During Israel's first three decades, Israeli football adopted the amateurism principle which prohibited football players from receiving any monetary or other compensation for playing football. Despite this prohibition, many top football players obtained sought-after jobs at Egged, Israel's leading transport cooperative, along with shares in the cooperative. Using a Bourdieusian theoretical framework, this paper examines Israeli football players' ability, most of whom came from the working or lower middle classes, to use the types of capital they amassed to improve their economic and social positions.

The Harlem Globetrotters basketball team visited Israel as part of its 1955 world tour. As representatives of American culture, the US team challenged the leaders of Israeli sports culture who sought to maintain a tight alignment between local sports, Zionist values, and political interests. This paper uses Debord's society of the spectacle theory to analyse the public criticism of the Globetrotters’ visit to Israel. The analysis finds that the critique, which extended beyond strictly sports criticism, reveals the zeitgeist of Israel’s first decade of independence and its prevalent attitudes toward body culture norms, and illuminates the role assigned to sport in Israeli ethos.

In the first decades after the establishment of the State of Israel, Hapoel [Workers] Houses were incubators of top Israeli athletes in various fields of sport, which also served as social and cultural community hubs. Applying the lifecycle approach to the study of sports clubs, this study explores the establishment, institutionalization, and demise of Hapoel Houses. Through analyses of reports, correspondence, and press clippings, this study describes and explains the social, political, and economic developments that led to the institutionalization and flourishing of Hapoel Houses. This analysis shows that, paradoxically, institutionalization bore the seeds that eventually led to the nationwide decline and closure of these facilities.

The significant changes undergone by Israeli society notwithstanding, the Holocaust remains one of the foremost components of the collective memory, increasingly evoked in the public space including the media, popular music, and sports. Focusing on the infiltration of Holocaust discourse into the sphere of sports, as reflected in media coverage of sporting events, this article reveals a wide spectrum of Holocaust uses ranging from the derogatory to the laudatory - as means to inspire performance and extol achievements and unique sports moments.

This article explores the roots of football corruption in Israel in the first decades after independence. A socio-historical analysis of documents, correspondence, and newspaper items reveals the key role played by sports officials in corruption in the football industry. More broadly, the article shows that the historical context and a political model of commitment to political centres in which sports in Israel in general and Israeli football in particular operated constituted fertile ground for unorthodox conduct and practices that undermined the integrity of football matches. These findings challenge various theories that argue that corruption in sports has universal features that are independent of specific historical, social, cultural circumstances.

This study explored the relevancy of internet discourse among football fans and real-life stadium violence. Our hypothesis implies that there are positive correlations between violent utterances in fans’ social networks prior to games and football stadium violence. The study sample included 6 football clubs who participated in the Israeli Premier League in the 2015–2016 season. The traffic in the social networks was automatically collected into the MySQL database. The content of the traffic includes various forms of discursive interactions within social networks susceptible of predicting, provoking or expressing social tension, aggression or violent behavior. We focused on three discursive functions which reflect a dynamic of discursive construction of tension: exclamation; incitement; and verbal aggression. The results indicate a build-up of tension 3 days before the game and such build-up is correlated with stadium violence of both fans and players. The correlation of content and timing of traffic was also found when controlling the level of violence of the football club. Violent traffic was also correlated with the results of the previous game. The theoretical and practical consequences of these results are discussed.

This article discusses the involvement of active service IDF officers in managing central Israeli sport institutions during the early years of the State of Israel. The IDF officers' activity in sport bodies encouraged the types of sports that served army interests and developed the construction of sport facilities and their maintenance. The involvement of army officers in managing sport institutions in Israel will be explained as part of the military sphere's penetration to Israel's managerial sphere in its formative years and as a reflection of the importance given to the IDF as a unifying factor, placed above political considerations.

