Hapoel Jerusalem announced today (Monday) an angry announcement due to the setting of its home game against Maccabi Tel Aviv for this coming Sunday, just two days before the Reds from the capital will host AAK Athens in the opening of the FIBA Champions League quarter-final series.
The team from the capital reported: “The league administration made an unfortunate and unjust decision that Hapoel Jerusalem’s game against Maccabi Tel Aviv will be played on Sunday, April 2, less than 48 hours before the critical game against AAK Athens, and not on Saturday night, the -April 1. In doing so, the manager fatally damages the team’s preparations for the very important game in Europe.
Here is the place to emphasize: in the event of such a conflict, the manager is expected to determine the schedule in such a way that it does not harm a team’s preparation for a future game in Europe. Scheduling the game on Sunday inevitably seriously harms Hapoel’s preparations, while scheduling the game at midnight does not harm Maccabi’s preparations for its next Euroleague game at all. We will add and point out that the upcoming league game between the two teams is meaningless in terms of the positions in the table, because Maccabi Tel Aviv secured the 1st place while Hapoel secured the 3rd place.
In the manager’s unfortunate decision, she blatantly and unequivocally chooses to benefit a team that plays in a factory that does not give the Premier League a sporting opportunity to send another representative, and on the other hand – mortally harms a team that plays in a factory that glorifies the local leagues and sees their best interests. Hapoel Jerusalem will not stand by in the face of this humiliating distortion, which tangibly endangers its chances of qualifying for the Final Four of the Champions League.
Following this, Hapoel Jerusalem submitted a petition to the Supreme Court of the Basketball Association out of faith and hope that it will see the best interests of the league and the best teams playing in Europe, with the desire to give all teams an equal chance to achieve achievements that will promote Israeli basketball.”