Tewfik Abdullah

Football player infobox
playername = Tewfik Abdullah


fullname = Tewfik Abdullah
height =
dateofbirth = June 23 1896
cityofbirth = Cairo
countryofbirth = Egypt
currentclub =
clubnumber =
position = Inside Forward
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years =
1920-1921
1922
1923
1924
1924-1926
1927
1927
1928
1928
clubs = International Sporting Club
Derby County
Cowdenbeath
Bridgend Town
Hartlepool United
Providence Clamdiggers
Fall River Marksmen
Hartford Americans
New York Nationals
Fall River Marksmen
Montreal Carsteel
caps(goals) =
15 0(1)
62 (24)
06 0(1)
11 0(0)
08 0(0)
01 0(1)
nationalyears = 19xx-19xx
nationalteam = Egypt
nationalcaps(goals) =

Tewfik Abdullah (born June 23, 1896 or 1897 in Cairo, Egypt) was an Egyptian football player ["University of Leicester,Sir Norman Chester Centre for Football Research"- fact sheet number 4 ( Black Footballers, section 3.4)] who was the second Egyptian to appear in the English Football League. He later played four seasons in the American Soccer League before finishing his career in Canada.

Early career

Abdullah was born in either 1896 or 1897 [German Wikipedia lists his date of birth as 23 June,1897 [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tewfik_Abdullah] ] cite book | last = Jose | first = Colin | title = American Soccer League, 1921-1931 | format = Hardback | publisher = The Scarecrow Press | year = 1998 | id = (ISBN 0-8108-3429-4) ] in Cairo, Egypt. He began his career with International Sporting Club in Cairo and played for Egypt at the 1920 Olympic Games [ [http://www.rsssf.com/tableso/ol1920f-det.html www.rsssf.com] ] before moving to England.

United Kingdom

On arriving in England, Abdullah became one of a quartet of Egyptians [ the other three were H. Hegazi, Fulham, 1910-11; Mohammed Latif, Glasgow Rangers 1935-36, M. Mansour, GK, Queens Park (Glasgow) 1938-39 ] who played British Professional Football before World War II. [Joyce, M "Football League Players' Records 1888 – 1939" Nottingham, Soccer Data Publications ISBN 1 899468676 .] .Ron Ferguson, in his book "Helicopter Dreams" [(2006) Aberdeen, Northern Books for Famedram ISBN 0905489535] , tells the story that when Abdullah made his debut for Derby County [ [http://www.therams.co.uk/details.asp?back=true&key=2941%7C0%7C2B86965843859%7CR%7C696%7C101222872004296439931&parentkey=2941%7C0%7C2B86965843859%7Cp%7C696%7C0 Abdullah's Career Details with "The Rams"] ] against Manchester City he ran onto the pitch shouting "Where's my camel?" [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2007/01/12/sfnphi12.xml Interview with Robert Philip, Daily Telegraph, 7th January 2007] ] -on closer examination it was found his actual words were "Where's Mick Hammill?" [Moore,C "United Irishmen" Edinburgh,Mainstream,1999 ISBN 1840183489] . Abdullah then moved to Scotland to play with Cowdenbeath, then to Wales to play with Bridgend Town F.C. He returned England for a brief spell with Hartlepool United [ [http://www.hartlepoolunited.premiumtv.co.uk/page/historydetail/0,,10326~534897,00.html Hartlepool details] ] , before moving to the United States. [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blackhistory2007/news/story?id=2763306 Mentioned in article about Giles Heron, "ESPN" BLack History Month] ]

United States and Canada

Nicknamed Toothpick, Abdullah signed with the Providence Clamdiggers of the American Soccer League in 1924. He spent three season with Providence before transferring to the powerhouse Fall River Marksmen during the 1926-1927 season. However, he left Fall River to join the Hartford Americans for the 1927-1928 season. Hartford lasted only eleven games that season, folding following the October 23, 1927 game with the New Bedford Whalers. Adbullah then played eight games with the New York Nationals [Alegi,M; Johnes,M:Mellor,G Book Review "Soccer and Society" Vol 2 No 3 Fall 2001 p 119- 135 ISSN 1466-0970] before finishing the year back with Fall River. He then moved to Montreal Carsteel of the Canadian National Soccer League where he finished his career.

References