This article investigates the feasibility of monitoring data obtained from comments posted by basketball fans on their Facebook pages to predict players' aggression in Israeli basketball matches. The results revealed that aggressive behaviors of players were correlated with negative and positive utterances of fans that were collected 24 hours before the game. Negative utterances increased the level of aggression and positive utterances decreased the level of aggression. The location of the game moderates the correlations between fans' traffic and players' aggression. The bulk of the significant results were found in away games. The results are discussed as a possible explanation for the nexus of social media discourse and stadium aggression.

This article seeks to explore the meanings of masculinity' as constructed by Israeli men in the sports arena. Specifically, it examines the place of sport in the lives of Israeli men as well as the factors and motivations driving them to this field. The research findings indicate a dialectical process that combines continuity and change in Israeli masculinity: on the one hand, a close connection between sports and traditional masculinity' that includes themes of physical strength and male brotherhood; on the other, diversity in sports practices, links between sport practices and personal well-being, weakening of the identification with specific sports teams and a tendency to watch sports broadcasts in a more individualized manner based on aesthetic preferences.

The current study endeavors to place the case of Beitar Jerusalem FC and its fans, as depicted in media, entertainment and public discourse in Israel, within an Orient-Occident theoretical framework. For this purpose the study adopts an acknowledged theoretical framework of the relationship between East and West, which examines the relations between these two political and geographic cultural poles as a power struggle between those who are perceived as the conquerors (colonialists) and the conquered (natives). This theoretical framework, known as ‘post-colonial discourse’, deals with salient characteristics of power relations in a global society following the colonial period of the major European powers.

Romantic notions and critical theories of play describe an assault by rationalization processes on the free and spontaneous nature of play. Other theories seek to describe the dialectical nature between rationalization and freedom, between routine, and magic, and between planning and spontaneity. This article seeks to focus on the rationalization processes of play and to examine whether and in what dimensions, these processes shape the characteristics of play and hamper its spontaneity and freedom. Examination of these processes, performed by socio-historical analysis of legal gambling in Israel, shows that rationalization processes were active on both the practical and technological levels, and on the discursive level of the games of chance. Nevertheless, the characteristics of freedom, joy and spontaneity appeared only on the discursive level of the game and were designed to deliberately serve the economic interests of the various agents in the Israeli gambling field.

This study seeks to examine the gender forces at work in the sphere of athletics and aerobic sports in the Israeli context. This issue is of significance in the Israeli context in that women are exposed to conflicting discourses which, on one hand, draw their values from modern Western society, and on the other, still upholds patriarchal perceptions relative to women's status. By observing women athletes' mirrored reflections in the gym, we explore how these two forces shape the authentic body experience of female Israeli aerobics athletes and trace the dialogue they conduct within themselves. The premise was that the reflection of body in the mirror would also constitute the platform reflecting the forces at work as represented by the women's outlooks.

The terrorist campaign against Israel, euphemized as the 'al-Aqsa intifada', affected Israeli society in terms of perceptions of personal security, economic and political stability and aspects such as tourism and culture. The Israeli sporting scene was affected as well. From 2001 to 2004, international sports organizations adopted policies in stark contrast to one another. While some banned certain sports events from taking place in Israel, others obliged athletes to come to Israel and fined them for refusing to do so. A comparison of how these organizations chose to act in similar cases around the world reveals a striking inconsistency. An examination of the events and information provided in personal interviews indicates that sports associations fail to define terrorism and the conditions under which competitions should be banned.

The paper aims to better understand the significance and characteristics of the phenomenon of soccer team ownership in Israel, and its impact on relation patterns between soccer team owners and fans. The central claim is that that the privatization of team ownership has redefined the nature of relations between the two sides, and has led to the development a conflicting relationship between them. The emotional viewpoint held by fans, a central element of their identity, has suddenly juxtaposed with the business viewpoint held by the team owner. In Israel, the gap between these two viewpoints has led to a rift, with relations even deteriorating in to violence.

