Fair Play: An ex-football's appeal to Mr. Tiukinhoy
DEAR Sir.
An accident with a chemical concoction in 2001 transformed me into a football. (I was trying to gain super powers).
However, life as a football wasn’t really that bad. I got to learn what footballs really want. (I’ve since returned to my human form in 2004—albeit minus a few brain cells—else I wouldn’t be able to write this).
But, because of the accident, I learned that in Cebu, footballs only look forward to the Cesafi and the Aboitiz events.
You see Felix, (may I call you Felix?) unlike basketball, football (the game) has this bastard cousin called seven-a-side, or Festivals, which unlike the piso-ang-bugkos basketball events, only occur very rarely.
These two-day festivals, while a welcome respite from the time we spent in the ball bag in the property custodian’s office gathering dust, aren’t really that appealing to a football.
But Cesafi and Aboitiz? Oh how we eagerly waited for them.
On Game Day, while people weren’t looking, we’d jostle in the bag for the right to get to the top, to be the one who gets thrown in the game. Sometimes, we fought so hard that we spilled over and people noticed, “Kinsa man nagbungkag sa mga bola diri?”
Why, you may ask Felix, do footballs love Cesafi and Aboitiz and want to be in both tournaments?
It’s simple. Ninety minutes of action.
I mean, Felix, what would you prefer? Ten guys playing basketball or a three-on-three?
In case you or the members of the Cesafi board don’t know it—which we suspect is really the case--unlike your beloved basketballs (our spoiled distant cousins), there are really only two tournaments in Cebu for footballs--Cesafi and Aboitiz.
Why then do you want to limit your college teams to only one?
That’s eight teams, seven games in just one round and 630 minutes that footballs will be spending in the bag instead of on the field.
Also, don’t you think it’s a whole lot of waste of footballs to be just in one tournament for a year?
You have the pre-, post- and regular seasons and the All-Star for the spoiled Cesafi basketballs but only one for footballs. (Every time we hear of these events, we shake our heads in the bag and go, tsk, tsk, tsk—forcing one property custodian to seek early retirement)
Felix, we know that you only want to protect Cesafi and that is why you want to restrict players from other events, but the Beautiful Game, again unlike the Spoiled Brat, doesn’t have warring factions.
We don’t have a busy business mogul who wants to be treated as an MVP and a cabbage of a failed politician heading parallel groups. Or commercial leagues. Barangay teams, we’ve heard, even pay college stars to get that edge.
No need to protect Cesafi football from that. College players pay to play in festivals, it’s not the other way around.
You know Felix, this ban is so basketballish and could have been solved with a simple meeting of the minds of those with genuine concern for footballs.
They did that before. Those who have Cesafi games don’t have any in Aboitiz. Schedules can be tweaked that teams can finish their Cesafi games before getting their first Aboitiz match. Even festival organizers here consider the schedule of their rivals, to avoid conflicts. You can do that, can’t you?
Felix, prettypleasewithlotsofsugaronit, don’t slash the football calendar in half. Don’t punish players who prefer us over the Spoiled Brat.
Thank you.
P.S. I wanted to include the sentiments, in this appeal, of our sexy cousins, the volleyballs, but the Lady Governor has spoken for them and besides, my new chemical concoction is just about right.
This time, I hope, I’ll become Maria Sharapova’s shoes.
(mikelimpag@gmail.com)
An accident with a chemical concoction in 2001 transformed me into a football. (I was trying to gain super powers).
However, life as a football wasn’t really that bad. I got to learn what footballs really want. (I’ve since returned to my human form in 2004—albeit minus a few brain cells—else I wouldn’t be able to write this).
But, because of the accident, I learned that in Cebu, footballs only look forward to the Cesafi and the Aboitiz events.
You see Felix, (may I call you Felix?) unlike basketball, football (the game) has this bastard cousin called seven-a-side, or Festivals, which unlike the piso-ang-bugkos basketball events, only occur very rarely.
These two-day festivals, while a welcome respite from the time we spent in the ball bag in the property custodian’s office gathering dust, aren’t really that appealing to a football.
