Dubai: The planned Thanksgiving Day Clash (November 25) between the newly-formed UAE Falcons national American Football team and the United States has been postponed until March 11, 2011, with two fixtures against Egypt scheduled in February as warm-up matches.
It gives Rex Stevenson's players an opportunity to further master the game, most of which only started playing after open try-outs started in June this year.
It also allows the 60-odd squad to be cut into two tiers more time before facing the much-fancied US All-Stars team of semi-pro, contract-hungry NFL free agents.
"It was initially postponed until January 28, but we've put it back again until March 11. First we'll face Egypt at home on February 11 and then away on February 25. We needed these warm-up matches because the US All Stars have never lost. I see no reason why we should postpone the fixture again," said Stevenson.
Stevenson introduced American Football to the UAE when he came over to kick-off The American Football Academy in February 2010 backed by two Emirati ex-US college attendees who fell in love with the game while away on studies — chairman Ahmad Anoohi and athletic director Sami Al Hashemi.
From nothing the trio has made Ittihad School training field their own and parallel to the adults, they've also kitted out and trained up a total of 50 children who train according to NFL endorsed programmes three days a week with matches on Fridays.
Training sessions
The senior squad will up their training regime to three sessions, three days a week, from this month in anticipation for the UAE's international debut.
Stevenson's aim is to get 2,000 schoolchildren playing the game within three years to compliment a blossoming national team, which has already spurred international interests and prompted similar start-up schemes across the GCC region — without having played a game yet.
If you fancy your chances of making the UAE draft, regardless of your nationality, please contact call 04-343-1443 or visit www.afa-uae.com.
