For as long as I can remember, violence and unsociable behavior has been the norm at basketball games. One only has to look at last year’s playoff series, which was marred by the violence and vulgar behavior of the fans, which saw people arrested, flares ignited and other items thrown at the other teams’ personnel and fans.

Only a few days ago, as I was watching an episode of Smallville, Jimmy Olsen, thinking that Clark Kent is after his girlfriend, tries to break the tension w by challenging him to a game of one-on-one: “CK, I know that you’ve got your issues, but what I’m about is working through it. Play hoops? Great, cool, then we’ll go play a little one-on-one and we’ll just leave it out on the court.”

Leaving it out on the court is exactly the idea that the Winner League tried to put across in the event that they hosted on Friday afternoon at Bar HaEmesh in Tel Aviv, an event which was part of the League’s 3×3 Fans’ League.

Dozens of participants gathered for the initiative, the brainchild of Toto and the Winner League, under the theme “You can support differently,” which aims to keep sports rivalry off the court and unite fans, regardless of the teams they support or the color of their shirts. The 3×3 Fans’ League itself emphasizes healthy, respectful sports rivalry and building bridges between different fan communities.

At the event, participating fans heard from League Chairman Ari Steinberg, as well as personal stories from various public figures, including Deputy Chief Itzik Cohen (until recently the commander of the Holon police station), renowned journalist Yoav Limor and former footballer Omri Kanada.

“You can support differently – it’s not just a slogan; it’s a way of life,” Steinberg said. “We’re standing here at Bar HaEmesh not just for a 3×3 tournament, but to promote a new culture of cheering, one that values respect and love for the game. On our courts, there is no place for violence, not physical, not verbal, and not on social media. Israeli basketball is choosing a different path, a path of tolerance, dialogue, and inspiration. Thank you to our partners at Toto, led by CEO Meir Bardugo. We hope this is just the beginning and that this initiative will continue for many years to come.”

“Our job is to go in the middle and look at the younger people to clam them down,” Limor said. “In the end, all the balagan starts with young people who need a framework, the state needs to find this for them. For us, we need a social project to take the young people, give them direction. We need to put things into proportion. We’re now only 10 minute after more sirens were sounded here in the north. There are hostages still in Gaza. Let’s try to do something fun thing, basketball, with less violence and more fun.”

“Lots of fans want to come and are concerned with the violence,” Cohen said. “How may will take a young child to a game after someone is injured? Violence is not good to see. It’s ok to shout, but not more. The police aren’t your enemies. There are games I saw things that I couldn’t believe. At a Maccabi Haifa game we arrested tens of people. People come to hurt other people. You hear about Gaza and Syria, and people come to games to hurt for no reason other than they support another team. There’s enough tension and issues in this country. Therefore, I want to tell you that we need to do something.”

“There is a stigma against the police,” Kanada said. “To stop the violence, I don’t know if it’s possible, but to remove it from the court. Proportion – speaking about football and basketball, sport overall, for me as a football player I experienced violence on the pitch from fans as well. People don’t understand proportion. Even with the war. There are enough enemies outside, we don’t need them within. It’s possible. At the end of the day, football is a secure place. One of my safe places as a youth was football. I felt secure, but then I wasn’t – people curses, bad feelings, which I also see with fans today. I think we need to speak so that people know what the punishment is for going onto the court during the game and lighting flares. We want parents to be at a point where they know that they can send their kids to games and they’ll be safe.”