Bnei Sakhnin. Will ritual help?
Photo: Hagai Aharon
Soccer team uses magic to fight jinx
Faltering Israeli-Arab soccer team resorts to magic ritual to remove 'evil eye' after managers decide it's been jinxed
Israeli-Arab soccer team Bnei Sakhnin has had a very unlucky streak this season and has recently found itself pushed to the bottom of Israel's first league's table. After trying to address the situation by changing coaches, giving motivation talks to the players and asking the Arab sector for help, the team has apparently decided to turn to some more unconventional approaches in a bid to solve the problem.
At the end of the team's practice Wednesday, an 80-year-old Sakhnin woman arrived at the field and conducted a ceremony to dispel the hex that is believed to have been haunting the team throughout the season.
During the ritual, which lasted about 30 minutes, the players were asked to lie down on the ground. The old woman then covered their heads with sheets, lighted a fire inside a special device in which she melted lead, and waved it above the players' heads, praying that the curse be removed and that the team will not be relegated from the first league.
According to Israel's leading daily Yedioth Ahronoth, the ceremony was apparently a bit too much for the team's foreign players, who felt embarrassed by the whole procedure. Some even burst out laughing during the ritual. Team captain Abbas Suan volunteered to explain to the foreigners the meaning of the ritual, and its purpose: To do away with the curse.
Coach: It was incredible
One player recounted: "I was mortified. At first I wanted to run away from there because I was afraid I'd get burnt, but then they explained to me this is the procedure and that it helps."
Another player, who thought the entire ceremony was quite amusing, was the Polish Remik Yezersky, who was quick to take photos of the event using his cell phone, in a bid to send them to his family abroad.
Coach Shaya Feigenboim, who did not take part in the ritual but stood aside and watched, said: "It was incredible. I never experienced anything like it. If it works for the players and will help them, then I have no problem with this. All the players cooperated, without exceptions."
