The Most Popular Sports for Anglos in Israel.

The English speaking, and international communities are playing their favorite national sports in Israel. There are  teams across Israel playing American football, baseball, cricket, netball and rugby. New immigrants, international students and local Israelis meet regularly to play their favorite sports.  Joining one of these teams is a great way for a new immigrant (oleh hadash) or expat to meet and integrate with locals and have fun at the same time.

American Football Teams

“Haifa Underdogs” was founded at 2005 as one of the 4 original teams in the Israel Football League (IFL). In 2010 a nonprofit association (Amuta) called “Underdogs Football” was established to take care of the financial and administrative aspects. In the same year a youth team, also falling under the association – “The Reali Rams” was founded.

The association locates in north Israel, on Mount Carmel, Haifa.

The Rams play the high school league (IHFL, ages 14-18) which includes another 8 teams, scattered all over Israel. In the last 2 years The Rams made it to the championship games and finished as runner-ups in both seasons. They practice twice a week from August until end of May. Fees include equipment, insurance etc.

The IFL (ages 18-45) have 11 teams all over Israel. The Underdogs are one of the leading teams in Israel and won the championship game in the first year. The adult team practices twice a week.

Both teams are lead and coached by American staff.  There are several native English speakers among the players and therefore practices are held both in English and Hebrew.

Contact:

Yuval Fisher – GM, Reali Rams
phone: 052-6253288
e-mail: fisheryuv@gmail.com

Niv Medlinger – CEO, Underdogs Football & GM, Haifa Underdogs
phone: 054-5618619
e-mail: nivm23@gmail.com

All the American football teams in Israel: Black Swarm, Hammers, Rebels, Lions, Kings, Sabres, Troopers, Pioneers, Underdogs, Northern Stars, Silverbacks

Playing Rugby in Raanana

Rugby is on the rise! In the last couple of years Israeli rugby – a small but vivid sport in our region – has made a huge leap forward, climbing more than 40 places in the world ranking to the 50th spot.

The Israeli rugby league is made of 8 clubs spread around the country (from Upper-Galilee to Be’er-Sheva) while the junior scene has over 30 teams from age 10 to 18.

The Ra’anana Roosters Rugby club was founded in the mid-1960’s by British and South-African “olim”. The club is known as one of the most celebrated clubs in Israel, with several championships along the years and many representatives in the national (both Rugby union and Rugby sevens) teams.

The Ra’anana Roosters Rugby Club is a both social and competitive club. The club puts a lot of effort to take a role in the local community (such as packing food for the needy, working with young students and much more) as a part of the focus on the social aspect of the game. For the club, reaching for the community is as important as winning games. The club educates it’s young players on the same old core-values of the game – Teamwork, Discipline, Enjoyment, Respect, and Sportsmanship.

The club has juniors (U-14, U-16, U-18) and seniors teams, and is always welcoming newcomers (and off course former ruggers) from the age of 10 to 50 to join our club, and to be a part in this huge experience called RUGBY.

For further information:

Yohanan 052-8282511 (seniors)

Danny 050-7526453 (juniors)

Haifa Wild Boars Rugby Club

The Haifa Wild Boars Rugby club was founded in 1971 by Alan Barzag, a student at the Technion in Haifa, and was initially comprised mainly of immigrants from South Africa. The team is named after the majestic and awe inspiring wild boars that are known to roam the streets of Haifa.

In 1972 the club was among those that formed the Israeli Rugby Association, and was in association with the Technion sports unit until 2018 when the team joined the Maccabi Haifa sports club. Today, the club consists of men, women and youth groups, active in the different leagues and tournaments of the Israeli Rugby Association.  

We ‘Wild Boars’ are a highly social club (in contrast with our four legged brothers) and put a strong emphasis on beer consumption fitness. The club has several key events during the year such as “Oldies vs. Youngies” games and the notorious “End of the season party”. Furthermore, the club has several youth ventures where the values of teamwork and sportsmanship are taught.

