Basketball / Women's Premier League / There is a clear favorite in the women's league, too

At the beginning of this century, an illusion was created that there would be more teams competing for the Women's Premier League title. Elitzur Holon was no longer the regular champion, Ramat Hasharon and Ramle were in the middle of building their dynasties, and newer clubs like Ra'anana, Bnei Yehuda, Maccabi Tel Aviv, and after them Ramat Chen, believed it was possible to grab a title.

Ramat Hasharon was the first team to break through, with three consecutive championships, from 2001-3. But, ever since Gulsah Akkaya scored the last-second, game-winning basket in the fifth game in Ramle, Ramat Hasharon has not won a title. The hegemony has completely passed to Ramle, which has won three of the last four championships, including two league-cup doubles. The only season in which it did not win the title, two years ago, it played in the second-division National League.

After last year's double, Ramle made a few moves this summer to break away even further from the rest of the league. It has a record budget of NIS 6 million, more than twice as much as Ramat Hasharon, and the rest of the clubs are not even worthy of being included in the discussion. If last year, it lived on a capable, but shallow, squad, this season, coach Eli Rabi has 10 quality players at his disposal. "It is an amazing squad," says player-agent Eli Lufo. "They are at a level above the league. I don't know anyone who will stop them. If they do not win the double, it would be a big surprise."

Ramle has been one of the top teams since it joined the league in 1993, but the last few years, everything seems to have easily. The change comes from above. Two years ago, Ramle Mayor Yoel Lavie decided to dismantle the original Elitzur Ramle club because of an NIS 3 million income tax debt. Elitzur Achva, a lower-league affiliate, bought Ramle's spot in the second division and came back with a bang. The new nonprofit organization that runs Ramle receives checks from any possible source.

Emulating Maccabi Tel Aviv

Shmuel Levkovitz, the manager of the Johanna Jabotinksy Youth Village and Lavie's nephew, stands at the head of the nonprofit organization. "He is a professional, the mayor trusts him and everything comes easy for him," says Hukie Nir, another player agent.

"In the income tax crisis, the previous nonprofit organization began to discover things that it didn't know," says Lavie. "The new organization operates with much greater transparency toward the municipality and budget control. We have defined targets for the club and now there is a budgetary ability to meet those targets."

Nissim Ron, the club's longtime sporting director, notes another difference. "The previous organization was made up of parents committees of the children who went to the basketball school," he says. "For the new organization, we were able to bring in serious people."

Whereas in the past, Ramle was known for administrative failure, today it runs like clockwork. "The players there get everything," says Devorah Yom Tov, the team manager last year. "Shmulik [Levkovitz] knows a lot of businessmen in town and they all donate to the club. And the fans give a lot. They bring food to practice for the girls."

"We are trying to emulate Maccabi Tel Aviv," says Ron.

The favorable conditions the players receive has caused some of them, maybe most of them, to join Ramle. Ina Gourevitch, for example, could have gone back to Holon and rebuilt its dynasty around her, but despite a conflict with Levkovitz, opted to remain a role-player at the biggest club. "Ramle is a professional club," says Gourevitch. "This place is good for me and I don't have any reason to leave."

The most surprising signing over the summer was Shay Doron, who chose to return from the United States to Ramle instead of the club where she grew up, Ramat Hasharon. "I came because of Eli Rabi," says Doron. "I value him as a coach and as a person. Another reason is the fans. I know that I have some in Israel and if even two of them show up because of me, I have done my part."

It gives the impression that Ramle got all of the players that it wanted this summer. "They got almost every player they wanted," clarifies Nir, the player-agent. "They also wanted Meirav Dori, but didn't get her because it was important for me to maintain the balance and pass her along to Ramat Hasharon."

No more free passes

Ramle also made another change this season: It will no longer be possible to get in to see the games for free. The club is selling season tickets for NIS 100 for children and NIS 300-400 for adults. "A Ramle game has turned into a show, and just like you pay for concerts and plays, there is no reason not to pay to watch games," says Levkovitz.

While Ramle has become more corporate, including moving from its old arena downtown to the more affluent neighborhood of Kiryat Menahem, but it has not cut its ties to the local population. In fact, the opposite is true. A number of companies bought season tickets for children from disadvantaged families. In every player's contract, there is a clause that obligates her to get involved in community service. "Shay Doron will go with one of the American players to one of the schools and give a class to the children; it can be about anything: sports or proper nutrition."

Even though Levkovitz stays involved, to a small extent, in the sports side of the organization, he gives almost all of the credit for the club's success to coach Rabi. "Ninety-five percent of our accomplishments are due to him," the chairman says. "He is unquestionably the best coach in [Israeli] women's basketball.

At the end of last season, Lavie stated that Ramle would play in the Euroleague Women. Even though FIBA Europe expanded the top level of women's European club competition, it did not find a place for an Israeli representative. "In my opinion, the dispute surrounding Jamie Arnold [who signed with Dynamo Region and then with Hapoel Jerusalem] was our undoing, we lost power in the committees. The Russian representatives voted against us."

At home, the coach is a little troubled with the assumption that Ramle is the clear favorite to win the Premier League championship. "Today, we are not only expected to win, we are expected to put on a show," says Rabi. "Until now, soccer and basketball teams made up of stars have failed; I hope that with hard work we will win. We are a good enough team not to lose in the Premier League, but that doesn't mean that everything is going to flow from the beginning, and we may lose a few games."