The 1981–82 started with a sports disaster for the club. On 12 September 1981, referee Avraham Klein gave a win to Maccabi Tel Aviv in a series of a wrong decisions: cancelling a goal of Beitar Jerusalem's player Yaron Adiv when he and Beitar's players celebrated the goal, then allowing seconds after Maccabi player Moti Ivanir to score a goal from an offside position. A crowd of 8,000 Beitar Jerusalem's fans went crazy. The Israeli Football Association quickly decided to punish Beitar Jerusalem and discussed the so-called "football game" for six weeks before stating to leave the outcome as 2–1 win to Maccabi Tel Aviv, and filing a reprimand about Avraham Klein. Also the next game of Beitar Jerusalem is remembered: on 19 September 1981, a player of Hapoel Be'er Sheva, Shalom Avitan hit his teammate Eli Vaitzman on his face, and Hapoel Be'er Sheva coach entered the pitch and took Shalom Avitan by his hand out of the pitch, preventing a red card by the referee. Beitar Jerusalem won 2–0. Later, with Eli Ohana in his first season, Beitar Jerusalem improved its standing, ending the season in 6th place, above Maccabi Tel Aviv, who, to the delights of Beitar fans, ended that season in 8th place.