The militarisation of Israeli sport management in the 1950s and 1960s

This article discusses the involvement of active service IDF officers in managing central Israeli sport institutions during the early years of the State of Israel. The IDF officers’ activity in sport bodies encouraged the types of sports that served army interests and developed the construction of sport facilities and their maintenance. The involvement of army officers in managing sport institutions in Israel will be explained as part of the military sphere’s penetration to Israel’s managerial sphere in its formative years and as a reflection of the importance given to the IDF as a unifying factor, placed above political considerations.