Dror Bar Nur, one of Maccabi's greatest ever players, today celebrates his 67th birthday
Dror Bar Nur, who played for Maccabi Tel Aviv in the late 1960's and early 1970's, today celebrates his 67th birthday. Wearing the classic number 9 on his back, Dror Bar Nur acquired the reputation as one of the greatest strikers ever to wear a blue-and-yellow jersey. After three years' absence from the Maccabi youth ranks at a military academy, the 18 year-old Bar Nur was immediately elevated to the senior squad and made his first appearance in the last league match of the 1965/66 season in a 4-0 win against Shimshon Tel Aviv.
In the following "double" season of 1966/68 (extended due to the outbreak of the Six Day War) the young Bar Nur won his first championship with Maccabi Tel Aviv, displaying some of his potential by scoring 6 goals in 18 appearances throughout the season. The following season the gifted striker also showed his ability to win big matches by scoring the dramatic winning goal in the 112th minute of extra time at the finals of the Asian Club Championship Cup held in the Thai capital Bangkok. It was this goal that not only brought him and Maccabi Tel Aviv their first international title but ended forever his relative anonymity at the club.
Bar Nur finished the 1968/69 season with 16 goals in all competitions and the following season would see him continue to accumulate both goals and titles. The 1969/70 season was Bar Nur's second championship campaign, one that Maccabi won on goal difference from arch rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv and to which he contributed 10 league goals. He added another four in Cup competitions, which ended in a Maccabi Tel Aviv double as they defeated Maccabi Netanya 2-1 in the coveted State Cup final.
The following season was also a title-winning affair for Maccabi Tel Aviv, with Bar Nur once again making a significant contribution. He scored three goals in the club's second successful campaign in the Asian Club Championship Cup, with Maccabi winning the final on a technicality when the Iraqi side Al Shorta (Police Sport Club) Baghdad refused to face them. The following season (1971/72) was Bar Nur's finest, scoring 18 goals in all competitions as he secured his final title with the club, his second league championship. Bar Nur stayed with the club until after the 1975/76 season, when he moved on to HaKoach Ramat Gan.
In all Dror Bar Nur scored 107 goals in all competitions for Maccabi Tel Aviv, in large part owing to his positioning skills in front of goal and his ability heading aerial balls into the net. One of his most famous goals was scored with the help of his hand in a 2-1 victory against Maccabi Netanya in the 1974/75 season. For the Israeli national team Bar Nur scored three goals in five appearances, the first two in a 2-1 victory against Norway, which brought him no small amount of praise from one and all. He added a third in a 3-0 victory over Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in the qualifying campaign for the 1972 Olympics.
Maccabi Tel Aviv Football Club would like to wish Dror Bar Nur the very happiest and healthiest of birthdays.
