Gridiron football, better known as American football, is a new phenomenon in Egypt, and especially so for women. The presence of male and female players has also made it necessary from the start to maintain close supervision of both teams of players. On a bitingly cold and blustery November evening recently, I watched the Eagles, a women's football team, beat the She Wolves. The Eagles won three touchdowns and one conversion. Young Egyptian women are taking up American football with zeal and gusto, it seems. The touchdowns were scored by Mayar Basil, Shorouk Hani and Farah Abul-Kheir. Esraa Al-Shatlawi, team manager of the Eagles, was ecstatic. “Henceforth, the She Wolves will no longer be a worthy foe,” she said, not even seeming to notice her own bandaged hand. I had previously known nothing of flag football emerging as a popular sport in Egypt, but a colleague told me that her daughter was participating in a tournament, so off I went to watch. I was determined to scrounge around among the players, all female, and the trainers, all men, for interesting tidbits. “We train three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Thursday is a day of rest when we recuperate and regain our strength,” Esraa said with an enchanting smile. During the match she stood aside, but one could see that she was scrutinising the performance of every girl in her team. The Eagles sport yellow and black tracksuits to distinguish them from the other all-girl teams of the She Wolves and the Pink Warriors. Esraa explained that the Egyptian League of American Football (EALF) was founded for men and by men, but that now Egyptian young women were attempting to become part of the league. In July 2014, Egypt was granted membership of the International Federation of American Football (IFAF). The teams then were all composed of male players, but today girls are trying to gain a foothold in what used to be an all-male domain. American football teams the Cairo Sharks, Cairo Hawks, Cairo Gorillas, Cairo Lions and Cairo Mustangs are now popular among Egypt's men. The American University in Cairo (AUC) and the German University in Cairo (GUC) encouraged the new craze, and the British University in Egypt then founded the Cairo Hawks, now renamed the BUE Bulls. Five months ago, young women also began to form teams, with the Eagles being one of the first. I searched in vain for helmets as Esraa explained the basic rules of the game. These are similar to those of the mainstream game (often called “tackle football”), though “women in Egypt do not play tackle football,” she said. “Only men do. Instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier (deflagging) in flag football to end a down,” she added. There are thus no football helmets, shoulder pads, thigh pads and guards, knee pads, chest protectors or mouth-guards. “The tackle version is played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. We in flag football have seven players on each side,” she added. “The offense in tackle football must advance at least ten yards in four downs, or plays. And, attempts to advance down the field are made by running with or passing the ball, or else the ball is passed to the opposing team. If this succeeds, the team is given a new set of four downs. The role of the offensive unit is to advance the football down the field with the ultimate goal of scoring a touchdown.” It all sounded like double Dutch to me. “The quarterback is the leader of the offense. Either he or a coach calls the plays. The quarterback lines up behind the centre to take the snap and then hands the ball off, throws it or runs with it,” Esraa continued. “The primary role of the halfback, also known as the tailback, is to carry the ball on running plays. Halfbacks may also serve as receivers. Fullbacks tend to be larger than halfbacks and function primarily as blockers, but they are sometimes used as runners in short-yardage situations,” she said, trying to teach me the rules of the game. “Linebackers line up behind the defensive line but in front of the defensive backfield,” she said, looking at her team players attentively. “So what are scrimmage kicks,” I ventured, somewhat sheepishly. “Scrimmage kicks, which can be executed by the offensive team on any down from behind or on the line of scrimmage,” Esraa said. I was still befuddled. “American football is a full-contact sport, and injuries are relatively common. Most injuries occur during training sessions, particularly ones that involve contact between players,” Esraa explained, noting that injuries are far less dangerous in flag football than in the regular kind. “Traditional American tackle football rules are often omitted or simplified to reflect the more recreational nature of the game, the desire to avoid physical contact and injury, and the generally smaller number of participating players per side. And that is why parents in Egypt do not object to their daughters playing flag football. It is considered a game suitable for young women,” she added. There are relatively few sprains and strains in flag football. “Flag football has a strong amateur following and several national and international competitions each year sponsored by various associations. In Egypt, all women's teams are flag as opposed to tackle football,” Esraa attested. In America it is a different ball game, so to speak. In Egypt, the game is quite new. In the United States and Canada it is the national game. Not so in Egypt. The US National Football League (NFL), for instance, the most popular American football league, has the highest average attendance of any sports league in the world. Then there is the captivating “Super Bowl” that draws millions of fans. The Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) is yet another peculiarly American feature of the game. I later found out that there are such things as bowl games. “The bowl games proliferated in place of the historical lack of a post-season tournament to determine an annual national champion in the FBS,” Bassem, the manager of the Eagle Boys team, told me. “The level is the standard through which teams become available for selection to participate in postseason bowl games,” he expounded. I found this whole new world fascinating. “The history of the bowl game began with the 1902 Rose Bowl, or the Tournament East-West football game,” Bassem said. None of the major sporting clubs in Cairo, among them the Heliopolis, Ahli, Gezira or Maadi, have room for Gridiron football. Indeed, as Esraa and Bassem explained, the players have to rent grounds in different locations. “We have no permanent ground,” they said. The Eagles have 30 girl players, and almost all are GUC students. I turned to Nada, one of the players. “I study business informatics at the GUC, and I used to play rugby. But rugby is a harsh game, so I switched to flag football and really enjoy it,” Nada beamed. So is there a contradiction between books and football? In the battle for university students' attention, football trumps medical studies, literature and engineering, it seems. The proceeds from ticket sales to the tournament also go to help patients with breast cancer.
