Jerusalem’s lionesses roar to score in Israeli rugby revival

After the line out, the prop passed to the hooker for the try, who was tackled with a hug by a Barbarian, so she offloaded. The prop was ready for the loop but she was hugged as well. The fly-half then formed a strong ruck over her.

If you want to understand what all that means – and what went on at the Israel Women’s Rugby League Tournament at Givat Ram Stadium in Jerusalem on April 25 (the last time it was held in the capital was nine years ago) – you’ll have to learn a little about the game.

A competitive team sport that began in England in the 1840s, rugby is named after the city where it all started: Rugby, in the county of Warwickshire. It spread to English public schools, and then across the British Empire. Rugby became popular worldwide, and now there are leagues in many countries, including Israel.

The original version of the game, with 15 players per team, became an Olympic sport in 1900; the faster seven-member version started there in 2016.

Lionesses pose at the National Women’s Rugby League tournament held at the Givat Ram Stadium on April 25 (credit: ROY KFIR)

“Fifteens is the original rugby, and then there’s sevens – that is what we play,” explained Maya Zanger-Nadis, who has been playing on the Jerusalem Lionesses team for almost two years. (The men’s team is the Jerusalem Lions.) “The men in Israel play 15s; we play sevens, like Olympic rugby is played.” Fifteens games are 80 minutes long; sevens are 14 minutes and played in a tournament format. Israel has a national sevens team that competes in international competitions.

Rugby is a type of football game, although, like in American football, the feet don’t actually come in contact with the ball much, except for punting in the American version and kicking to a teammate in sevens.

RADA KUPINSKY tries to tackle a Tel Aviv Amazon. (credit: ROY KFIR)

Another main point about rugby is that you can only score by carrying the ball – which looks like a rounded American football – into the end zone, not by passing it to a fellow player there, like American football, or kicking it into the net as in soccer. Players can pass to each other – but only to the rear, not forward. This makes the game move in an interesting and somewhat contradictory way, since players generally advance forward but often pass to someone behind them.

ZIGGY SILVERMAN, long-time player, manager, coach and now referee. 'Today, I'm just a spectator.' (credit: Ziggy Silverman)

Ziggy, Dimitri, and women’s rugby

Ziggy Silverman, wearing a banana-patterned shirt and a safari hat, was watching the women play from the sidelines. “Today, I’m a spectator – finally,” he told In Jerusalem. But he has been a lot more than that for both men’s and women’s rugby in Israel.

“The men’s league started in the 1970s, and I’ve been playing for about 30 years,” he said.

“I captained, coached, and managed the team,” the multi-tasking rugby aficionado recounted. “I also managed the Jerusalem Rugby Club, I coached the juniors last year, and I coached the first women’s team. Now I’m a referee – but today, I’m just watching.”

Dimitri Skobelev is the Lioness’s coach. The 60-year-old from Ashkelon made aliyah 30 years ago from Russia, where he had played for many years in what was then the Soviet Union. He joined the men’s league and, a year and a half ago, became the coach of the Jerusalem women’s team. He also coaches the Ashkelon and Jerusalem men’s teams.

Coach Dimitri Skobelev gives a pep talk to the team before starting the next tournament game. ‘We continue to work and are making progress.’ (credit: NATAN ROTHSTEIN)

Skobelev said that when the Lionesses started with him, they were in last place, “but now we are in fourth place out of seven. We continue to work and are making progress.”

According to the Women’s Rugby Union page at enrolyourself.com, women have been playing this type of rugby since the late 19th century, not long after the codification of the men’s game. The first recorded women’s match took place in 1887 in Ireland. It would take almost 100 years before women’s rugby was formally organized and governed.

“The first women’s club teams emerged in the 1960s and 1970s in France, the Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom,” the page says. “On the international stage, the first Women’s Rugby World Cup was held in 1991, featuring 12 teams. Since then, the growth of the women’s game has skyrocketed. Today, there are over 2.7 million registered female rugby players worldwide in over 100 countries.”

SHILAT VLOCH, the team manager, breaks away from Tel Aviv team counterpart Michal Sabato (L) and player Eden Davidi, with teammate Esther Jarreau (far left) and referee Ariel Cabral close behind. (credit: ROY KFIR)

TEAM MVP’s for the tournament, representing (L-R) Jerusalem Lionesses (purple – Shilat Vloch), Rishon Lezion Owls (yellow-orange), Golan Cowgirls (white), Maccabi Haifa Wild Boars (green), Galilee Bees (yellow and black, blue here), Tel Monde Hadarim (bright orange), and Tel Aviv Amazons (orange). (credit: ROY KFIR)

The league’s ‘Barbarians’

The Jerusalem women’s team started out with five players and now has 19 – the most in the league. “Teams need only 12, but we’re 19,” said Shilat Vloch, the team’s 26-year-old manager.

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There’s a new team from the Golan, Zanger-Nadis said. “Because they’re new, they don’t tackle or get tackled: bear hugs are used instead! One of the teams they played against was ‘Barbarian’ – meaning made up of women from other teams. Since we have the most extra players, we basically made up most of that Barbarian team.