Despite the IOC declaration of intent for gender equality in sport and in light of the fact that a greater number of women are participating in the Olympic Games covert connotations are hidden behind the distorted and biased image presented of female athletes in the press. The current study asks whether the size and extent of coverage really matter; does more extensive coverage necessarily mean equal and true representation of women in sport, or are we getting more of the same? The findings in this study indicate two parallel processes in terms of article content: First, the greater the number of articles, the more stereotypical and biased the content becomes. Secondly, over the years, representation of female athletes has become increasingly negative and biased. Over the three Olympic Games examined (1996, 2000, 2004), female athletes were presented in a biased and stereotypical ways in relative to male athletes. The change in coverage over the years has proven to be a tendency to stereotypically present female athletes in a more negative light in comparison to male athletes. Keywords: Gender, Sport, Israel, Press, Olympic Games Female Participation in the Olympic Games The Olympic Games represent one of the most significant events in the world of sport, yet injustice and inequality towards female participation has not eluded them. Social and cultural changes that have taken place in the past and present have been reflected by the Games, including changes in the role and status of women (Lee, 1992). Since their start in 1896 and up until current competitions, the history of the modern Olympic Games has marked a series of changes in the participation of women - from rejection and limitation to their inclusion in practically every sports branch (Vincent, 2000). In recent decades and especially during the 1990s women activities in the Games' organization and management have also widened. Thus, for example, more and more women have reached senior positions in sports organizations and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and are serving as members in various sports committees (e.g. Anita DeFrantz, who was appointed Vice-President of the IOC in 1997). Sports competitions in the Olympic Games similarly illustrate the changes that have taken place in the attitude towards female athletes (Bernstein, 2002), as the number of sports branches, events and competitions for women within the Olympic Games framework has consistently increased (IOC Report, 2005). In the 2000 Sydney Games, for instance, women accounted for 38% of all the participants (in comparison to 34% in the 1996 Atlanta Games), and they competed in a record number of 118 sport events out of a total of 300. One of the initiatives that has contributed to the increase in the number of female athletes and the number of events for women was the IOC's declaration in 2000 to fully recognize equality between men and women in the Olympic Games (ibid, 2005). Consequently, an additional increase in the participation of female athletes in the Olympic Games occurred in the 2004 Athens Games (some 44% of all participants). Undoubtedly, major strides were taken in the 20th century to integrate women in sport and to participate in the Olympic Games. Yet, despite increased participation of female athletes in sports, in general, and in the Olympic Games, in particular, female athletes are still struggling for gender equality within the field (Capranica and Aversa, 2002; Coakley, 2009; Crolley and Teso, 2007; DeFrantz, 2000; Eastman and Billings, 1999,2000; Messner et. al. 2003). Extent of Media Coverage of Female Athletes Sport fans, a significant media consumer audience, are exposed to a wide coverage of various sport events through different types of media. It has been argued that the coverage of sport events clearly discriminates between male athletes and their female counterparts. The meager coverage of female athletes until the 1990's is illustrative of their absence from the media. …

This study asks and demonstrates how an individualistic service is advertised in a collectivistic-horizontal immigrant society. A representative sample of Israeli lottery advertisements from the 1950s and 1960s (N = 124) are used as a case study. They are analyzed quantitatively and then qualitatively (for selected ads) for the appearance of collectivism, which was a predominant cultural orientation in Israel in those years, and individualism that is more in line with the commercial message. The results show that although collectivism appeared in a majority of the ads, individualism became more apparent as years went by.

This article attempts to expose the practices that form gender identity among female football players in the Israeli context, with a focus on the relation between gender and nationalism. This exposure will concentrate on the processes shaping gender identity from the beginning of the female football player's career as a professional athlete, and on the significance female football players attribute to their occupation in a field of sports that is perceived as masculine. In this context, the encounter of women in (and on) the field will be examined in terms of how it is conducted and experienced. Moreover, the article also analyses the ways in which women organize bases of power and rewards in the face of the sports establishments and organizations in Israel and within of the private sector.

