Fair Play: That is all folks
BEING a Philippine football fan, it seems, is a bit like being a runner.
You have to continually punish yourself for your love of the sport.
The only difference is, in running, you know that you’d eventually reach your goal before you die.
In football, you’d probably die first of thirst or of fatigue before you get 100 kilometers near your goal.
I really don’t know what Philippine Football Federation president Mari Martinez is doing but whatever it is, he’s doing it badly.
Consider the massacre he put the Philippine Boys’ 16-Under team into in the Group E qualifiers for the AFC Championships.
Formed less than two months into the event, with the coach getting his appointment papers even less, the only statistic the RP team topped was for the number of goals it conceded.
The RP team allowed 26 goals in four matches—losing 12-0 to Japan, 9-0 to Indonesia, 4-1 to Chinese Taipei, and 1-0 to Bangladesh. It was only second to Macau’s 49 in five matches for the worst performance in Asia.
And that’s not all!
The RP Girls’ 16-Under team also set the record for futility, losing 6-0 to Myanmar and 20-0 (yep 20 freaking goals) to Australia in the AFC championships.
And that’s not all!
There’s no football team in the Southeast Asian Games this year.
And that’s not all!
There was no football team in the previous SEA Games.
And that’s not all!
Martinez promised when he got elected that he’d resign if he can’t make football the second-most popular sport in the country in six months. It’s been three years and the dear ol’ prexy has clung to his post as tenaciously as good ‘ol Macoy.
And that’s not all! For P49.99 we’d give you a special offer—a brand new pair of shoes to kick the PFF president out of office.
Sigh.
Martinez can’t hide behind the usual “lack of government or private sector support” for the teams’ pathetic performance; the PFF’s penchant for forming teams late is one of the reasons.
Heck, even East Timor, the country whose men’s team we beat 7-0 back in 2006, made it to the top three for the most goals scored and qualified to the AFC U16 Championships.
What is East Timor doing right that the PFF is doing wrong?
I wonder if the East Timor officials are willing to trade—their program for Martinez and a really, really big and expensive building?
When the Philippines made it to the semifinals of the 1991 SEAG, I remember hearing fans and players alike that the next few years will be the greatest for RP football.
It never happened.
When the Philippines almost made it to the semis of the 2005 SEAG, the team manager was so giddy of the prospect of the 07 and 09 editions since most of the members of that team were still eligible that he couldn’t wait for ’07 and ’09.
It never happened.
That manager was sacked in favor of a PFF ex-president’s crony and we haven’t been in a SEA Games match since.
Too expensive? Well, how much does the PFF get from Fifa, AFC, and AFF every year? P40 million? Wheew.
What? Yeah, I forgot, the PFF can’t spend it for the SEA campaign because it needs the money for grassroots development and national tournaments.
What? There’s none? Oh come on, the money has to go somewhere.
It is one thing to talk about the potential of football in the Philippines. It is another to be always talking about it.
We did that in ’91 and in ’05. Heck people were probably talking about it 50 years ago and will still talk about it 50 years from now.
As for me?
Martinez can be PFF president for life or he can be gone tomorrow for all I care. If he does turn things around, then bravo! If not, nobody cares anymore. Why should I?
For now, and for less than $49.99, I’m picking a new pair of running shoes and I’m not kicking anybody with it.
And that, is all, folks.
You have to continually punish yourself for your love of the sport.
The only difference is, in running, you know that you’d eventually reach your goal before you die.
In football, you’d probably die first of thirst or of fatigue before you get 100 kilometers near your goal.
I really don’t know what Philippine Football Federation president Mari Martinez is doing but whatever it is, he’s doing it badly.
Consider the massacre he put the Philippine Boys’ 16-Under team into in the Group E qualifiers for the AFC Championships.
Formed less than two months into the event, with the coach getting his appointment papers even less, the only statistic the RP team topped was for the number of goals it conceded.
The RP team allowed 26 goals in four matches—losing 12-0 to Japan, 9-0 to Indonesia, 4-1 to Chinese Taipei, and 1-0 to Bangladesh. It was only second to Macau’s 49 in five matches for the worst performance in Asia.
And that’s not all!
The RP Girls’ 16-Under team also set the record for futility, losing 6-0 to Myanmar and 20-0 (yep 20 freaking goals) to Australia in the AFC championships.
And that’s not all!
There’s no football team in the Southeast Asian Games this year.
And that’s not all!
There was no football team in the previous SEA Games.
And that’s not all!
Martinez promised when he got elected that he’d resign if he can’t make football the second-most popular sport in the country in six months. It’s been three years and the dear ol’ prexy has clung to his post as tenaciously as good ‘ol Macoy.
And that’s not all! For P49.99 we’d give you a special offer—a brand new pair of shoes to kick the PFF president out of office.
Sigh.
Martinez can’t hide behind the usual “lack of government or private sector support” for the teams’ pathetic performance; the PFF’s penchant for forming teams late is one of the reasons.
Heck, even East Timor, the country whose men’s team we beat 7-0 back in 2006, made it to the top three for the most goals scored and qualified to the AFC U16 Championships.
What is East Timor doing right that the PFF is doing wrong?
I wonder if the East Timor officials are willing to trade—their program for Martinez and a really, really big and expensive building?
When the Philippines made it to the semifinals of the 1991 SEAG, I remember hearing fans and players alike that the next few years will be the greatest for RP football.
It never happened.
When the Philippines almost made it to the semis of the 2005 SEAG, the team manager was so giddy of the prospect of the 07 and 09 editions since most of the members of that team were still eligible that he couldn’t wait for ’07 and ’09.
It never happened.
That manager was sacked in favor of a PFF ex-president’s crony and we haven’t been in a SEA Games match since.
Too expensive? Well, how much does the PFF get from Fifa, AFC, and AFF every year? P40 million? Wheew.
What? Yeah, I forgot, the PFF can’t spend it for the SEA campaign because it needs the money for grassroots development and national tournaments.
What? There’s none? Oh come on, the money has to go somewhere.
It is one thing to talk about the potential of football in the Philippines. It is another to be always talking about it.
We did that in ’91 and in ’05. Heck people were probably talking about it 50 years ago and will still talk about it 50 years from now.
As for me?
Martinez can be PFF president for life or he can be gone tomorrow for all I care. If he does turn things around, then bravo! If not, nobody cares anymore. Why should I?
For now, and for less than $49.99, I’m picking a new pair of running shoes and I’m not kicking anybody with it.
And that, is all, folks.
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