Tomer Hemed of the Wellington Phoenix in prayer with the flag of Israel after scoring the winning goal against Adelaide United. Photo / Photosport
Tomer Hemed of the Wellington Phoenix in prayer with the flag of Israel after scoring the winning goal against Adelaide United. Photo / Photosport
OPINION:
Tomer Hemed is fortunate that he is not still playing in the English Premier League.
On that stage, the Israeli striker's controversial goal celebrations would have caught the eye of the massive British media machine, and be filtered out from there.
But they happened in a half empty Melbournestadium in the A League, at an unfriendly time zone for most football watchers around the globe.
Instead of possible worldwide censure, the Wellington Phoenix striker will likely get away with a telling off and perhaps a fine.
In the midst of the awful events unfolding in Gaza, his actions, which were at best naïve, are hard to defend.
After he scored a first half penalty against Melbourne City, Hemed made a beeline for a section of Israeli fans in the grandstand, celebrating wildly as he draped himself in the star of David flag.
Then following his dramatic 88th minute equaliser, the former Brighton, Queens Park Rangers and Charlton player produced a kippah from underneath his shirt, donning the traditional Jewish cloth cap as he covered his face and pointed to the sky.
Tomer Hemed of the Wellington Phoenix in prayer with the flag of Israel after scoring the winning goal against Adelaide United. Photo / Photosport
As always, context is important.
Hemed is fiercely proud and patriotic and has celebrated previous A-League goals this season with compatriots in the crowd, most recently after a last gasp penalty against Adelaide United.
There's nothing wrong with that, and Ulises Davila has done the same with a group of Mexican fans whenever the Phoenix play in Wollongong.
But not this week, Tomer. Not this week.
Not in a week when the images and stories coming from Gaza – with hundreds of civilian casualties and deaths, including more than 50 children – have shocked the world.
Through social media, Hemed had also been supportive of the Israeli army in the days leading up to the match, but what he puts on his Instagram is his business, as a private citizen.
But what happens on the field is a different matter.
He's not playing for Israel at the moment – he's playing for the Phoenix - and needed to be more respectful of his club and the optics around that and has put them in an awkward situation.
Hemed also needs to be respectful towards Australia and New Zealand, where the majority of people probably have a vastly different view to his own about the current conflict, especially the Israeli concept of 'defending' their nation with strikes that cause untold collateral damage, including sleeping children in their beds.
His actions, especially given the way they might be interpreted, completely took the gloss off what was an impressive performance from the Phoenix, at a time when the focus should be on their long awaited homecoming.
Creative goal scoring celebrations are nothing new and are part of the fabric of football, but the controversial ones usually have consequences.
After scoring in a European game in 1997, Robbie Fowler revealed a slogan under his shirt in support of the sacked Liverpool dock workers and was fined 300 pounds by UEFA.
The England forward was in more trouble in 1999, after an apparent imitation of cocaine use, as he sniffed the painted pitch line following a goal at Goodison Park, and received a ban for several games.
Then there was Nicolas Anelka's 'quenelle gesture' – seen as an inverted Nazi salute – during a match for West Bromwich Albion, which resulted in an 80,000 pound fine and a five-match ban, while former England star Paul Gascoigne apparently received death threats from the IRA after a provocative celebration in a Glasgow derby in 1998.