Among the various sociological theories of gambling, only a handful are based on the ideas of Max Weber, and particularly on his thesis of rationalization. Using a Weberian framework, this study presents a socio-historical analysis of legal gambling in Israel. The analysis reveals that gambling in Israel has undergone a 'McDonaldization' process. As part of this process of 'McDonaldization', legal gambling organizations have adopted technological means aimed at making work methods faster and more efficient, enabling gamblers to plan their gambling in a calculated, non-random fashion. Together with 'McDonaldization', an instrumental discourse has been introduced into the public debate about gambling. The use of language that seeks to describe that which is good and ethical has been abandoned, replaced by a new vocabulary that emphasises the method and efficiency of the gambling operation. Keywords: IsraelgamblinglotteryMax Weber'McDonaldization'rationalization Acknowledgement This research received funding and data from 'Mifaal HaPais' (Israeli Lottery). The Author would like to thank Professor Nissan Rubin and the anonymous reviewers for the helpful comments to improve the manuscript. Notes 1. For example see Bentham (1864 Bentham, J. 2005. The theory of legislation, Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Originally published 1864) [Google Scholar]/2005). 2. For critical reviews see Frey (1984 Frey, J.H. 1984. Gambling: A sociological review. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 474: 107–121. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), McMillen (1996 McMillen, J. 1996. "Understanding gambling: History, concepts and theories". In Gambling cultures: Studies in history and interpretation, Edited by: McMillen, J. 6–42. London: Routledge. [Google Scholar]) and Binde (2009 Binde, P. 2009. Gambling motivation and involvement, Ostersund: The Swedish National Institute of Public Health. [Google Scholar]). 3. Kalberg's typology (1980) sees in the term formal rationality only a specific aspect of Zweckrationalität (in which considerations are legitimized by means of universal laws and regulations). 4. Kingma (2004b Kingma, S. 2004b. The remarkable case of golden ten: An interplay between justice and science. Gaming Law Review, 1: 23–35. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], p. 230) illustrates how gambling operators, police, judges and others who dealt with legal aspects of gambling in the Netherlands used scientific methods, theories and data to establish their arguments. 5. For a critique on the instrumental rationality in Nazi Germany, see Bauman (1989 Bauman, Z. 1989. Modernity and the holocaust, Cambridge: Polity Press. [Google Scholar]). 6. Israeli Knesset. Meeting protocol from 2 July 1963. 7. Israeli Knesset Finance Committee. Meeting protocol from 31 July 1967. 8. Israeli Knesset Finance Committee. Meeting protocol from 1 August 1967. 9. Israeli Knesset. Meeting protocol from 19 June 1968.

By adopting a developmental approach, this essay describes and analyses the key processes that led to the establishment and institutionalization of sports gambling in Israel. The socio-historic examination of these processes (1951–1971) suggests that sports gambling in Israel was primarily designed to satisfy a convergence of political interests among governmental decision-makers, leaders of sports institutions and powerful private entrepreneurs.

The aim of this study is to examine the processes in the sport industry and consumer society in Israel, following similar global trends, which paradoxically contribute to the creation of an obesogenic culture and a sedentary lifestyle, while completely overshadowing popular participatory physical activity. This essay examines the case of active transportation in Israel (walking, cycling, roller-blading, skateboarding, etc) to widen the scope of discussion in popular sport to include the ecology of health, environmental injustice and governmental decision-making which produces an inactivity-enhancing environment instead of a sport promoting one. The ecological vision of health and sport is contrasted with television-dominated professional commercialized 'sport' and of sedentary lifestyle. Active Transportation is viewed as an environmental alternative to traditional sport for promoting active living and a healthy lifestyle in society at large, while bike advocacy is portrayed as an attempt to realize active transportation in Israel. The essay also surveys the controversy sparked by the issue of safety and bike helmets legislation, and questions the self-professed role of professional sport as inspiration for popular physical activity.