SAFETY issues seemed to have taken priority over tactics in the build-up to tonight’s Champions League second round qualifying match at the GSP stadium in Nicosia between Israel’s Maccabi Haifa and Belshina Bobrisk of Belarus.
The Israeli side practiced under tight security at Apoel’s Nicosia training facilities last night in preparation for a game that has dragged politics into sport and produced a bitter cocktail.
Sources in Israel suggested yesterday the security cost to the Israeli football association would be somewhere between $100,000 and $300,000. This would encompass the use of Cypriot police in addition to the cost of bringing over members of their own armed guard to protect their footballers.
The same sources said the Israelis had on Monday been given permission to bring over armed guards as they had the last time an Israeli side played in Cyprus, but only after intervention by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. The protracted security negotiations saw the players miss their planned flight and have to wait until the evening before arriving in Larnaca.
In March, Hapoel Tel Aviv beat AC Milan 1-0 at the GSP in Nicosia, watched by nearly 5,000 supporters from Israel. Tonight’s match is only expected to draw a few hundred fans, but security measures will be at a similarly high level.
An agreement exists between the Cypriot and Israeli FAs (ratified by the government) that if tonight’s game is concluded safely and without any threat to security, Israel’s other two teams (Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv) playing in the UEFA Cup will be permitted to stage their ‘home’ ties at the same venue.
However, according to the Israeli source, alternative venues at Riga in Latvia and Sofia in Bulgaria have already been mooted because of the costs involved in playing in Cyprus and because questions on the Israeli side have been raised over the level of co-operation offered by the Cypriot authorities for staging tonight’s game.
Gavri Levi, Chairman of the Israeli FA, was quoted as saying the intervention of President Glafcos Clerides had been required in order for an agreement to be reached. The source believes the high level of concern on the part of the Cypriot authorities centres on the possibility of Palestinians in Cyprus targeting the match in the wake of continuing violence in the region.
UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, has ordered all Israeli clubs to play their ‘home’ matches in Cyprus because of concerns over security in Israel.. Cyprus was chosen for its close proximity to Israel and the success of the clash between Hapoel Tel Aviv and AC Milan in last season’s UEFA cup competition.
Maccabi Haifa are expected to defeat the team from Belarus, setting up a third round tie with Sturm Graz of Austria and the right to play in the group stages of the competition. However, security concerns will rise to an even greater level for that match, after scenes of violence by Austrian fans on Saturday. A friendly match played at Eisenstadt between Arsenal and Rapid Vienna had to be abandoned after 69 minutes when Rapid fans clashed with police, forcing the players to take cover and resulting in the Austrian authorities having to provide assurances on safety before Arsenal agreed to continue their tour.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
