Just before the start of the last quarter of the league game between Hapoel Tel Aviv and Bnei Herzliya, with his team safely leading, the Reds’ coach is seen pushing sports channel reporter Noa Poplinger with his hand and pushing her away from the briefing he gave his players in an ugly way.
Popplinger looked stunned and hurried away from the scene, while Franco continued the timeout as if nothing had happened. The angry reactions came very quickly on social networks, also from Hapoel Tel Aviv fans who called the incident “ugly behavior” by Franco, or “he can’t behave like that”. Other fans called him: “Danny, apologize.”
Bar Timur, photo: Alan Shiver
Now we have to see if the unnecessary incident will be included in the match observer’s report and if the league administration will decide to punish him for it, especially following the push action the coach performed twice in a few seconds.
An hour following the end of the game, Franco issued an apology on the X network when he wrote: “I was wrong, period. I apologize. There are no excuses, and there is not a single person who knows me who would say that the incident in the timeout characterizes me. It did not happen in the past and will not happen once more.”
I was wrong, period. apologetic. There are no excuses, and there is not a single person who knows me who would say that the timeout incident characterizes me. Never happened before and won’t happen once more. @HapoelTLVBC @Noapoplinger @sport5il @WinnerLeague pic.twitter.com/29BNiyQaDJ
— Danny Franco (@FrancoachD) March 5, 2024
Only five Israelis
The regulations for the registration of Israelis continue to concern the teams of the Premier League and tonight (Tuesday) it was the turn of Hapoel Tel Aviv who registered only five Israelis and violated the regulations of the management which requires the registration of six, a week following Maccabi Tel Aviv also made a similar mistake.
Hapoel did not comply with the regulations due to Gil Bani’s injury and the fact that Dusty Hanas, who is considered an Israeli citizen but not a local player according to the league’s rules. Hapoel Tel Aviv responded to the case in an official statement: “An honest mistake in the interpretation of the regulations led to the non-registration of Israeli Shishi. We acknowledge the mistake and apologize for it.”
Willie Workman opposite Dusty Hanas in his debut, photo: Alan Shiver
In the game itself, Hapoel Tel Aviv defeated Bnei Herzliya 80:99, with Bar Timur setting a record for assists with 16 passes. In another game, Maccabi Ramat Gan beat Hapoel Beer Sheva 78:86.
National League
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The 17th round of the National League provided great drama when a northern derby between Nahariya City and MS Safed was decided in favor of the newcomer. Hapoel Gilboa Galil continued to deteriorate and suffered a home loss to Maccabi Ironi Ra’anana which stopped a streak of losses. The one who won following a series of losses is Elizur Ashkelon who won 87:93 over Elizur Shomron. For the first time in 4 years, Elizur Netanya left Ramat Hasharon with a victory – 70:86.
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