American Football in Israel is a non-profit association, which in spring 2004 was granted official recognition as the sport’s governing body in Israel by the Ministry of Education’s Sports Authority. The AFI is a member of the International Federation of American Football (www.ifaf.info).
AFI President Steve Leibowitz and Commissioner Danny Gewirtz established their first football league in 1988. AFI leagues have grown to include some 90 teams and over 1000 players. In each league, teams play in colored jerseys displaying the team sponsor. The AFI men’s contact league is six-on-six and played according to AFI rules. The Women’s AFI league, national teams and the Yosef Goodman High School AFI league play according to the EFAF/NFL Flag Football Rules, which is five-on-five and the format played at IFAF/EFAF international flag football tournaments. The co-ed, non-contact Tuesday Night Football League plays six-on-six according to AFI rules.
In March 2007, American Football in Israel announced the country’s first full-equipped tackle football league.
In February 2006, AFI hosted Israel’s first international tournament, IDT Global Flag in Jerusalem.
AFI LEAGUES
Israel Football League: The first season of the country’s first fully-equipped, tackle football league is scheduled for fall-winter 2007/08. Initially, there will be four teams: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa and Kfar Saba. The Jerusalem team will play its home games at Kraft Family Stadium. Click here for more information on the IFL.
AFI men’s contact league: By far the largest league, which had almost 60 teams and over 800 players in the fall-winter 2006/07 season. Players range in age from 16-40, with most 18-25, and come from all over the country. The games are played on Fridays before Shabbat and Saturdays after Shabbat, mostly at Kraft Family Stadium in Jerusalem. After the regular season, seeding into brackets and playoffs, Kraft Family Stadium hosts a number of bowl games, including the Holyland Bowl, the national flag football championship game. Lobos defeated Big Blue in the 2007 Holyland Bowl. In the spring of 2005, there was a nine-on-nine men’s contact league, which played on a field twice the size of the men’s contact and other flag football leagues. In some respects, the nine-on-nine league served as a precursor to the new Israel Football League for AFI.
Women’s American Football in Israel league: Thanks partly to funding from NFL International, the AFI established its first women’s league in spring 2004. The league grew to 12 teams - over 100 players - for the 2006/07 fall-winter season, which was sponsored by onlysimchas.com. Misha’an Plumbers (pictured) won the 2006/07 onlysimchas.com WAFI title. The WAFI league plays according to the NFL/EFAF Flag Football Rules.
Tuesday Night Football League: Our adult co-ed non-contact league is getting ready for its eight season. For the 2006/07 TNFL season, there were five teams, including about 60 players. Kfar Zippori defeated defending champion Ba’al Shen Tov in the 2007 TNFL final. It was Kfar Zippori’s third title in four seasons.
Yosef Goodman High School AFI league: Thanks to funding from NFL International, the high school boys’ non-contact league, which is named after the former national team player and Pizzeria Efrat captain who died in an IDF paratrooper training accident in 2006, is getting ready for its sixth season. Since 2006, the league has two leagues each year, a fall-winter league and a spring league. This league has also adopted EFAF/NFL Flag Football Rules.
YOUTH ACTIVITIES
American Football in Israel has teamed up with the JCC Association, the umbrella organization for Jewish Community Centers in North America, and the National Football League (NFL) and NFL Players Association (NFLPA) through the NFL Youth Football Fund (YFF) to significantly increase the number of Israeli youth playing American flag football.
The JCC Association receives generous grants from the YFF to promote flag football both in the United States and in Israel.
For more information, click here to download the press release.
NATIONAL TEAMS
Thanks to our generous sponsors, the AFI sends teams to international flag football competitions. The women’s national team won the championship at the 2007 German Big Bowl (pictured) and at the June 2005 Flag Oceane Tournament in Le Havre, France, and finished in fourth place at the 2005 EFAF Senior Flag Championships in Helsinki, Finland. At the February 2004 World Cup of Flag Football in the Dominican Republic, the national men’s team included 14 players, played nine-on-nine, and finished fourth out of the ten teams, losing a close semifinal to Team Canada.
IDT GLOBAL FLAG IN JERUSALEM
In February 2006, the AFI hosted Israel’s first-ever official international football tournament, which was sponsored by IDT Global Services and played according to the NFL/EFAF rules. Teams from Italy and Germany faced the best AFI talent in a group round-robin stage on Friday, February 24, and then the playoffs and championship game were played the following Saturday night. Fieldturf/USA defeated Ziontours/Israel for the title.
The AFI welcomed the Italian National Team, which won the silver medal at the 2005 EFAF Senior Flag Football Championships in Helsinki, and the Walldorf Wanderers, whose first tournament was hosted by NFL Europe’s Frankfurt Galaxy.
(Men’s contact league photo credit: Jay L. Abramoff; IDT Global Flag in Jerusalem tournament photo credit: David Cohen)
