CFA hopes to engineer successful Azkals hosting

MEMBERS of the Cebu Football Association (CFA) are using their experience in the construction business to pull off one of the biggest project the CFA has in years--hosting the Nov.  15 friendly between the Philippines and Singapore at the Cebu City Sports Center.

The friendly--the first to be hosted by Cebu--serves as the final tuneup for both teams before the Suzuki Cup.



"We are basically just treating this as one major project," said CFA  resident Ricky Dakay, the owner of a construction company.

One of the engineering concepts the group is using for the event is the use of a GANTT chart.

"It is a engineering concept used for project monitoring," said Dakay. "It makes everything looks simple and manageable.  But these are not easy tasks."

Glenn Quisido, who formulated the GANTT chart, said they update the chart after their weekly meetings every Friday.

Dakay said that when members of the Philippine Football Federation visited Cebu, they were impressed when they were shown the updates of their plans through the GANTT chart.

For the Cebu friendly, the group has already spent some P2 million for the preparation, and that is excluding their expenses for the improvement of the CCSC shower rooms, locker rooms and other function rooms.

They have also numbered the seats at the grand stand and are set to repaint them.

"We wanted to make sure everyone would be seated comfortably, so we did it almost six times," said CFA board member Michael Veloso.

The tickets will be sold through SM Cinema ticket booths--and its online--arm starting Oct. 17.

"They can go to the ticket booths, and pick their seats.  They should buy their tickets early so they can choose the seats near the field," said Rico Navarro.

Navarro, who is in charge of the marketing committee, said they will also give away tickets through promotional tie-ups with FM and AM stations and the event's official Facebook page--entitled Face Off--which will also be launched on Oct. 17.

One hundred tickets will be given away through the FM and AM stations but they have yet to finalize the number for the Fan page's promo as they are still finalizing the mechanics for it.

The number of tickets that will be sold are 897 for the pink section, 545 for the Blue section, 425 for VIP, 301 for the white section, 1,078 for the yellow section, 770 for the green. 

The Kaholeros--a group that leads the cheers for the national team--will have their special seats in a mini-grandstand on the other side of the pitch. (In foto, it's located just below the words "rubberized track oval" at the bottom)

They are also planning to put up additional bleachers and are looking at renting those used for the Davis Cup matches hosted by Plantantion Bay last year.

Dakay said this is the chance for the Cebu football community to prove that it can host a match of this magnitude and said the success won't depend on just the members of the CFA board.

"If we do this succesfully, it can put us in the football map.  Cebu is very
ideal for this," said Dakay. "History will not happen with just the CFA board, but with the support of the football community.

Dakay also said a succesful hosting this November could mean future games of the national team in Cebu.

"This is our first but this definitely would not be the last," said Dakay.

For the friendly and preparations, Quisido estimates that they are going to have as much as 500 volunteers, marshalls, grounds personnel and ushers.

Meanwhile, fans who want to bring cameras to the matches may do so as the CFA will do away with the restrictions on camera.

"They can bring their cameras besides, I don't think any one would hit any one with a camera," Nimrod Quinones, who heads the Disciplinary Committee said. "But only the accredited photo journalists will be
allowed in the field."

Water bottles, umbrella and food are not allowed.