THE ASSYRIAN ATHLETIC CLUB

OF TORONTO

Proud Home of the Winged Bull Soccer Teams

Amusing Dribbling Wizard

As a dribbler, Youra was a wizard! He was nimble, steady and always the master of the situation. He once told me that he learned his dribbling skill from Youel Gewargis, another great Assyrian footballer of the Habbaniya and Baghdad days.

Youra was shy, but he had a genuine warm smile, and he was friendly with everyone, and everybody liked him. Before Ammo Baba's soccer talent began to surface in 1951-52, Youra became a very popular player in Habbaniya while still in his teens, and I, another local freelance contributor of sports reports, named him "Most Popular Footballer in Habbaniya" in a feature article published in the Christmas 1951 magazine of The Iraq Times.

"What do you think is the reason for your popularity?" I had asked him.

Youra bowed his head for a moment in thought. "I think it is because of my dribbling," he replied. "My tricks amuse the people." Actually, there was more to it than that. Youra did not drive the spectators wild with excitement as Aram Karam and, later, Ammo Baba did with their amazing scoring power, but he was a brilliant dribbler, a persistent and tireless retriever, a clever schemer, an intelligent distributor as well as an amusing performer, attracting the spectator's eye and capturing his heart! People loved to watch his football wizardry.

The Soccer-Crazy Dreamer

No player loved football more than Youra did! In October 1951, Youra broke his nose in a game a few days before his team was to play in Basra against Basra Select. Everyone thought Youra couldn't play. But not Youra! He quickly had nose surgery at the British Hospital and left, with a patched-up nose, three days later with his team for Basra. On the train someone had dropped a cigarette butt into his kitbag, which had caught fire. But broken nose, burned kit or hell or high water, the soccer-crazy Youra reached Basra and played -- in his heat-shriveled football boots! -- sharing in the scoring of one of his team's two goals!

When I once asked him if the rumor was true that he "played" football even in his dreams, Youra kicked a pebble, smiled sheepishly and said, "Yes, I have often jumped out of bed in my sleep shouting to Youel or Aram to pass me the ball!" Youra was a very good table-tennis player, winning the Employees' Club championship for 1951-52. He also played hockey, and he won his very first boxing bout in 1952. Youra left Habbaniya in July 1952 to establish himself elsewhere in the country. But after a short absence he returned, homesick, and rejoined his teams.