The Beasts – Israel’s national men’s Aussie Rules team – enjoyed their best ever performance in an international competition, when placing sixth overall in the 2024 AFL Europe Cup in Kiel, Germany, last month.

The team, comprising Israeli natives and expat Aussies living in Israel, achieved wins over Switzerland, Scotland, and Sweden.

AFL Israel co-founder and coach Ido Schnitzer said the brilliant results Israel achieved meant even more as it was “done in the most unique and challenging of times, with the war continuing, and mere days after the second missile attack against Israel by Iran”.

“We had a lot of changes within our squad, with a lot of players selected for the squad that couldn’t come due to the circumstances.

“We scrambled our way to secure a team that would fly out, with some tremendous stories of determination and sacrifice made by the players, just to play and represent the country.

“We played proudly with our national colours, feeling safe and welcomed by the European footy community.”

Schnitzer noted that the host nation’s team, the German Eagles, joined the Israeli squad on a visit to the Jewish museum in Kiel.

“It was a powerful and meaningful visit,” he said, adding the friendships between the footy communities have become closer as a result of the interactions and experiences at the 2024 AFL EuroCup.

The Israeli players wore yellow socks during the tournament, to raise awareness about the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza.

After losing their opening game 18-28 to eventual champions Ireland, Israel bounced back straight away with a big win over Switzerland, followed by a narrow 32-27 victory over a very physical Scotland team, clearing the path for matches to decide 5th-8th placings.

The Beasts came out firing against an experienced Swedish side they’d lost against in the previous EuroCup, earning a comprehensive 50-25 win against them this time.

Finally, in the game determining 5th and 6th places, Israel faced a very strong French squad, and matched them in the first half, but faded in the second to lose 38-55.

Schnitzer said, “Every player stepped up to the occasion, and it was teamwork at its best”.

“Footy in Israel is coming out of this tournament with its biggest momentum ever.”

Best on ground for the Beasts for the tournament was vice captain and star forward/midfielder Shir Maran, who kicked 11 goals.

Melbourne-born stalwart, forward Eli ‘Lippi’ Lipshatz, was the next highest goal-scorer, contributed 9 goals.

Alon Fink and team captain Shir Shalev led the way at the back, with tall rookie Yochay Ezrony getting his first taste of international footy.

The experienced midfield duo of Shlomi Korman and Beazalel Gillis gave a tough matchup for any opponent, while feeding the ball to the forwards with great success.

Rotem Lida and Sean Ida, who kicked 3 goals each, were also big contributors in the forwards.

And the small forward dynamic pairing of the Shapira brothers, Yehonathan and Uri, chipped in with 3 goals too.

Ruckmen Nitzan Elad and veteran Matan Polke were exceptional, turning an area that was once a glaring weakness of the side, into one of dominance on the field.

Shalev said, “This has been an unbelievable ride for us, and I’m so proud of the boys”.

“The toughest year is also the sweetest on the footy field at the end.

“Not so long ago we lost by 50-60 points to teams like Ireland.

“Here, by their admission, we gave them their toughest outing of the day, and this speaks volumes to the progress that we’ve made in the sport, and really, the sky’s the limit.”

Maran said, “We try to play a flowing brand of uncontested footy, which is a bit different than most of what the other teams did here – and certainly in our two key wins against Scotland and Sweden, we managed to do it.”

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