Centenary club

At the Soccerex Football Exhibition 2003 -- the largest and most important international commercial football convention held annually for the past two years in Dubai -- FIFA President Joseph Blatter presented the Egyptian Sekkah Al-Hadeed (Railways) Club with a silver plaque marking its centenary anniversary.

Well aware of the history of the 100-year-old club, Blatter urged Mohamed El-Siagi -- secretary-general of the Egyptian Football Association (EFA), who received the award on behalf of the club's officials -- to pay special attention to the 100-year-old club, in order for it to continue its historic role of boosting Egyptian sports.

Had it not been for this symbolic -- and thoughtful -- gesture from the head of the football world's governing body, few would have remembered that 22 May marked the 100th anniversary of the dean of Egyptian, Arab and African clubs. Perhaps this was because the Cairo-based club sank into oblivion when its football team was relegated to the second division 10 years ago.

The club's founding was closely intertwined with the introduction of the railroad in Egypt in the mid-19th century. Being the first African country -- and third globally -- to introduce the railway to its transport network, train maintenance workshops were established, bringing over 2,000 European experts to Gezirit Badran in the Cairene district of Shobra. A sporting club for these invaluable technicians and their families was declared a necessity, and three years later, the club became a reality.

Established in the vicinity of the maintenance workshops in Boulaq, Sekkah Al-Hadeed was officially opened on 22 May, with Khedive Abbas Helmi II as the guest of honour.

The club consisted of one building for social activities, a big hall containing two billiard tables, and playgrounds for football, tennis and athletics. With football being newly introduced to the country by British occupation forces, Sekkah Al-Hadeed was the first Egyptian club to adopt the idea of setting up a football team.

In 1919 -- after the Egyptian-staged a revolution against the British occupation -- the club's foreign dominance faded and six Egyptian members (compared to the previous two) -- were invited to join the board of directors. Mohamed Mustafa El- Khodari became the first Egyptian to head the club's board.

In 1962, the club moved to the then new Cairene district of Nasr City, the old premises in Shobra turning into a housing project.

Sekkah Al-Hadeed is a football history in itself -- having produced a large number of footballers who served on the Olympic and national teams. Among them were Ahmed Mansour, Abdel- Halim Hassan, Ali Riyad, Mohamed Shemeis and Moussa El- Azim -- all of whom played in the Amsterdam Olympic Games in 1928. Sekkah Al-Hadeed was one of 11 teams that played in the first Egyptian national league in 1948. That season they finished eighth. Their last appearance in the Egyptian Premiership was in 1993.

Having been fuelled with recognition from above, the club currently stands top of its group in the second division. A return to the premiership next season is certainly something fans are counting on, and critics commenting on.