By Michael Preston Yurii Hundych was unique among delegates attending the 26th annual IFAF Congress in Lausanne, Switzerland. Some had endured lengthy hours of travel to be present on the shores of Lake Geneva, but none had left the sound of artillery whistling precariously close to their heads to travel to the neutral calm of Switzerland. None left in the early hours of the morning following continental meetings at the Maison du Sport International plotting and planning the future of their sport to return to the frontline.
Yurii, the President of the Ukrainian League of American Football, was an engaging member of the American football community while enjoying a welcome cocktail party at the Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts. Taking leave from the stark reality he has known since March 2022; it was a brief but pleasant respite from his daily life as a volunteer infantryman with the Ukrainian army.
“I believe you would do the same,” he says of his decision to swap daily life to defend Ukraine. “I was a businessman, and I never believed I would be in the army. You can build a trench and fire a gun if you have the motivation.”
On Wednesday, two days before the movers and shakers from the world of international American football were due to arrive in Lausanne to conduct the IFAF Congress, the Ukrainian army gave Yurii permission to cross the border and travel to Switzerland.
“I sent the request to Ukrainian federation, Ukrainian federation send the request to Minister of Sport then Minister of Sport sent a request to Minister of Defense and the rest of my military unit,” he explains of the process that gave him a few days of relative normality and a chance to immerse himself in the sport he loves.
“The department of international cooperation of the army of Ukraine said, ‘Okay maybe it's a good idea that this man is going for a few days to Congress’ and then this letter circles around and just on Wednesday evening I get my papers. I don't have plane tickets, nothing just zero.”
So, Yurii takes a train from Kyiv to Western Ukraine then a car to the Hungarian capital Budapest and then gets on another train to Geneva, and another to Lausanne. He’s on site for just 24 hours before he needs to catch a 1am train back east to rejoin his comrades.
Three years after committing himself to the cause, Yurii is now a Senior Sargeant. He is based in the strategic command in the middle of a war that most of us can scarcely comprehend and would likely not have the mettle to enter.
Yurii is there for his country, for his people, for his wife and children, who have evacuated to a new life in Latvia. He receives three annual passes and 24 days of leave to visit them. One day – he hopes – life will return to normal. That would include indulging in his passion for American football on a more regular basis.
“Tackle American football in Ukraine has stopped,” Yurii explains. “It's impossible, completely. Almost 100 players joined army. Unfortunately, ten of them have already been killed. The army always needs new bodies and when they see our athletes they take them.
“Now the only way to develop football and continue to keep the fires burning is to play flag football. International tournaments are now a really helpful outlet.”
Many clubs are fighting through the barriers, among them the Zdolbunov Eagles, who have been developing flag football in the Rivne region for more than 10 years and are now proudly celebrating their 15-year anniversary. The Eagles have an ‘American Dream in a Small Town’ concept, encouraging children and young people to play sports and train in a safe environment, while celebrating their homeland.
Yurii was a member of the Ukraine party that traveled to the 2024 IFAF Flag Football World Championships in Finland, with the team winning three games and losing four.
“Becoming an Olympic sport was a huge boost for us because the Ministry of Sport started looking us differently,” he says. “There’s only flag football because the tackle teams can’t practice. But it’s something for us to hold on to.
“A lot of people have asked me if my experience of playing football helped in the war. And I say yes, it helped. The first thing is to understand that you have to be confident in your brothers on the battlefield just like you do on the playing field.
“American football taught me to never give up. My experience, my more than 20 years history in the sport, the matches won by a team when in the stands everyone was confident you were going to lose - all of which helped to survive and fight on.”
Yurii is now in limbo. There is a successful business, an American football brethren, a wife and daughters, all waiting for his return. But when that might be is out of his hands.
“I made this personal decision three years ago,” he says. “I sent my family to Latvia. I chose to defend Ukraine. I’m here until it all ends.”
