To commemorate the twelfth anniversary of the passing of Ammo Baba, SBS Assyrian will be presenting you with a three part series about the man who left behind a powerful legacy. This episode explores how Ammo Baba came to Australia and the difficulties he encountered when obtaining his visa.
Alfred Mansour is a well know person in the Assyrian community in Sydney. He is the one of the founders of the Gilgamesh Cultural Centre and later was elected the president of the organisation.
In 1998, the Centre decided to honour a group of prominent Assyrians from different parts of the world who excelled in a variety of fields such as the arts, literature, music and sports. These Assyrians made valuable contributions to the international Assyrian community. The initiative was led by the then President Mr Homer Abramian, but later, Alfred Mansour suggested that Ammo Baba be invited as well.
Amongst the invitees were football coach Ammo Baba from Baghdad, maestro and composer Nebu Issabey from California, poet, painter and philosopher Hannibal Alkhas from Tehran, scholar and linguist Rabi Nimrod Simono from Tehran, professor and historian Konstantin Matveev from Moscow and author and activist Rabi Benyamin Gundelove from Sydney.
The aim of this event was to honour and show appreciation to these Assyrians whose achievements and contributions made a positive impact on our international community. Unfortunately, all invitees mentioned above have since passed away.
Alfred Mansour recalls at first the difficulties the centre faced when obtaining Ammo Baba's Australian visitor's visa to Australia. Ammo Baba's membership with the Iraqi Olympic Committee meant that he needed the approval to leave Iraq at the time to travel to Australia.
Mr Mansour said that the Cultural Centre wanted Ammo Baba to visit Australia, since many Assyrian Australians had heard of him but never had the chance to meet him. Baba has been a symbol of success to Assyrians around the world.
During his stay in Australia, he was reunited with many players who played alongside him in the Iraqi league, such as Hormiz Michael, Gilbert Awiqam, Youash Tamraz and more.
During his stay, Mr Mansour commissioned Assyrian artist Lewis Batros to make Ammo Baba's bust. The bust was unveiled at a special ceremony at Nineveh Club. The Nineveh Club Soccer Committee organised a special party in Ammo Baba's honour where a documentary with rare footage of Ammo Baba scoring goals was screened.
Although Ammo Baba was offered by many organisations and friends to stay in Australia, he declined the offers and preferred to return to Iraq.
