Soccer: the love of Israeli children

During my volunteering in Tel Aviv, I ask many Israelis if they like soccer. Many say they love the sport. Men, women, girls and boys tend to love the sport. When you ask which team they support, you will hear that they support a local team in Israel, and either Real Madrid of FC Barcelona. They will not even mention teams from the English Premier League, Italy, France, or Germany for instance. Many will say they support either Hapoel Tel Aviv or Maccabi Tel Aviv. Others say they support Beitar Jerusalem, or Maccabi Haifa. Many Israelis support a certain club due to their own political affiliation. Hapoel for instance had a working relation with the Labor Party and is usually seen as being the club of the Israeli political Left and Arabs. Beitar Jerusalem also have a certain fan base. Besides fans from Jerusalem, many fans of Beitar come from the Israeli political Right. 

Anyways, it is funny that these children are only concerned with Real Madrid, Barcelona, and their local Israeli team. It is funny because back home, many soccer fans will have a favorite English team as well as either like Real or Barcelona. Whenever there is free time to go to the park, or be outside in the playground, most of the boys and some of the girls will want to kick the ball around and play a game. Instead of baseball cards, many of the Israeli boys I work with collect soccer cards. They love to play and will find any place  to play soccer. There is a field on our street where many of boys in the neighborhood play soccer. Every Saturday afternoon you will find a group of kids along with an older gentlemen who acts like a coach for the kids playing soccer. Some of my friends have joined them before and it is always fun. They play till they cannot see the ball so they are very passionate about playing the game. Today's soccer was cut short, but they still showed up to play the game they love despite the heightened state here. It would take a lot for them not to show up. The best way to break the ice with a child is asking them if they love soccer. For the most part they will say they love it and want to drag you to play with them.