Ammo Baba

Football player infobox
playername = Emmanuel "Ammo" Baba


fullname = Emmanuel Baba Dawud
nickname = Ammo Baba
dateofbirth = Birth date and age|1934|11|27|mf=y
cityofbirth = Baghdad
countryofbirth = Iraq
currentclub = Retired
position = Striker
years = 1951-1954
1954-1957
1957-1960
1960-1962
1962-1964
1964-1965
1965-1967
1967-1968
1968-1970
clubs = RAF Employees' (Assyrian) Club
Haris Al-Maliki
Al Quwa Al Jawiya
Nadi Athori
Al Quwa Al Jawiya
Al-Maslaha Naqil Al-Rakab
Kuliya Al-Askariya
Al-Maslaha Naqil Al-Rakab
Kuliya Al-Askariya
caps(goals) =
nationalyears = 1957-1967
nationalteam = Iraq
nationalcaps(goals) = 11 (11)
manageryears = 1970-1974
1974-1975
1976-1978
1978-1980
1980-1981
1981-1984
1986
1986-1987
1987-1988
1988-1989
1991-1992
1992-1993
1993
1993
1993-1994
1994-1995
1995-1996
1996
1997
1997-1998
1999-2000
2000
2000-2001
2001-2002
managerclubs = Kuliya Al-Askariya
Al-Jaish
Al-Tamim Province XI
Iraq
Al-Talaba
Iraq
Al-Rasheed
Al-Tijara
Iraq
Iraq
Al-Zawraa
Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
Iraq
Nadi Qatar
Al-Zawraa
Al-Karkh
Ramadi
Iraq
Iraq
Al-Zawraa
Salah-Al-Deen
Iraq Under-16s
Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
Al-Shurta

Emmanuel Baba Dawud (born November 27, 1934 in Baghdad, Iraq), better known as Ammo Baba.(Arabic: عمو بابا, Syriac: ܥܡܘ ܒܒܐ), is a former Iraqi Assyrian international football player and coach of the Iraq national football team. He scored the first international goal for Iraq in 1957 against Morocco at the 2nd Pan Arab Games in Beirut and later returned to the team as the coach in 1978.

Playing career

Ammo Baba, exploded onto the Arab football scene at the tender age of 16 in a Pan Arab School Championship in Cairo for the Iraqi schoolboys against the home nation Egypt in 1951 after being spotted by Iraqi schoolboys' coach Ismail Mohammed playing for the Liwa Al-Dulaim school province team. It was the same coach that gave him the nickname 'Ammo Baba' meaning Uncle Father in Arabic, and also advised him to move to Baghdad to play for one of Iraq's top teams.

Ammo who is still revered by generations who never saw him play, was an instinctive out and out goalscorer, known for his bicycle kicks or backward double-kicks as they are known in Iraq, heading ability, and the power of his shooting. He had an opportunist's eye for goal but also displayed magnificent technique and virtuoso skill of a great footballer.

Ammo was born in Baghdad on the British controlled military camp RAF Hinaidi but moved with his family to live on the Civil Cantonment on the large RAF base in Habbaniya in 1937, where he first learnt to play the game of football. After playing for his school team, he moved to RAF Employees' (Assyrian) Club in 1951 replacing legendary striker Aram Karam, where he played with the likes of captain Hormis Goriel, Emmanuel "Ammo Simsim" Samson and Youra Eshaya. In 1954 he signed for Baghdad based Haris Al-Maliki where he was a huge success, scoring bundles of goals, season after season.

The prolific marksman was once the captain of a short-lived Arab national team during the mid-Sixties, in a Nasser-inspired experiment in Arab unity which failed due to the fact that, which Ammo Baba puts it 'no one wanted to play against us'. It had been the initiative of Arab radio station Sawt Al-Arab (Voice of the Arabs) in Cairo, and two of the best players from each Arab country were called up to take part in the team, from Iraq Ammo Baba, and Qais Hamed were selected. The team organised in Egypt did not play in any international competitions, managing only to play a few local teams in Cairo and Alexandria. Ammo Baba had been picked alongside Qais Hamed, and the team was able to beat Al-Ismaili, Al-Ittihad Alexandria, draw with Zamalek and lose to Tersana, with Ammo scoring the first goal for the Arab team, and hit another two goals against Al-Ismaili.

After brilliant scoring record for both Iraq and Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya, he was spotted by English 2nd Division side Notts County managed by former Iraqi military coach Frank Hill and was offered a contract to play for them, but when the call from Meadow Lane came, he could not leave the country, due to a sudden coup led by the Iraqi General Abdul-Karim Qasim on July 14, 1958. He went onto play and coach Nadi Athori (Assyrian Sports Club) to the Iraqi FA Cup Championship in 1960 beating his former employers Al-Jawiya 3-0 in the final, before returning to Al-Jawiya in 1962 after Nadi Athori were relegated from the Iraqi first division. He later played for Al-Maslaha and Kuliya Al-Askariyua before calling it a day in 1970.

Coaching career

Due to a serious injury he sustained in 1965 while playing for Iraq at the Pan Arab Games in Cairo, Ammo was nearly forced to retire from the game but returned to play for a further five years. He later began his coaching career at Al-Maslaha (Passenger Transport) team in Baghdad in 1967 in a player-coach role.

In 1978, Baba was appointed as Iraq's football military national team coach, leading the team to its third CISM World Military Championship title a year later beating nations such as Austria, Morocco, and Greece, on the way to the final where they beat Italy, on penalties.

The same year he was appointed as the head coach of Iraq's national team for the first time. He would be appointed and re-appointed on seven different occasions, during the 1980s and 1990s (see below for exact years). Iraqis often call the 1980s as the "golden years" of Iraq football, where Baba led the national team to numerous tournaments and many titles.

Throughout his coaching years, Baba was also the Olympic team head coach, where he lead the team to two Olympic appearances in Los Angeles 1984, and Seoul 1988.

In addition, Baba led Iraq to three titles in the Gulf Cup (1979, 1984, 1988), the Asian Games of 1982, and the Arab Nations Cup in 1988.

Baba also found success in the Iraqi League, where he led Al Talaba to a title in 1981. After leaving the national scene, Baba was hired by Al Zawraa, and led them to a title in 1994.

Iraq national team head coaching years

:"Note the Military Cup games are not counted, since they were not considered to be Class A national teams participitating."

Personal life

Ammo Baba went through a divorce from his wife, because he refused his Christian faith and declared himself as an atheist. All of his family, including his children, currently live in Chicago, while he still lives in Baghdad, where he currently runs a football academy for teenagers.

On January 20, 2006, the 71-year-old Baba was attacked by an Iraqi insurgent group in his home, where he was tied, blind-folded, beaten, and then robbed. Iraq's president Jalal Talabani has said he will pay all of Ammo Baba's medical expenses.

References

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/cta/events99/millennium/diaries/ammo_baba.ram BBC video interview]
* [http://www.aina.org/aol/bulls/stars/ammo_b/ammo.htm Assyrian Sports : Hall of Fame : Soccer]