American Football in Israel (AFI) is the

governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ge ...

of all

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

activities in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, including the

Israel Football League The Israel Football League (IFL; he, ליגת הפוטבול הישראלית), also known as the Kraft Family Israel Football League for sponsorship reasons with the Kraft Family, is an amateur American football league consisting of eight team ...

and various

flag football Flag football is a variant of American football where, instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier ("deflagging") to end a Down (gridiron football), down. The sport has a ...

leagues, and is a member of the

International Federation of American Football The International Federation of American Football (IFAF) is the international governing body of gridiron associations. The IFAF oversees the IFAF World Championship of American Football, which is held every four years. The IFAF became a prov ...

History

In 1988, American emigrants Steve Leibowitz and Danny Gerwirtz founded the American Touch Football in Israel (ATFI) league. It was a natural outgrowth of the informal pick-up games started in 1984 by Arnie Draiman. The ATFI grew into a popular touch football league and in 2002, after thirteen years of touch football, renamed itself American Football in Israel and adopted flag football rules. In 2005, the Israel Football League, a previously pick-up American football league founded by Ofri Becker, merged with the AFI and began organized play with helmets, pads, referees and coaches with the AFI serving as governing body. The AFI has grown to five tackle and flag football leagues, including some 90 teams and over 2000 players. In each league, teams play in colored jerseys displaying the team sponsor. The Moshiko AFI men's contact league is six-on-six and played according to AFI rules. In 2008, Stevie's Boyz came back from a 21-0 deficit to upset Big Blue in the Holyland Bowl, the national flag football championship game. AFI operates a successful women's league, the WAFI, and the Israeli national women's team is regarded as one of the top teams in the world. The team took first place at Big Bowl III (2009) in Germany, and at the 2008 Flag Oceane tournament in Le Havre, France. In the fall of 2005, the co-ed non-contact league and boys' non-contact high school league used for the first time EFAF/

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

Flag Football Flag football is a variant of American football where, instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier ("deflagging") to end a Down (gridiron football), down. The sport has a ...

Rules, which is five-on-five. In February 2006, American Football in Israel hosted an international flag football tournament at Kraft Family Stadium in Jerusalem. Known as "

Flag in Jerusalem A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design employ ...

", the event marked the first time the State of Israel hosted a sanctioned international flag football competition. Six teams participated in the event including the Italian national team and Germany's Waldorf Wanderers, plus two American and two Israeli teams composed of some of the best talent the AFI had to offer. In 2008, the first edition of the Israel Bowl was organized.AFI אודות
''Israel-football.co.il''

References

External links

Official website

Notable players

* Mo Feintuch, Mercaz Moosen American football in Israel

American Football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

1980s establishments in Israel {{Americanfootball-stub

History

See also

References

External links

Notable players