The Man Who Stood Up To A Dictator
Ammo Baba, the Iraqi football coach whose fearlessness gave hope to a nation
In 1992, former player and head coach of the Iraq national football team, Ammo Baba, stood aghast along the touchline of a football pitch.
In front of 50,000 people, his team, Al-Zawraa, had been contesting a title decider against opponent Al-Jawiya, and the referee, under the watchful gaze of Uday Hussein, had disallowed a legitimate goal for Baba’s team, resulting in defeat for his men.
This was not the first time Baba had been subject to the whims of Uday and after what would transpire moments later, it would not be his last.
Players of the Iraqi national football team (from L-R) Salam Shaker, Yunes Mahmud, Nashat Akram, Hawar Mulla Mohammed and Karrar Jassim pose with a picture of former Iraqi coach Emmanuel Baba Dawud, known as Ammo Baba Photo: Images courtesy of Getty Images.
The Iraq-Iran war which broke out in 1980 lasted 8 years. It was a ruthless, bloodied war where children as young as 13 were sent to the battlefield and an estimated 800,000 people died.
Football served as one of the few outlets for the Iraqi people, offering a temporary escape from the harsh realities of the totalitarian dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, but football in the country had succumbed to a dictator of its own.
Often referred to as “The butcher’s boy”, Uday Hussein was the sadist, firstborn son of Saddam Hussein with an infamous penchant for torturous punishments for those who crossed him. Such were his leanings towards cruelty, that his father was forced to renege on the order of bloodline, and acknowledge he would not become his heir, awarding that privilege to Uday’s younger brother, Qusay.
Uday Hussein alongside his father and notorious war criminal Saddam. Photo: Images Courtesy of Getty Images
Instead, in 1984, Saddam gave control of Iraqi football to Uday, knowing the strength of his son’s inclination towards violence.
For Iraqi footballers of the national team, and the man who would manage them on and off in the proceeding 12 years, Ammo Baba, this would mean unimaginable consequences awaited them in the face of losses and poor performances.
“Uday” Baba said, “did not know the meaning of the word mercy. He beat us with cables. He made players play with a concrete ball. He used to watch and laugh when they kicked it.”
Some players would be whipped with electric cables until their bodies cried tears of red and others faced long spells in military prison, all as punishment for defeat.
Ammo Baba in full flight against Al-Maslaha's Mohammed Thamir during match in 1959. Photo: Creative Commons.
Baba was often called to Uday’s mansion to force him to listen to tactics and watch football with Uday. When Baba refused to do this, Uday would rage at him with threats, threats that alluded to hangings, and the severing of tongues.
But it was that fateful day in 1992, as Ammo Baba stood furiously along the touchline, having seen his team unfairly denied the chance of winning a championship, that inspired a mass act of defiance among the Iraqi people.
Rather than accepting his runner-up medal, Baba simply refused to step up onto the podium under the gaze of the stadium’s 50,000 fans.
His actions prompted a mass response from the crowd that began chanting his name in unison. On paper, Iraq was the country of the Husseins, but on that day, it belonged to Baba, the 50,000 people who chanted in the arena, and the people of Iraq.