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John Blackwell (Army)
DIR By: John Treleven
Date: May 20, 2021, 12:00 pm
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John Blackwell (Army)
Does anybody know anything about Blackwell?
He refereed Palestine v Lebanon (5-1) in Tel Aviv on 27th April
1940
This was the fifth and final game of the "Eretz" (Land of)
Israel national team under the British Mandate.
Until independence in 1948, the national team of only Jewish
players played five games. Two qualifying matches for the 1934
World Cup v Egypt, two more for 1938 v Greece, all of which were
lost, and this friendly.
During the 1930s, Lebanon was a regular destination for friendly
tours by the football clubs of Palestine. Teams such as Maccabi
Tel Aviv, Maccabi Petah Tikva, and Maccabi Haifa regularly
played teams from Beirut, Tyre, and Sidon. Plans were announced
in late March 1940 for a four team football tournament with the
national teams of Palestine and Lebanon plus teams from the
British Army in Palestine and the French Army in Lebanon.
However, with the two armies put on alert in mid April in
anticipation of the Battle for France, only the match between
Palestine and Lebanon went ahead.
Lebanon had only played a few unofficial games previously,
against clubs from Romania (C.A. Timisoara and Unirea Tricolor
Bucharest) and Austria (Admira Vienna).
At the end of 1939, Jamil Sabaya, chairman of the Lebanese F.A.,
had visited his family in Jerusalem and Jaffa. Sabaya was
friendly with the heads of the Hebrew football teams, especially
the president of the F.A. in Eretz Israel, Yitzhak Halutz. In
one of their meetings in Jerusalem, they signed an agreement for
their teams to meet.
The game was at the Maccabiah Stadium on the banks of the Yarkon
River. The giant advertisements were only taped to billboards
throughout Tel Aviv after the Lebanese arrived in Jaffa. This
was to prevent the Lebanese team being stopped from travelling
if word had got back to the Beirut press.
The Israel coach was Arthur Baar, an Austrian founder of the
Nostalgic Vienna Power Group and a famous figure in Palestinian
football. A squad of 18 was picked by Baar who had replaced Egon
Pollack as Pollack had stayed in Australia after the Maccabi Tel
Aviv club tour had ended.
On the eve of the game the players were invited to tea at a cafe
on Rothschild Boulevard for a chat. It was explained that each
player must travel to the stadium with their own boots. There
was no practice for the game and only 14 of them could fit in
the changing room.
On the morning of the match Beer invited Armin Weiss, the new
Maccabi Tel Aviv coach, to assist him in the "dug out". About
10,000 spectators including many British soldiers, watched in a
stadium decorated with the Palestine and Lebanese flags.
The referee was British Army man John Blackwell.
Israel started against the wind, and in the second minute,
Herbert Meitner broke though on the right and scored. In the
11th minute, Avraham Schneiderovich scored a second wih a
penalty. Gaul Machlis 30th minute and Werner Kaspi 35th minute
made the interval score 4-0.
Zvi Fuchs had injured his leg and for the second half was
replaced by Lonia Dvorin. Lebanon pulled one back in the 50th
minute through central striker Camille Cordahi. On the hour
Kaspi scored his second to make it 5-1. Palestine eased off
after that in order to maintain good relations with Lebanon.
At the final whistle, eager fans ran on the pitch and the
players off to nearby Dizengoff Street. The last two of the
players to leave the stadium in the dark were Dvorin supporting
his injured friend Fuchs. The two walked to Hadassah Hospital
for Fuchs to receive treatment. After the game commentators
expressed surprise that Beer did not use Perry Neufeld as a
substitute as he was the most prominent footballer in Israel at
the time.
A return friendly was planned for Beirut in 1941 but it was not
played.
The 1940 match was Lebanon's first official international and
Palestine's last before they became Israel in 1948.
Six Lebanese players went on to play at least one more
international game but Shalom Shalomzon was the only Palestine
player to do so.
Lebanon
GK
RB
LB
RH
CH
LH
OR
IR
CF
IL
OL
Substitutions:
GK
LB
CF
Manager: Arthur Baar
Lebanon
GK
RB
LB
RH
CH
LH
OR
IR
CF
IL
OL
The Palestine Post described the match as "rather one sided" and
stated it had not lived up to expectations, with the home side
both physically and technically superior. In general, it wrote,
the Palestine team played efficiently throughout the whole game;
exceptions being the two full-backs (Shalomzon and Dvorin), who
were not deemed up to par in the second half. Despite the
scoreline, Palestine goalkeeper Mizrahi had been kept busy.
Although the Palestinian forwards scored five goals the Lebanese
goalkeeper Sayad made many saves, several "brilliantly", and
played very well; "The goals that did get past him would have
beaten any custodian". "The Lebanese goalkeeper doesn't bear any
responsibility for the five goals. Lebanon's front line was
their "weakest link", with centre forward Cordahi and outside-
ight Jaroudi being the only two "up to international standard".
Although Lebanon's midfield was not "very effective", their back
line played particularly well, especially Yeghishe Darian at
right-back.
Lebanon's next official matches were all friendlies against
Syria, one in 1942 and two in 1947, losing all three games.
Israel did not play their first official match under their new
identity until 1949, in a friendly against Cyprus, although they
played an unofficial match against the United States Olympic
team in 1948.
Of Palestine's 12 players involved, the match was the only
appearance for eight (Mizrahi, Breir, Fuchs, Meitner, Erlich,
Kaspi, Schneiderovitz, Dvorin), and the last cap for three
(Friedmann, Reich, Machlis). Shalomzon, who debuted in the game,
would become the only player of the match to go on to make an
appearance for Israel, albeit unofficial, playing in the 1948
friendly against the United States. Of the two unused
substitutes, Neufeld's only two international caps were in the
1938 World Cup qualifiers, where he scored once, whereas Asi
Asher would never be capped for Palestine or Israel.
The game was the only cap for five of Lebanon's eleven players
(Sayad, Guiragos, Barbir, Nercesse, Ourfalian). Three players
went on to play another game against Syria: Sakr and Falah on 19
April 1942, and Darian on 4 May 1947. The remaining three
players played two more friendlies, all against Syria: Cordahi
on 19 April 1942 and 4 May 1947, Jaroudi on 19 April 1942 and 18
May 1947, and Ajemian on 4 May 1947 and 18 May 1947.
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