History
The club was founded in 1935, as part of the Tel Aviv branch of the "Hapoel" sports cooperative, the sports department of the Histadrut labor union. The 15 years following the foundation of the Israeli national league in 1954 are still considered as the golden age in the club's history. During which it has won most of its trophies and risen to become a dominant force in Israeli basketball. However, since then the club has failed to repeat its past success and was forced to watch as its bitter city rival Maccabi Tel aviv beat them constantly on the race to trophies and European glory.
In 1980 the club inaugurated its home venue of Hapoel arena at Ussishkin st. in place of the open court that Hapoel used for home games since 1953, named after the adjacent street bearing the name of Menachem Ussishkin, a famous Histadrut leader. The uncomfortable conditions, along with the fact that Hapoel Tel Aviv's fans are considered amongst the most fanatic in Israeli sports, has contributed to the fact Ussishkin was known for an extremely hostile atmosphere for visiting teams.
In 1995 the Histadrut decided to suspend financial support of all its "Hapoel" sports teams, including Hapoel Tel Aviv. The club was sold to a group of private businessmen and since 1998 until 2009 (with a short pause for the 2003-04 season), it was under the ownership of Shaul Eizenberg, an Israeli businessman and former press officer of the Israel Football Association. Except for three years of financial support by Russian multi millionaire Vladimir Gusinsky, the club has since consistently suffered from financial difficulties, mainly due to poor management. The result of this was an immediate deterioration in the club's status and stability, which led to relegation to the second league, in 1996-97, 1998–99 and 2005-06. During this period the club also conceded its most humiliating defeat of all times by the hands of no less than local rivals Maccabi Tel Aviv by a staggering 54 points difference. This being part of a previously unthinkable streak of 9 defeats in one season to Maccabi Tel Aviv.
In 2006 Eizenberg decided to stop funding the team and thus the team started the season in the second division. The situation wasn't improved in the coming season, in which the team, built almost entirely of youth players was relegated to the third division, winning only two games all season.
Read more about this topic: Hapoel Tel Aviv B.C.
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