Team logo | |||||||||||||||||
Established | 2005 | ||||||||||||||||
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Based in | Haifa | ||||||||||||||||
Home ground | Yokneam Stadium | ||||||||||||||||
Head coach | Ori Shterenbach | ||||||||||||||||
League | Israeli Football League | ||||||||||||||||
League titles | 1 (in 2006, before the merge of IFL and AFI) | ||||||||||||||||
Current uniform | |||||||||||||||||
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The Haifa Real Housing Underdogs is an amateur American football team based in Haifa, Israel, playing in the Israeli Football League (IFL).
Haifa Underdogs was established at 2005, the year that the IFL was established. In 2007 team became a part of the IFL which was at the time joined under the AFI (American Football in Israel).
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American football in Haifa has been played weekly since the 90's and in the turn of the century, was mainly located at Haifa's "Sportec" field. The games were unofficial, and gathered players from Haifa, Krayot, Nahariya, Ein HaShofet, and from other places in the North of Israel. Parallel to those games, similar games took place at Tel Aviv's "Sportec" field played by the residents of Gush Dan. Once a month or so, friendly games were scheduled between the Haifa's players and Tel Aviv's players. Most of those games ended with the victory of Tel Aviv's team, which in turn lead to the Haifa's team name, the Underdogs, reminding the players that the team's place and respect must be earned each time they take the field.
In 2005 the club was established as Haifa's first and only representative in the Israeli Football League. In the season of 2005-06, the club won the first ever IFL championship. In the finals, that took place at the Baptist village, on June 23 2006, the Underdogs defeated the Tel Aviv Pioneers by the score of 37-14.
In 2007, the IFL, and the Underdogs along with it, joined forces with the AFI to form the first fully equipped tackle football league in Israel. The equipment meets the NCAA standards. In its first season, the league featured 4 teams: Haifa Underdogs, Tel Aviv Sabres, Tel Aviv Pioneers, and Jerusalem Lions. Some of the players that participated in the unofficial games in Haifa were the ones to become the coaches and captains of the Underdogs club, and together with their colleagues from Tel Aviv, and the AFI, founded the Israeli (tackle) Football League.
In the season of 2007-08, Haifa Underdogs won over Ha'Sharon Pioneers team in the semi finals, but lost in the finals to the Jerusalem Lions in overtime, at the end of the inaugural season, after a very tight game.
In 2008-09 season, the league grew up to 5 teams. at that season, the Underdogs were undefeated for most of the season, losing their last two games to the Jerusalem Lions and Modi'in Pioneers. Haifa Underdogs finished the regular season in the 2nd place. The Underdogs were again knocked out of the playoffs by the Jerusalem Lions on a touchdown pass with 5 seconds remaining in the game. The Underdogs later won the consolation game against the Jerusalem Kings.
In 2009-10 season, the team was coached by Jay Armstead and Alan Hearn. Captained by Itamar Levin, Niv Medlinger, Roei Ziv, and Shahar Yeshurun, this season also started good to the Underdogs, standing in the middle of the season in first place with 4-1 score, in a league of 7 clubs. Nevertheless, the Underdogs couldn't get another victory in the rest of the season, not in the remaining 5 matches of the regular season, nor the wild card game against the Judean Rebels.
The team's uniforms are black with yellow, with the club's logo of a bulldog on the crest.
The lack of fields in Haifa is a problem for the Underdogs. There is one soccer stadium in the city (Kiryat Eliezer Stadium) but cannot be used for any purposes other than soccer. Many venues have rejected the Underdogs' requests to be named as the Underdogs' home field. As of the 2007-08 season, the Underdogs played their home games at Kibbutz Ein HaShofet, outside of Haifa.
Shortly after the start of the 2008-09 season, the Underdogs changed their home stadium to Yokneam Stadium. The new field, located near the Yokneam Mall, is closer to Haifa and overall a better field.
Roster — accurate as of December 28, 2009.
No. | Name | Position | Height (m) | Weight (kg) | Age |
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2 | Shahar Yeshurun | WR, QB, S | 1.90m | 96 kg | 24 |
4 | Alex Fries | TE, DE | 1.93m | 107 kg | 28 |
5 | Roey Ziv | QB, TE, LB | 1.80m | 86 kg | 27 |
6 | Yuval Hochberg | QB, CB | 1.82m | 68 kg | 17 |
7 | Dagan Sadrinas | CB | 1.78m | 72 kg | 29 |
10 | Johny Khoury | DL, OL | 1.83m | 118 kg | 18 |
11 | Niv Lifschits | WR, DB | 1.77m | 75 kg | 17 |
20 | Tal Yeshurun | RB, LB | 1.85m | 84 kg | 21 |
23 | Niv Medlinger | RB/LB | 1.71m | 102 kg | 28 |
25 | Guy Bershadsky | RB, LB | 1.71m | 79 kg | 26 |
27 | Talor Bearman | RB, LB, CB | 1.72m | 85 kg | 25 |
30 | Dan Vardi | DB | 1.82m | 76 kg | 22 |
33 | Liron Rosenblat | OL, DL | 1.80m | 110 kg | 26 |
35 | Harrison Bailey | RB, LB | 1.75m | 86 kg | 22 |
36 | Ziv Cohen | WR, DB | 1.83m | 83 kg | 27 |
37 | Yoav Cohen | WR, CB | 1.75m | 71 kg | 23 |
42 | Ilan Rotberg | OL,DL | 1.83m | 90 kg | 24 |
44 | Jay Armstead | OL | 1.84m | 88 kg | 39 |
51 | Haim Nanikashvili | LB | 1.87m | 100 kg | 28 |
53 | Losha Ivlev | LB | 1.73m | 92 kg | 29 |
54 | Igal Schneider | RB, DE | 1.72m | 82 kg | 33 |
55 | Arbel Rom | WR, CB | 1.75m | 67 kg | 33 |
56 | Konstantin Stolyarsky | RB, LB | 1.74m | 85 kg | 31 |
60 | Yotam Berant | DL, OL | 1.80m | 95 kg | 19 |
66 | Gal Hochberg | C, DL | 1.87m | 100 kg | 21 |
70 | Alan Hearn | RB, DL | 1.85m | 112 kg | 34 |
71 | Itamar Levin | RB, LB | 1.72m | 96 kg | 27 |
77 | Erez Kaminski | OL,DE | 1.89m | 95 kg | 19 |
81 | Erez Baharav | RB, CB | 1.65m | 63 kg | 29 |
84 | Meir Halachmi | WR | 1.87m | 87 kg | 17 |
89 | Roy Rubin | WR, CB | 1.83m | 75 kg | 20 |
92 | Ben Friedman | OL, DL | 1.83m | 102 kg | 28 |
93 | Gabriel Israelov | OL, DL | 1.90m | 160 kg | 28 |
97 | Itamar Gutman | OL, DT | 1.92m | 110 kg | 24 |
98 | Craig Morris | OL, DL | 1.68m | 112 kg | 38 |
99 | Alex Primak | OL, DL | 1.94m | 130 kg | 28 |
Year | Coach | Trophies |
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2005–2006 | Ori Shterenbach | Champions. * |
2007–2008 | Ori Shterenbach | Finalist. |
2008–2009 | Ori Shterenbach | Lost in the semi finals to Jerusalem Lions. |
2009–2010 | Jay Armstead | Lost in playoffs to Judean Rebels. |
2010–2011 | Ori Shterenbach | Finished 1-9, failed to reach playoffs. |
* before the merge of IFL and AFI
Since the team's establishment, the main sponsor of the team is the real estate company "Real Housing", managed by Chaim and Nancy Brown.