The event took place on the International Women’s and included a panel led by Maccabi Tel Aviv CEO, Sharon Tammam, who related, in her opening words to the date in question: “I think that Israeli society in general has yet to reach gender equality and once a year it is still something worth mentioning. I am proud of the fact we managed to raise such an event as the club looks at society and at the fans in a wider scope than just sport and footbal. We are a community. I am delighted that together with the Maccabi Foundation and the fans we manage toreach out and touch the community around us”.
The event took place at the Social Space TLV, a center of social activism and impact innovation which was founded in 2019 on the site of the former ‘Pussycat’ strip-club. At the panel which also included Maccabi’s Legal Counsel, Yael Margalit, Business Relations Manager, Yonit Nakary, as well as two female fans.
Tammam, spoke about her work as a CEO at the leading football club in Israel and revealed: “It is a very male-dominated environment – demanding, interesting, challenging, fascinating and fun. There are loads of women at Maccabi, and when Mitch joined the club he wanted to build a European Club and an Organization. When they looked to fill some key positions they didn’t seek a certain gender with football experience but experienced professionals. I began working at the club as Marketing Director. There is no doubt that as long as matters didn’t touch the professional and sporting side of things it was more difficult”.
“Things gradualy changed with time, but there was still the concept of ‘She came to do het things, to generate funds but better not talk about football with her” Tammam explained, “I think that many people do not understand the essence of a football club. At the end of the day, everything begins and surrounds the team, but there are many other topics and worlds. We are a sports club, with football taking centre stage, but we are also a media company, we create content, promotional publications and content on the team. We are a merchandise company, an adevertising company that supply a platform to many business partners amd are also a production company as we are producers of an event for 30,000 people. To be a woman on the proffessional side of the club is extremely tough and very challenging on one hand. But at the same time I think that we allow more and more women to be part of that. In that sense, this club is very unique. When I attend meetings at the League Management or the Football Association then I am mostly the only woman or maybe one of two, something like that. But we are still there”.