Since its association with Maccabi Haifa the club is constantly expanding and is always welcoming newcomers (no prior experience required).The club has juniors (U-14, U-16, U-18), Men’s and Women’s teams and we would be delighted to help as many people as possible to get to know this amazing sport.

For further information visit our Facebook page Maccabi Haifa “Wild Boars” RFC or WhatsApp:

Guy Mann – 0548096866

Sara Iacopetti +39 3489038701

Israel Cricket Teams

Israel Cricket is looking for players, coaches and umpires. A brief summary the current cricket situation in Israel:

The Israel Cricket Association has a senior league of 19 teams and juniors teams.  Playing areas stretch across the length of Israel, taking in Modi’in, Ra’anana, Tel Aviv and many towns up north and down south.

The Israel senior and junior national teams both recently won the medals in the recent Maccabiah.

The Israel junior teams from u13,u15,u17 and u19 have all in the past 11 years been European Division 2 champions. Most recently, the Israel Senior team finishes 3rd in a European Tournament in Spain.

There are weekly chugs/practices for children/adults of all ages in Israel.

The players in the leagues consist of Sabras (Israeli born players) and people who have made aliyah from South Africa, India, Britain, Australia and New Zealand. There are also teams consisting of foreign workers in Israel – mostly Sri Lankans.  Games take place on a Friday for observant players and/or a Saturday.

There is a very successful and popular night cricket which consists of 8 players per side with the game lasting no more than 80 minutes (limited overs). Teams play twice a month on a double basketball court in Modi’in and the league sees 4-6 games played per week, starting in September and finishing in June.

Israel Cricket, in March 2010, won the Global Pepsi ICC Development Award for Spirit of Cricket with the current Cross Border Cricket project. The project introduces young players in Bedouin towns in the Negev desert to the game, and then focusing on facilitating interaction between the Arabic-speaking Bedouin children and Hebrew-speaking Jewish children from other areas across Israel in which cricket cricket is coached.

If you are interested in taking part in this wonderful game in Israel – please contact:
Israel Cricket at
israelcricket@gmail.com
Tel: 052-740-9287

Baseball Teams in Israel

Israelis have been playing baseball in Israel for 30 years, since a group of expat Americans established the Israel Association of Baseball. Israel’s baseball activities span all ages, regions and experience levels. There are six regional leagues with players from ages 6 to adults playing in centers including Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Modiin, Bet Shemesh, Ra’anana, Gezer, Rehovot, Ginot Shomron, Tel Mond, and Misgav and more. There is an active Premier League for adults, and games take place from mid-March at the Baptist Village in Petah Tikvah every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday evening.

Baseball is a popular sport in predominantly English-speaking communities such as Jerusalem, Bet Shemesh, Modiin and Ra’anana, where the practices are run by English-speaking coaches. Today, there is also an increase in numbers of local Israeli players who have developed a love for baseball thanks to the efforts of the IAB to expand baseball into all areas of Israel.

Israel baseball selects several national teams in different age groups to play in European tournaments and championships every year. In addition, this year Team Israel will play in the qualifiers of the World Baseball Classic to take place in Brooklyn, New York, for a chance to play in the WBC in 2017.

In 2014 the IAB launched the Israel Baseball Academy, which is recognized by Major League Baseball as the elite program for 14-21 year-old baseball players in Israel. Currently, 16 players, ages 14 to 20, participate in the program, meeting twice a week for intensive training led by Israel National Team Head Coach Nate Fish.  

Israel baseball runs the very successful Baseball Le’Kulam program, which brings together Jewish Israel and Arab Israeli 6th graders three times a year to learn to play baseball and have an opportunity to get to know one another. The IAB has also set up a successful program at the Bialik Rogozin School in Tel Aviv, which is attended by the children of foreign workers.

The Israel Baseball Experience is a newly launched program in partnership with Masa Israel, which brings baseball players with high school, college, and professional experience to Israel from the US. They will help develop baseball in communities around Israel by coaching local youth teams. 

To learn more about these and many more activities, please visit our website – www.baseball.org.il; or our Facebook page – www.facebook.com/IABIsraelBaseball/; or email us – info@baseball.org.il