THE ASSYRIAN ATHLETIC CLUB

OF TORONTO

Proud Home of the Winged Bull Soccer Teams

National Champion and International Player

Youra played soccer for the Iraqi Air Force and the military and national select teams for almost 15 years. He took part in dozens of international matches, including several in an Assyrian Sports Club all-Assyrian team, both in Iraq and outside, thrilling and entertaining tens and tens of thousands with his skillful and loveable style and glorifying the names Assyrian and Iraqi. But when he married a Swedish girl in 1971, he was suspended from the Force because the Iraqi Baath Government had enacted a rule against Iraqi military men marrying non-Arab foreign women. He was later "unfrozen" and transferred to the Iraqi Habbaniya air base as a sports officer to coach and oversee the training of military sportsmen. Realizing his soccer playing days were over, however, he resigned from the Force shortly thereafter.

Husband, Father and Coach

In 1972 Youra left Iraq to make his home in Goteborg, Sweden, where he raised a family, worked and coached soccer for 20 years, and finally died coaching and training a bunch of Assyrian soccer hopefuls, far away from his ancestral homeland, his sisters, his own people and adoring fans, a stranger among strangers, in a strange land!  

Unknown Renowned Grave

Youra's body may lie in a well-built marked grave, in a scenic cemetery, surrounded by green grass and multi-colored flowers, but how many people will visit and "smoke" his grave with frankincense and mourn his passing? And, unfortunately, Youra Eshaya will not be the only noted Assyrian whose grave will remain lonely and unknown in a strange, far-away foreign land!

By: Mikhael K. Pius