Growing up, many of us have watched movies about American football; we saw how players tackle each other, make super runs down the flanks or throw the ball as far as the eye can see. We loved how the quarterback always scores the head cheerleader, we love how they score touch downs and the high spirit of the team, yet we seem to know very little about the sport. Now that it has finally come to Egypt, it’s time to start learning more about this exciting sport and why it might actually be a good idea to give it a try.

I met with one of the founders of the Egyptian Federation of American Football and the head coach of the Cairo Wolves American football team, Coach Khalid Rabie, to ask him about this amazing sport, which not only raises your athleticism, but teaches you about leadership, teamwork, how to act fast and raise your morale and spirit through the roof.

Coach, can you tell me about yourself and your background?

I was born in Austin Texas; I came to Egypt when I was 13. With regards to football, I started playing at the age of 6 playing as quarter back for 8 years. when I returned to Egypt, I discovered by chance that there were people practicing the sport in Egypt, so I decided to join them in 2010. When I came to the Cairo Wolves, called the Wolfpack back then, the team consisted of 10 people who were truly passionate about the sport. We started practicing, to shortly coach the team after. It was the first time for me to coach and lead a team from off the field; I always used to being a player back in the days. Professionally, I’m a business professional and Project manager from an Engineering educational background.

What got you to start training?

I embarked on a challenge to do it, searched for other teams and found out that lots of people have the mentality, IQ and tendency to make it possible. We changed the team’s name and we set up tryouts because we wanted to see if people would be interested or not. We are one of the biggest teams in Egypt currently made up of 60 players. The teams are divided into districts, in addition to the college teams. There are the Hell Hounds in Heliopolis, Cairo Bears in New Cairo, Cairo Wolves in Giza, GUC Eagles, MSA Tigers and AUC Titans.

Cairo Wolves family, growing bigger and stronger with each passing day.
Cairo Wolves family, growing bigger and stronger with each passing day.

Can you tell me what about ELAF?

The Egyptian League of American Football, ELAF, was a Facebook page. Gave the opportunity for players to make their first international appearance under ELAF in the African Cup qualifying game between Egypt and Morocco to advance to the world cup. Unfortunately, it was a one man show, and lacked transparency to all those affiliated; A banning of certain people from playing the game for personal reasons and so forth was the center of interaction, to just mention a few. Football is all about teamwork not personal prejudice. Team representatives had a meeting with the President and the board of ELAF, told them that we wanted to make changes and that things should go in a more constructive way. “No, and if you don’t like it, you can leave” was the reply we got.

So EFAF was founded?

EFAF, The Egyptian Federation of American Football was co-founded by myself and others. I do business development and consultancy for the teams and organization to know their duties on and off the field. Football is known for being a violent sport but care for the man beside you is key; it’s more than a sport. The EFAF is presents the EFFL the Egyptian Flag Football League for youngsters and people who don’t prefer physical contact. The ENFL Egyptian National Football League is our main event this month; 6 teams will play tackle football. The Egyptian Bowl, equivalent to the super bowl abroad, will be internationally broadcasted. Finally, the pro bowl, we will randomly select players from different teams and have two random coaches training them. In addition, we have an academy where we teach youngsters the ethics, the discipline, the spirit, the culture and what it means to be a football player before being launched on the field.

 

The unity and spirit of one family.
The unity and spirit of one family.

We have limited resources, isn’t it hard teaching players without the right equipment?

It’s very hard and challenging because we do indeed have very limited resources especially outlets for field equipment, but we work with whatever we have. We watch the games, train hard and aim to be part of it, so we can create our own legacy until we get funding to buy our equipment and excel. We will have coaching clinics and referee clinics, to teach coaches how to coach and the referees how to officiate within the EFAF Academy.

Do you think that the future looks good for the sport?

It’s going great so far having almost 500 players in total; it all depends how the coming period will go, if the league will attract people or not and the level of publicity we will get. I’m very optimistic that the sport will evolve, because people are starting to believe in it and go the extra mile to be part of the family. We’re training people as young as 10 years old; we’re building value, respectful, committed and socially responsible individuals and athletes.

moaz

Who is the leader on the field?

I believe it’s not about the leader on the field; It’s all about the team and their harmony. Theoretically speaking, on offense the leader is the quarter back; defensively the linebacker or defensive tackle; or the most experienced person may lead, but in the end it’s a collective effort by all to lead any team to victory.

 

In your opinion, who are the best players in Egypt?

The players who had an impact on me from each team are:

  • Cairo Wolves: Mouaz Sabah

He currently assists coaching in the Cairo Wolves and one of the best players in terms of IQ. He used to coach youth in the United States and he’s now one of the most experienced players who can play the game in Egypt.

  • Cairo Wolves: Omar Ghanem

He grew very fast and evolved greatly within a couple of weeks; I rely on him now.

  • Hell Hounds: Amr Baghdady

One of the best Running Backs I’ve seen; he has great experience.

  • Cairo Bears: Omar Wahdan

He’s a good Quarter Back that could have a good future.

  • MSA Tigers: Mohamed Ezzo

He’s one of the best Receivers in Egypt; he used to be a Wolfpack but he advanced to form the Tigers team in MSA University.

  • GUC Eagles: John Gabrah

One of the best Safety’s/Players in Egypt; you’d be happy to have him on any team.

  • AUC Titans:

They formed a team recently, and they’re still progressing.

 

Football is known as a violent sport, what do you think about that?

In terms of violent sports, we have boxing, kick boxing, MMA and even soccer can be violent. You can get tackled in sports and can’t really escape injuries. Football is a contact sport so it can come off as somewhat violent, but there are a lot of rules that people don’t know about. Players scrimmaging or piling up on top of each other is actually part of the rules. Injuries can happen in baseball or basketball; it can happen in any sport.

GUC Eagles vs Hell Hounds

What are the requirements to play the sport

It’s a sport for everyone, whether you’re short, tall, overweight, thin or muscular. Everyone has a place. A position for all sizes and all forms. Either way you learn everything on the field.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Don’t judge a book by its cover; come see what we do, learn the basic rules, feel the passion, watch people play and enjoy. See how high their spirits are, how pumped up they get to be, not pumped up as violent, but pumped up as to go in there and make a statement to play a game that is not about one man. It’s about being a team; if one man makes a mistake they all fall but at the same time they carry each other to get back up and win.