Ashkelon Mayor Itamar Shimoni on Thursday morning 26 Elul sent a letter to Minister of Sport & Culture Miri Regev and heads of Israel’s Soccer Association in which he explains the city’s Hapoel Ashkelon team will not take part in a scheduled match against Hapoel Jerusalem which is planned for this Shabbos, parshas Nitzavim. If the match is moved to another day the team will play Hapoel Jerusalem.

The mayor explains that hosting the game on Hapoel Ashkelon’s home court would be in direct violation with the National Labor Court ruling and he will not permit it. He explains that in line with court rulings, hosting soccer games on Shabbos is against the law.

The mayor adds that calling for Shabbos matches is “gross violation of the status quo in our city, Ashkelon, between the religious and non-religious. Even more, there are many shomer Shabbos players on the team and some who are traditional and their contracts stipulate there will not be games held on Shabbos and that games would only take place on Fridays and Mondays.

“Violating the status quo that exists will result in significant financial loss for the team and therefore I am asking to move the match to another day, not Shabbos.”

The mayor did add that while the team will not play at home on Shabbos, it would participate in games in other cities on Shabbos.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)