The fourth round of the Emirates American Football League (EAFL) saw leaders Dubai Barracudas beat Al Ain Desert Foxes 30-0 in the first of the matches at Zayed Sports City in Abu Dhabi on Friday.
It was the second shutout in as many games for last season’s Desert Bowl finalists and their third of the season. It leaves them on top of the four-team league with 10 points from four games, followed by Abu Dhabi Wildcats (six from four), Dubai Stallions (four from three) and Al Ain Desert Foxes (zero from three).
Read more: Dubai Barracudas stake claim to EAFL supremacy after thrashing Abu Dhabi Wildcats
Al Ain were unable to capitalise on an early fumble by Barracudas quarterback Zavier Cobb, and although they often pinned the Barracudas deep in their own territory after that, they were no match for the league’s highest-scoring team.
“We’ll keep swinging until the end of the season. We’ve tried to take advantage of field position as another form of defense,” Al Ain head coach Johnny Sharp said.
“We’re taking advantage of inexperience in certain situations to catch teams off guard. Dubai has had the same system and quarterback for pretty much three years, so they’ve been able to create consistency.”
Dubai led 16-0 at halftime and coach Kyle Jordan opted to rest some of his starters during the second half. With back-up quarterback Milos Dimitrijevic on, the third quarter ended 24-0.
The visitors rounded off the game with an element of trickery, as yet another long drive culminated in Dimitrijevic finding Zavier Cobb – more accustomed to throwing touchdowns than catching them – in the back of the endzone.
“We had to prepare for the unknown today,” Jordan said. “Coach Sharp has been creative all season and you’re never quite sure what you’re going to encounter. We had to be alert the whole game.
“Once again I’m proud of my team, it wasn’t a faultless performance but we were able to give a lot of players some time on the field.”
The second of the weekend’s games proved a happy homecoming for the Abu Dhabi Wildcats as they overcame the previously-unbeaten Dubai Stallions 8-0.
Following some disappointing performances this term, Wildcats’ coach Tony Robinson had publicly demanded more from his players, and they put recent disappointments behind them and were comfortably the better team after a scoreless first half.
Read more: American Tony Robinson brings 'football culture' to Emirates American Football League gridiron
They started off the third period by opening the scoring from a safety following a blocked punt in the Stallion’s end.
The Wildcats then produced the play of the game to put the result beyond any doubt. Backed up at their own 25-yard line, running back Vivaldi Tulysse evaded several tackles on his way to a 75-yard touchdown run, the longest the EAFL had seen this season.
“I know what football culture is like and developing a winning mentality is a process,” Robinson said. “It’s going to take some time. I believe in leading by example and I expect the same in return from my players on the field.
“Actually the guys were excited to play at home for a change, knowing they haven’t got a 90-minute drive back home.”
The coach of 2015 Desert Bowl champions accepted his team was beaten by a better team on the day.
“We approach each game with meticulous precision, but overall, we aren’t executing as a team,” Stallions’ coach Anthony Daniels said.
“We were able to move the ball in the first half but turnovers killed us. In the second half they adjusted well and we didn’t.
“We’ll work on fine-tuning the offence in practice to put us in a position where we can execute.”
akhaled@thenational.ae
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Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
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Other ways to buy used products in the UAE
UAE insurance firm Al Wathba National Insurance Company (AWNIC) last year launched an e-commerce website with a facility enabling users to buy car wrecks.
Bidders and potential buyers register on the online salvage car auction portal to view vehicles, review condition reports, or arrange physical surveys, and then start bidding for motors they plan to restore or harvest for parts.
Physical salvage car auctions are a common method for insurers around the world to move on heavily damaged vehicles, but AWNIC is one of the few UAE insurers to offer such services online.
For cars and less sizeable items such as bicycles and furniture, Dubizzle is arguably the best-known marketplace for pre-loved.
Founded in 2005, in recent years it has been joined by a plethora of Facebook community pages for shifting used goods, including Abu Dhabi Marketplace, Flea Market UAE and Arabian Ranches Souq Market while sites such as The Luxury Closet and Riot deal largely in second-hand fashion.
At the high-end of the pre-used spectrum, resellers such as Timepiece360.ae, WatchBox Middle East and Watches Market Dubai deal in authenticated second-hand luxury timepieces from brands such as Rolex, Hublot and Tag Heuer, with a warranty.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