SHILAT’S FAMILY is having a ball. Her brother-in-law Yossi Leiber (2nd R) started the family tradition. To left: his wife, sister Yael; Shilat; father Joshua; sister Ya’ara Ra’anan and her son Mevaser; and sister Na’ama Shani and her son Maayan Tal; (Far R): BIL Noam Shani. (credit: NATAN ROTHSTEIN)

“My brother-in-law Yossi Leiber had been playing rugby for about a month, and he encouraged my sister, Yael, to try it,” Vloch said. “They told me about it one night, and I decided that I wanted to try it, too,” so she joined the Jerusalem women’s team. Her sister quit after a month, “but I fell in love with it.” That was over six years ago; she has been the manager for the last three.

“I’m from Beit El, moved to Jerusalem for National Service, and stayed here,” she said. “I’m here in the team for the sport, the friends, and the community; for me, that’s very special. We are very inclusive: a lot from the gay community find a place in rugby and there are also a couple of trans women in the league. And although I came with my religious appearance and as a so-called "settler," I felt wanted from the beginning."

ESTHER JARREAU, the Lioness team captain, tries to fight off a tackle. (credit: ROY KFIR)

All ages, all types

Esther Jarreau is from Paris and has been playing for three seasons. “I really wanted to play when I was a kid because a lot of my friends were playing, but my parents didn’t allow me to because I am a musician and they were afraid I would get hurt,” the 24-year-old said. After making aliyah and doing her two years of army service, she said, “Now it’s my time to play rugby!” And now she is the team captain.

At 34, Ayala Prusak is the oldest team member. “I was looking for some kind of sport to do. I was swimming, but I am built for rugby.”

She explained a little more about the game. “When there’s a tackle, there’s a thing called a ‘ruck.’ You hand the ball back to your team, and once the ball carrier’s knees are on the ground, they get one movement, and then you have to release the ball. One of your teammates stands over you so the other team doesn’t get the ball.”

Ayala is a “hooker” – a dynamic player who can “hook” the ball out of a scrum, the huddling face-off for possession after a minor violation like a forward pass, to restart the game. Women rugby players joke about the term.

THREE AMAZONS tackle one Markzon – Heide Malka. The one on the right is wearing a soft helmet. Hard protective gear is not allowed, so players have to be even more careful not to injure or get injured. (credit: ROY KFIR)

Heidi Malka Markzon is also 34 years old. “I played rugby in college at Arizona State,” she said. “I played 15s, so sevens is a bit different. I made aliyah three and a half years ago. I’ve had a lot of injuries, but the cool thing is that so many people want to come back after their injury.”

Unlike the Israeli men’s rugby league, the women’s league doesn’t play on Saturdays out of respect for its religiously observant players. And there are several on the Jerusalem team.

“I became religious after college,” Markzon said. “In the States, rugby is played on Saturdays, so I had to give it up; but I knew that they had a league here that doesn’t play on Shabbat. That’s why our tournaments are on Fridays. Some girls play in shorts, some in skirts, some wear a headscarf.”

Zanger-Nadis said she had played “a little bit in college, and I really enjoyed it; but the games were on Shabbat, so I didn’t stay very long. I like rugby because there’s a place for everybody on the field – every body type, shape, and fitness level.”

ELISHEVA RUBANOWITZ runs with the ball, with Maya Zanger-Nadis (right) ready to receive a lateral backward pass. (credit: ROY KFIR)

Elisheva Rubanowitz and Aviva Tovey are also religious – haredi (ultra-Orthodox), in fact. Rubanowitz is tall and visibly athletic, while Tovey has a much smaller build – unexpected for such a physically demanding and aggressive game.

“I just saw a flyer for the rugby team at the university and I thought, ‘This is something new to try,’” Tovey said. She got her friend Rubanowitz to join her a couple of months later. “Now Elisheva is a star,” she said.

“I’m a typical rugby player,” Rubanowitz stated. “I’m tall like my brothers, and we all play basketball. My parents didn’t really want me to play rugby, thinking that it’s too dangerous.”

Vloch emphasized to In Jerusalem that the league is very careful about playing safely.

“You learn a lot playing rugby; not just about the game but a lot about life in general,” Markzon said. “It takes a lot of communication and a lot of trusting yourself, and then being able to trust others.”

“You meet new people, widen your horizon, and become stronger, both inside and outside,” Vloch said.

JERUSALEM AND Tel Aviv make the customary high-five round after Tel Aviv won on their way to winning the tournament. Vloch: ‘I think that realistically, we can get to the top.’ (credit: ROY KFIR)

The Tel Aviv Amazons won this year’s tournament in Jerusalem, but the home team’s head Lioness thinks that eventually, they can win. “We started from the bottom, and we’re going up every year. But we want to be tough, and I think that, realistically, we can get to the top.”

“Our team has grown and improved a lot in the last couple of years, and it’s taken a lot of hard work and dedication,” Zanger-Nadis concluded. “Having a tournament hosted in Jerusalem, after not having done that for nine years, was a really fun way to celebrate that.”

To contact the Jerusalem Lionesses rugby team, go to: https://www.facebook.com/jerusalemRugby/ and https://www.instagram.com/rugby_jlm_lionesses/#