View source for Roby Young

{{short description|Israeli footballer (born 1942)}}
{{BLP sources|date=June 2008}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name = Roby Young<br>רובי יאנג
| fullname = Reuven Young<br>ראובן יאנג
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1942|05|15}}
| birth_place = [[Haifa, Israel]]
| position = [[Defender (football)|Wing back]]
| years1 = 1959–1976
| years2 = 1972–1973
| clubs1 = [[Hapoel Haifa F.C.|Hapoel Haifa]]<ref>{{NFT player|id=28034}}</ref>
| clubs2 = → [[New York Cosmos (1971–1985)|New York Cosmos]] (loan)
| caps1 = 196
| caps2 = 18
| goals1 = 43
| goals2 = 2
| totalcaps = 214
| totalgoals = 45
| nationalyears1 = 1961–1969
| nationalteam1 = [[Israel national football team|Israel]]
| nationalcaps1 = 50
| nationalgoals1 = 8
}}

'''Reuven''' "'''Roby'''" '''Young''' ({{langx|he|רובי יאנג}}; born 15 May 1942) is a former Israeli international [[football (soccer)|footballer]], and captain of [[Hapoel Haifa F.C.|Hapoel Haifa]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.zerozero.pt/player.php?id=95815|title=Roby Young :: Roeben Young ::|website=www.zerozero.pt|language=pt|access-date=2020-04-08}}</ref>

==Early life==
Born on 15 May 1942 in [[Haifa|Haifa, Israel]], Roby Young was raised (alongside his older brother) by his mother in a small one-bedroom apartment in a quaint beach-side neighborhood called Bat Galim (translated: Daughter of the Waves). Grounded by his poor and humble beginnings, where his mother worked multiple jobs.<ref name="google">{{cite book|title=The Big Book of Jewish Sports Heroes: An Illustrated Compendium of Sports History and the 150 Greatest Jewish Sports Stars|author=Horvitz, P.S.|date=2007|publisher=Specialist Press International|isbn=9781561719075|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dDyEVDIA3aIC|page=145|accessdate=13 April 2015}}</ref>

== Career ==
Forced to quit school as a young teenager to earn wages at an oil factory, Young was first discovered playing soccer at age 15 for factory's team in an industrial league. His raw power and speed at such a young age attracted a scout from nearby professional club, Hapoel Haifa, who brought Young into their youth program. Young's impact on the youth program was immediate, as his team did not lose a single match and won the youth National Championship in Israel. By age 16, Young was promoted to the senior professional team and made his professional debut at age 16.  Young remained loyal to Hapoel Haifa for his entire career in Israel, where he led his Hapoel Haifa team for over a decade and won two National Cups.

As a teenager, Young was invited to play for the Israeli National Soccer Team at age 17.  As a left winger, Young was a mainstay on the National Team for 12 years, and became the first Captain of the [[Israel national football team|Israeli national team]] from Haifa.

As Captain of the Israeli National Soccer Team during its golden age, Young paced the Israeli team to its best-ever finish in the [[1968 Summer Olympics|1968 Olympics]] in Mexico City (where he was the flag bearer for Israel), and led Israel to qualify for the [[FIFA World Cup]] (held in Mexico City in [[1970 FIFA World Cup|1970]]).  Young and his Israeli team are also the unlucky answers to a soccer trivia question: which is the LAST team to lose a World Cup or Olympics playoff game by "choosing lots" before FIFA changed the rules to introduce [[penalty kick]]s to decide games.  In the 1968 Olympics, the [[Football at the 1968 Summer Olympics|Israeli soccer team]] Israeli National Soccer Team qualified for the quarter-finals from Group C [[1968 Summer Olympics|1968 Olympic Games]].  Israel faced Bulgaria and played them to a 1–1 draw after regulation and overtime. With no Penalty Kicks rule in place, the game would be decided by drawing names out of a hat—with Young, as Captain of the Israeli team, at midfield with the Bulgarian Captain (Dimitrov) and the officials. Israel was unlucky to lose that game, as Bulgaria prevailed and took home the silver medal.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1968/FTB/mens-football.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418130309/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1968/FTB/mens-football.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2020-04-18|title=Football at the 1968 Ciudad de MÃ©xico Summer Games: Men's Football|website=Olympics at Sports-Reference.com}}</ref>

Young became a household name in Israel when, on 15 October 1961, at age 19, he scored a brilliant goal against powerhouse Italy in a 1962 World Cup Qualifier to give Israel a 2–0 lead. While Israel went on to lose 4–2, the goal, in which he dribbled past Italy captain Cesare Maldini (father of Paolo Maldini) and blasted a long-range shot past Italy legend Lorenzo Buffon (uncle of Gigi Buffon), helping put Israel on the soccer map. This goal (and Young himself) captured the hearts and imaginations of Israelis young and old. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120926074247/http://eng.football.org.il/NationalTeam/Pages/NationalTeamGameDetails.aspx?GAME_ID=1732&DISPLAY_HOME_TABLE]  Young later captained Israel to its Asia Cup title in 1964. Young also captained the team against a mighty England squad that would later win the 1966 World Cup. Young's Israeli squad eventually qualified for the 1970 World Cup (its only appearance to date) and tied Italy, Sweden and Uruguay in the group stage. At the time of his retirement from international soccer, Young was the most capped player to play for Israel, earning 50 caps from age 18–27, after which he moved his family to the United States to play for the famed New York Cosmos.

