Holon is back in the major league!

[Digdis]

Hapoel Holon is back in the major league, and I can't be happier! Being a former Holon resident, I used to attend almost every game during its golden age. It used to have great players like Moti Daniel, Israel Elimelech, Niv Bugin, Ofer Yaakobi, Crazy Mike Carter, Dasie Bormor, The Balul brothers, and many many more... The way the victory was achieved, in a crazy 3 point shot at the last second, in front of the ready to explode Holon arena, returned me 20 years back. Welcome back boys! Hope you'll return to be the great team you were in the past.
D.

[Arik]

The team with thousands fans even in 2nd division deserves to play in our Premier League. The question if its not high quality bball, but with real love of the players and the fans to the game (only 1-2 foreing players) will be enough for our major league?

[SHARP]

Hello Arik I am Sharp from maccabist

[Arik]

Hello Arik I am Sharp from maccabist

Nice to meet you here, man! I hope to find on this forum many interesting posts from you like in maccabist!

[Digdis]

Back on topic with an update:
The initial scenes of joy displayed by Holon's fans turned to demonstrations of despair, when businessman Miki Dorsman, serving as Holon's owner & coach, announced yesterday that unless a last minute solution is found, he would stop funding the team next season, something that should result in its return to the second league. Dorsman's main criticism arrows went towards Holon's mayor Moty Sasson for having refused to help funding the team by more than 100,000 NIS (1 NIS = $0.2).
Though this is very sad, I don't blame Holon's mayor: The city went through an extensive upgrade under his management, an upgrade that couldn't have been achieved if he had spent tons of money on the city sports teams (like his predecessors). The real sad news is that even though a team like Holon has the 2nd or 3rd sized crowd of fans, it can't exist without the help of a rich & spending owner (like Jerusalem's Gaydamak). Very very sad.
D.

[dwassernis]

It is great that holon is in the first league, you know that her gym is much bigger than jerusalem's, but she has a problem: she doesn't has a milion dollars to play at the first league and if none of the sponsers wont give her that she would have to go down to the second league.

[Digdis]

Well - As he promised, Miki Dorsman left (or as the furious fans prefer to call it - abandoned) Holon. Instead he will start coaching Irony Ramat Gan who will take Holon's spot in the major league. He promised he'd still support Holon in the second league.
This is a shame. I would expect someone who was so involved in Holon as sponsor and coach not to make such a quick U-turn to the team that catches Holon's spot. It is also a shame that despite Holon's huge efforts to return, as well as its relatively huge fan base, it can't hold in the major league even during the summer. Very very sad.

[Digdis]

Happy ending for this saga?
Dorsman announced today he returned to Holon as manager and coach (In fact he said "he had never left"). This happened after a group of Holon fans raised the amount of money Dorsman had initially required from Holon's city council. Dorsman should spend the rest out of his own pocket.
Though this seems like a good start, Holon is way behind other major league teams. It's only hope can be that other tams preparations also got screwed due to the situation in the north...