MGB Gala Night & Sports Awards
Sunday 6th April
The Maccabi GB Gala Evening and Sports Awards, sponsored by Pentland and in partnership with UJIA, took place at the Shaw Theatre on Sunday night with almost 500 people in attendance. The Sports Awards take place every two years and honour the outstanding British Jewish sporting icons. Attending the event were professional footballers Joe Jacobson and Sam Sloma along with a number of other stars from a variety of sports. Also present were professional boxers Roman Greenberg (IBO’s Intercontinental heavyweight champion) and Laura Saperstein (women boxing’s rising star). The awards were presented by Jo Ankier, a former winner of the Senior sportsperson of the year award who is hoping to represent GB at this year’s Olympics, along with well known television and radio personalities Graham Miller and Rob Nothman.
The evening also premiered Maccabi GB’s new short film, ‘Living Flame – Our Future is in your Hands’, celebrating their 70th Anniversary of investing in the community. The short film documents the history of the Maccabi movement and is the result of two years work from the host of the Gala Evening and Maccabi GB’s Vice-President and a former Chairman, Clive Geller.
After Clive introduced the night the audience was treated to a couple of great performances from singers Annie Dee and Talya Shalson. This was followed by a fantastic show from one of the country’s leading Klezmer bands, Shir and the Gala part of the evening was completed with the screening of ‘Living Flame’. Clive Geller said, “The reaction of the audience and the feedback that I’ve had has been unbelievable. Everybody seemed to enjoy the film and I’m tremendously happy with it. We felt we’ve done a good job and the reaction of the audience told us we hit the spot and I’m hoping that the film will be shown in up to 60 countries. One of the reasons I did the Gala night was because I wanted to raise our profile, to show the community what we have to offer and what they can receive from us – and I think we’ve achieved that.”
The Maccabi GB Sports Awards followed a short interval with the awards to be given out on the night being the Pentland Senior Sportsperson of the Year, the Jewish Chronicle Junior Sportsperson of the Year, the Richard Urban Lifetime Achievement Award and the Ken Gradon Award.
The first award to be given out was the Ken Gradon award for an individual or team who displayed outstanding sportsmanship whilst competing at the highest level of Jewish international sport. The award was presented by a former Maccabi GB Chairman Sam Bulka. The award was presented to the Team England Ten Pin Bowling squad who stole the show at last year’s European Maccabi Games winning a host of medals whilst conducting themselves in the perfect Maccabi spirit.
The Richard Urban Lifetime Achievement in Sport award is for someone who has excelled in their sport over their whole lifetime and was presented to Roger Bruck by the late Richard ‘Dick’ Urban’s wife, Ruth. Roger has been competing in track and field for almost 50 years and started running for Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers in 1959 winning the 100 yards sprint on a regular basis. Roger won his first Maccabi gold in Copenhagen at the European Games in 1959 and was instrumental in building the Maccabi Track and Field squad over the past 20 years. Roger is still competing and is the current British Masters Pentathlon Champion.
Finally we came onto the two biggest awards of the night. The Jewish Chronicle Junior Sportsperson of the Year was hotly contested with a shortlist that included four national champions in their chosen sport, but was won by Triathlete Lara Nyman, National Champion in her age group. In second place was Josh Pistol, UK National Cadet Under 17 Sailing Champion and third was table tennis player Zak Zilesnik, ranked 6th in Europe and number 1 nationally.
The final award to be given out was the Pentland Senior Sportsperson of the Year, another award with a fantastic list of nominees. Professional footballer Joe Jacobson won the award after what has been an impressive year for him. Joe is the regular left back for Division One side Bristol Rovers and has also captained the Wales Under 21 squad. On receiving the award Joe said, “When you think of all the people that are involved in the competition it’s great for me to win it, especially as there are so many great athletes here. I’ve been to previous awards before but really wasn’t expecting this. It’s brilliant to be recognised by Maccabi GB and the Jewish community. It tries to get everyone involved in sport together and you then come to awards evenings like this, you watch films like we have tonight, which I was massively impressed with, and it just makes it a bit more special.” In second place was the number one blind wicket keeper in the world Daniel Field and in third place was Jenna Shilston, National judo champion and a previous winner of the junior award.
Stuart Greenberg, Chairman of Maccabi GB commented, “The evening was a huge success for Maccabi GB and highlighted just how much we have invested in the community over the past 70 years. The array of sporting talent on show at the Sports Awards shows that investment is paying dividends. Thanks must go to everyone who helped on the day with a big thanks going to our partners UJIA as well as Pentland and the Jewish Chronicle for their continued support.”