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Sport
that when he emigrated from Queens, NY to Israel
in 1974, “football was the one thing I missed here.”
Fate intervened.
When the newspaper he had been working for as a
reporter folded in 1989, one of the relics remaining was
a solitary satellite dish on the roof. It did not remain idle
for long. Soon Leibowitz and Gerwitz were “pirating the
signal from the American Armed Forces Television and
showing games” for their many compatriots who too
were craving to watch their favorite American sports.
“We hung posters all around the city and the response
Gearing up for action in a pregame huddle.
was amazing. Our gatherings blossomed into a social
club that revealed that not only was the biggest draw
the football but that the football fanatics amongst us,
were missing playing the sport as well.” The next step
the enterprising duo took was organizing a league
of eight teams of what was then ‘touch football’. “It
comprised mainly of American immigrants and students
at Yeshivot in Israel.” Steve then approached his
friend Ruby Rivlin, today the Speaker of the Knesset
“who fixed us a field in Bayit Vegan.” Nine years later,
“we had grown to 36 teams and our biggest problem,
was finding sufficient fields to play on. It was like
playing ‘musical fields’ - when Bayit Vegan wasn’t
available, we moved to the YMCA stadium, and if that
was unavailable we shot up to Hebrew University.”
The challenges on the field were minor compared to their
troubles off. “None of the fields had lights, which meant
that the only time we could play was on Friday mornings.”
Courtesy IFL
The Inbal Jerusalem Hotel
Spring-Summer 2011
34
Fate would again intervene.
“One day, one of our players spotted Robert Kraft,
the owner of the New England Patriots in the
lobby of a Jerusalem hotel. He walked up to him
and told him about our nascent football league.”
Kraft’s response was. “Get the guy in charge to be in
touch with me.”
Leibowitz moved quickly. He contacted Kraft, who is
also CEO of The Kraft Group, a corporate behemoth
conducting business in over 80 countries and whose
philanthropy focuses on education, healthcare, women’s
Local game’s icon, Mordechai ‘Mordi’ Goodman
issues and sport.
They clicked. At their first meeting, “he invited me to
Boston to submit a proposal.”
A Field of Dreams
Leibowitz ‘touched down’ in the Massachusetts capital,
with a game plan. Most important, he had the basics - a
field granted by the City of Jerusalem. In truth, it was
very ‘basic’. It had been unused for over 20 years and
overgrown with weeds. It was thought ‘unplayable’ but
the mayor, Ehud Olmert at the time, said: “If you can
raise the money to develop it, it’s yours to use.” It was a
good start - without a field there could be no ‘kick-off’ -
literally and figuratively.
So the plan, explains Leibowitz , was simple and
concise: “The Kraft family, (Robert and his wife, Myra)
would sponsor the development of the grounds, while
The