But Cesafi and Aboitiz? Oh how we eagerly waited for them.
On Game Day, while people weren’t looking, we’d jostle in the bag for the right to get to the top, to be the one who gets thrown in the game. Sometimes, we fought so hard that we spilled over and people noticed, “Kinsa man nagbungkag sa mga bola diri?”
Why, you may ask Felix, do footballs love Cesafi and Aboitiz and want to be in both tournaments?
It’s simple. Ninety minutes of action.
I mean, Felix, what would you prefer? Ten guys playing basketball or a three-on-three?
In case you or the members of the Cesafi board don’t know it—which we suspect is really the case--unlike your beloved basketballs (our spoiled distant cousins), there are really only two tournaments in Cebu for footballs--Cesafi and Aboitiz.
Why then do you want to limit your college teams to only one?
That’s eight teams, seven games in just one round and 630 minutes that footballs will be spending in the bag instead of on the field.
Also, don’t you think it’s a whole lot of waste of footballs to be just in one tournament for a year?
You have the pre-, post- and regular seasons and the All-Star for the spoiled Cesafi basketballs but only one for footballs. (Every time we hear of these events, we shake our heads in the bag and go, tsk, tsk, tsk—forcing one property custodian to seek early retirement)
Felix, we know that you only want to protect Cesafi and that is why you want to restrict players from other events, but the Beautiful Game, again unlike the Spoiled Brat, doesn’t have warring factions.
We don’t have a busy business mogul who wants to be treated as an MVP and a cabbage of a failed politician heading parallel groups. Or commercial leagues. Barangay teams, we’ve heard, even pay college stars to get that edge.
No need to protect Cesafi football from that. College players pay to play in festivals, it’s not the other way around.
You know Felix, this ban is so basketballish and could have been solved with a simple meeting of the minds of those with genuine concern for footballs.
They did that before. Those who have Cesafi games don’t have any in Aboitiz. Schedules can be tweaked that teams can finish their Cesafi games before getting their first Aboitiz match. Even festival organizers here consider the schedule of their rivals, to avoid conflicts. You can do that, can’t you?
Felix, prettypleasewithlotsofsugaronit, don’t slash the football calendar in half. Don’t punish players who prefer us over the Spoiled Brat.
Thank you.
P.S. I wanted to include the sentiments, in this appeal, of our sexy cousins, the volleyballs, but the Lady Governor has spoken for them and besides, my new chemical concoction is just about right.
This time, I hope, I’ll become Maria Sharapova’s shoes.
(mikelimpag@gmail.com)
Comments
What a load of crap !!!!
The reason why there was no conflict of schedule last year was because there was NO Aboitiz Cup. Got to ask this - if there was no scheduling conflict, then how come there was no CESAFI high school football ?
No overlapping of CebuFA sanctioned tournaments during the term of the previous CebuFA administration ? Check the past issues of all local sports pages. All of the previous Aboitiz Men's Open in the last 5 years started on the last quarter of the year, right smack in the middle of CESAFI season. The high school football competiton even lasted as late as January.
If we follow CESAFI logic as far as schedules are concerned, then it will mean that CebuFA U17 and college players can only play in CebuFA sanctioned tournaments between January and June since CESAFI is July-December. What happens to our POF teams and PFF national tournaments ? Most of our best age-group players are playing in CESAFI member schools. And how about the Milo Olympics and the City Olympics for the U17's ? Will DepED reschedule and give way to CESAFI ?
There is a very practical reason why our football season is August-March. It coincides with the schedule of classes (thus the formation of varsities), and it's basically a cooler time to play football (rainy season and never mind the occasional flooded and muddy field). Having our football season right smack in the middle of final exams and summer will mean distraction from studies, extremely hot and dusty playing conditions, ASTHMA, and bald fields. If the Commissioner is a TRUE sportsman, he should have realized that the playing of outdoor sports has a very specific window for ideal and SAFE playing conditions.
I do understand where the Commissioner is coming from - it's in the rules. I only hope that the CESAFI board will reconsider and implement this rule just for basketball, to which it was originally intended, and not to the other sporting events.