Young was named soccer "Player of the Millennium" in Haifa, Israel in 2001.

==International goals==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! No. !! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Score !! Result !! Competition
|-
| 1. || 15 October 1961 || [[Ramat Gan]], [[Israel]] || {{fb|ITA}} || align=center|'''2'''–0 || align=center| 2–4 || [[1962 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 7|1962 FIFA World Cup qualification]]
|-
| 2. || 29 December 1963 || [[Saigon]], [[South Vietnam]] || {{fb|VSO}} || align=center|'''1'''–0 || align=center| 1–0 || [[Football at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Men's Asian Qualifiers – Group 1|1964 Summer Olympics qualifiers]]
|-
| 3. || 6 April 1964 || [[Tel Aviv]], Israel || {{fb|FIN}} || align=center|'''5'''–1 || align=center| 7–1 || rowspan=6| [[Exhibition match|Friendly]]
|-
| 4. || 8 May 1964 || [[Helsinki]], [[Finand]] || {{fb|FIN}} || align=center|'''1'''–0 || align=center| 3–0
|-
| 5. || 19 October 1964 || [[Leeuwarden]], [[Netherlands]] || {{fb|NED}} || align=center|'''1'''–3 || align=center| 1–4
|-
| 6. || 19 February 1969 || rowspan=2| Tel Aviv, Israel || {{fb|SWE}} || align=center|'''2'''–0 || align=center| 2–3
|-
| 7. || 12 March 1969 || {{fb|GRE}} || align=center|'''1'''–1 || align=center| 3–3
|-
| 8. || 28 May 1969 || [[Athens]], [[Greece]] || {{fb|GRE}} || align=center|'''2'''–1 || align=center| 3–1
|}

== United States ==
After retiring from international soccer and leaving Hapoel Haifa, Young enrolled at [[Adelphi University]] in the United States where he received his Bachelor of Science degree and Masters in Health Education. Young led his Adelphi soccer team to a 10-2-3 record (after a 5-10-1 record the year before his arrival), and was inducted into the Adelphi Sports Hall of Fame in 2000.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aupanthers.com/hof.aspx?hof=163&path=&kiosk=|title=Adelphi University Athletics|website=www.aupanthers.com}}</ref> Upon his arrival in the United States, Young was signed by the historic [[New York Cosmos (1971–1985)|New York Cosmos]] soccer team in the [[North American Soccer League (1968–1984)|North American Soccer League]] (NASL), where his team won the [[NASL Final 1972|1972 NASL Championship]] and were semi-finalists in 1973. Roby played left wing for the Cosmos and was a pivotal member of the championship squad. Young's coach with the New York Cosmos, Gordon Bradley, would later coach Young's middle son, Irad Young, at George Mason University, where Irad was an All-South and honorable All-American soccer player. Young retired from professional soccer at age 31 in 1973, after which he returned to Israel for several years to coach professionally at Macabbi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Haifa.

== Later life ==
From 1969 until 2013, (except for several years coaching professional soccer in Israel), Young worked as an athletic director at Buckley Country Day School in Roslyn, New York. He also coached the [[Queens College, City University of New York|Queen's College]] men's soccer team from 1986 to 1989 and the women's [[football (soccer)]] team at [[Queens College, City University of New York|Queens College]] from 1999 to 2008. He was the athletic director at [[Buckley Country Day School]]<ref>[http://www.buckleycountryday.com/pages/sitepage.cfm?page=2137 Buckley Country Day | Faculty & Staff] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060624060350/http://buckleycountryday.com/pages/sitepage.cfm?page=2137 |date=24 June 2006 }}</ref> and co-founded the Buckley [[Buckley Camp|Summer Camp]] in 1984.<ref>[http://www.buckleycamp.com/pages/sitepage.cfm?page=58605 Buckley Country Day Summer | Assistant Camp Director]{{dead link|date=April 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He retired from Buckley in 2013 but is still an active teacher in their chess program.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070813020253/http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/QCSPORTS/wsoccercoach.html Profile on Queens College Website]

{{Israel squad 1964 AFC Asian Cup}}
{{Israel squad 1968 AFC Asian Cup}}
{{Israel Squad 1968 Summer Olympics}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Roby}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1942 births]]
[[Category:Adelphi University alumni]]
[[Category:1964 AFC Asian Cup players]]
[[Category:1968 AFC Asian Cup players]]
[[Category:Footballers at the 1968 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Hapoel Haifa F.C. players]]
[[Category:Jewish Israeli sportspeople]]
[[Category:Israeli men's footballers]]
[[Category:New York Cosmos (1970–1985) players]]
[[Category:Israeli expatriate men's footballers]]
[[Category:Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States]]
[[Category:Israeli expatriate sportspeople in the United States]]
[[Category:North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players]]
[[Category:Olympic footballers for Israel]]
[[Category:Men's association football defenders]]
[[Category:Footballers from Haifa]]
[[Category:Liga Leumit players]]
[[Category:Israel men's international footballers]]
[[Category:20th-century Israeli sportsmen]]
[[Category:AFC Asian Cup–winning players]]