More Photos From ISRAEL BOWL X, Movie-Finish Game

Israel isn't one of the Tackle Football powerhouses, and the truth is that most Israelis haven't a clue about the game. Soccer and basketball get the crowds, headlines and professional budgets. But for the past few decades various versions of American football have slowly gained a following here in Israel from north to south.

If I'm not mistaken, a few decades ago Steve Liebowitz (of IBA fame) got the ball rolling with Touch Football using his persuasive powers to convince old football-loving friends here and abroad to sponsor teams. As we know some of those pioneering sponsors, we'd get a real kick out of reading the results which at times almost sounded like a loving couple was having problems, and good friends were in serious competition.

After a while, there were youth/high school teams, women's teams and instead of touch football they played something called Flag Football. Then, finally ten years ago, the genuine article, Tackle Football came to Israel.

Barry Liben of New York, who has probably sponsored a team in everyone of Steve's football leagues, proudly supported "אריות ירושלים" Jerusalem "Big Blue" Lions which won the very first ISRAEL BOWL championships. And then it took until this year, after a nail-biting season, for another victory.

Here are some photos I took at that championship game:

There was a wonderful "carnival" atmosphere at the game, held in Petach Tikvah, which had been missing, since official games could no longer be at the old Kraft Stadium. We're all looking forward to the new Kraft Stadium. And Gd willing the Lions will be victorious next year, too.