli Football Association. Archived from the original on 13 October 2013. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
2. Competition for Mond Cup Do'ar HaYom, 14 June 1928, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
3. The Lord Establishes a Hebrew Football Team Haim Kaufman, Yad Ben Zvi (in Hebrew)
4. Tour of England Postponed Do'ar HaYom, 13 September 1928, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
5. In Hapoel Branches Davar, 19 October 1927, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
6. Inauguration of Maccabi ground in Tiberias Do'ar HaYom, 10 October 1927, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
7. Tiberias - Inauguration of Maccabi ground Davar, 23 October 1927, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
8. Inauguration of Maccabi ground in Tiberias Celebration Do'ar HaYom, 23 October 1927, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
9. In Hapoel Branches The Palestine Bulletin, 14 November 1927, Historical Jewish Press
10. Tel Aviv - Opening of Hapoel Ground Davar, 13 November 1927, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
11. The First Competition of Hasmonean In Egypt, the Scores 2:5 to the Egyptians Do'ar HaYom, 21 November 1927, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
12. Maccabii Hasmonean Match in Cairo Do'ar HaYom, 27 November 1927, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
13. The Second Competition of Hasmonean in Egypt, One vs. One Do'ar HaYom, 28 November 1927, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
14. Palestine Footballers V. Greeks at Alexandria Do'ar HaYom, 29 November 1927, Historical Jewish Press
15. Goldberg, Asher (5 March 2012). "The First Derby of Tel Aviv". Israeli Football Association. Archived from the original on 28 May 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
16. Tel Aviv - In Sport Davar, 24 February 1928, Historical Jewish Press
17. Tel Aviv - In Sport Davar, 26 February 1928, Historical Jewish Press
18. Jaffa Tel Aviv - Between Maccabi and Hapoel Do'ar HaYom, 28 February 1928, Historical Jewish Press
19. In Sport Davar, 29 February 1928, Historical Jewish Press
20. Tel Aviv - In Sport Davar, 4 March 1928, Historical Jewish Press
21. In Sport Davar, 8 March 1928, Historical Jewish Press
22. Haifa - In Hapoel Davar, 21 March 1928, Historical Jewish Press
23. In Towns and Settlements - International Competition Do'ar HaYom, 22 March 1928, Historical Jewish Press
24. In Sport Davar, 10 April 1928, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
25. Tel Aviv - In Sport Davar, 12 April 1928, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
26. Haifa - In Sport Davar, 1 April 1928, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
27. Tel Aviv - In Sport Davar, 15 April 1928, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
28. In Sport Davar, 18 April 1928, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)