For the first (and penultimate) time, teams were allowed to enter reserve teams into the competition. However, only Maccabi Tel Aviv took advantage of this, and its B "Nordia" team reached the quarter-finals, before falling to Maccabi Zikhron Ya'akov after a replay.
Results
First round
The draw for the first and the second rounds was held in mid-November 1928.[1][2] The matches were supposed to be played on 1 December 1928, however, the match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and PGH was postponed to 15 December 1928, and was played on Hapoel Tel Aviv ground.[3]
Second round matches started on 5 January 1929 with Maccabi Tel Aviv narrowly beating a Royal Air Force team of the 14th squadron, stationed in Amman and the previous year's cup final winner (and cup joint-holders) Hapoel Tel Aviv surprisingly losing to a British military team from the Royal Corps of Signals, stationed in Sarafand in Extra time.[8]Hapoel Tel Aviv appealed the result, claiming that according to the competition rules the match shouldn't have gone to extra time, but to a replay,[9] however, the appeal was rejected and Hapoel's elimination was confirmed.[10] The tie between the Arab team St. George and Maccabi Petah Tikva went to a replay after a 3–3 draw in Petah Tikva. In Jerusalem the Arab team won 2–1 and progressed to the quarter-finals.[11]
Matches were played on 2 February 1929, except for the match between Hapoel Haifa and Wireless Sarafand, which was postponed due to weather conditions[12] and was played on 16 February 1929.[13] The match between Maccabi "Nordia" Tel Aviv and Maccabi Zikhron Ya'akov went into a replay, which was played on 16 February 1929. The match was abandoned at the 65th minute due to the waterlogged pitch, with Maccabi Zikhron Ya'akov leading 2–1, and the result was confirmed as final.[14]
Mandatory Palestine