Seventy-year-old Haroun Touny starts his morning enthusiastically by making nearly 5,000 calls for the day. He is running for a third-term as chairman of the Heliopolis Sporting Club board of directors. Luckily, he doesn’t have to spend much time introducing himself and his future plans for the club during each call. Many of the members already know Touny, and they assure him, “You have our vote.”

Established in 1910 by the wealthy Belgian engineer, Baron Edouard Empain, Heliopolis Sporting Club (HSC) has been historically iconic in Egyptian culture. Its members have included pashas, ministers, prime ministers, and former president Hosny Mubarak himself. The club also has a track record for national championships including at the Olympics. Touny grew up in this environment. “The club literally became my home, and all the members became my family,” he recalls.

Touny sits in his favorite spot at the club—the cricket field where he enjoys the fresh breeze and abundant greenery across one feddanof land. He smiles as he recalls his childhood. “In the summer, I would swim in the morning, have lunch briefly at home, then rush back to the club to spend the rest of my day playing other sports like water polo and handball. Every day I practiced sports—even during school,” he fondly reflects. And it paid off when Touny represented Egypt’s national team at the Olympics in Mexico in 1968.

“I feel I was born in the club,” he laughs. His father, Ahmed El-Demerdash Touny, held HSC membership card number five and led the Egyptian delegation during the Olympic games in London in 1948. The father immersed his family in the club culture and environment. Subsequently, for more than 40 years, the young Touny became a dedicated volunteer at the club. “For several years, I was a water polo coach,” he says, “but I didn’t care much for joining or even leading any unions. I simply really loved HSC and felt it was my home.” 

Touny’s love for HSC also made him feel “very protective of it” and “invested in making it better”. So, for 25 years, Touny became a member of the club board of directors. “I collaborated with the other members to establish the two biggest projects in the history of Heliopolis Sporting Club,” he proudly says. One of these was the club branch in El Shorouk City. “We almost lost that land, which extended over a vast 55 feddans,” he recalls. Luckily, Touny managed to intensify the club contacts with government heads and with those who supported the club until they regained the ownership of the land. Eventually, they started construction of the new branch in 2000, and today, it has become a “source of pride and joy to the club members and a great future outlet for the generations to come”.

Just like his father, who was also chairman of the board of directors in 1972, Touny eventually became the chairman of the board in 2009. His love for his club is reflected in the massive renovations and expansion plans it has undergone during his leadership. “We improved the sports fields at the club in Heliopolis as well as the indoor facilities at the branch in El Shorouk. We also improved the club resort in Marsa Matrouh. We built a boardwalk more than 50-meters long beside a marina. We also established a giant water treatment facility which provided hydration for the sports fields that remain freshly green and well maintained year around,” says Touny.

The former police officer who graduated from the Police Academy in 1969 could not continue his police work due to the demanding hours of his volunteering at the club. “So I joined the National Navigation Company in 1981,” he says, and he continued to work there until his retirement as HR manager at 63. 

He reflects on his days of working there with a smile. “Everyday after work at 4pm, I would have lunch at home then rush back to the club to supervise everything, including dealing with members in person to know their concerns and listen to their complaints and address the needs of the trainers of the 24 spots at the club,” he says. 

The father of two, son Ahmed who works at Etisalat phone company and Olympia who is married in London, used to bring his family with him to the club as he did his volunteering. Touny recalls his Greek wife, Toula, complaining about the endless time he spends at the club, but she would still go and visit him regularly there. He would compromise by “taking Toula out to dinner after the club”. The first time he saw Toula was at a family wedding. “She was very beautiful, and she is still pretty until today,” he says with a smile, though he doesn’t like Toula to get involved in his club business.

Touny saw HSC as a home for himself throughout his life, and as such, the club became a “safe haven during the revolution,” he says. The club proximity to the Itihadiya Palace could have made it vulnerable to all the violence during the revolution, he says, “but not a single incident of attack was recorded at the club.” Despite calls from the authorities to close down the club during those critical times, he recalls, “We all refused and the club continued to function efficiently in serving all the members even during those times.”

Touny prides himself that HSC is “not just a sports club”. It became the first to host a “rehabilitation unit for athlete—particularly post-surgery. We provide health checkups for all our athletes regularly as well as other players who are registered in more than 22 sports unions in Egypt.” 

Within the social environment of HSC, many of its members also volunteer to serve the club community. Such an environment has produced champions in water sports, such as diving and water football, which the club has successively won over the past nine years. Recently, the club also won the Egyptian Cup in handball for men. Since the club is a social environment too, Touny stresses, “We care about families and provide the children’s garden and an advanced library equipped with all types of technology just for them.” Furthermore, for added convenience, the club now has a newly opened office for authenticating documents as part of offering government services to its members.

As he prepares to run for a third term as the board chairman of the club, Touny has more ambitious plans. He intends to build an indoor pool and wants to resolve the parking space challenge at HSC. In El Shorouk, he intends to build a 60-room motel for camps and teams and plans to provide members with “paid medical insurance that would ultimately save them high medical costs”/ Moreover, Touny wants to continue to improve the club and its high-tech facilities without burdening its members financially. “We encourage sponsorships and continue to rent facilities at the club to the business sector that also serves members,” Touny states. He also wants to continue to inspire the younger generation at the club to give back just like he has done all his life. “I want them to utilize their skills and expertise to do more volunteer work at the club for themselves, their families, and the generations to come,” he says. 

Over the course of 40 years of serving HSC as a volunteer, Touny gained a lot personally. “I learned to listen more, talk less, be more patient, and to make firm decisions that are best for the majority and not just a few without worries or fears of upsetting others,” he reflects. In his club journey, Touny has ruffled some feathers. “I don’t care who it is, but any kid or adult who breaks the club rules gets reprimanded. Everybody here respects the rules or else,” he firmly says. He praises the elections at the club as the “most fair” because they are about “how much people love you for your character and all that you do”. This makes Touny “want to continue to serve them better”. His chances to win a third-term as chairman of the HSC board of directors are on the upswing judging from all his endless member calls that he makes everyday. 

As Touny watches the vast green cricket field around him before sunset and notices how quite it has become around him, he reflects on his life journey. The grandfather of three gently smiles. “I am very grateful and happy with everything I have done,” Touny says, “I don’t really need anything.”