Fair Play: POC, PFF should probe hazing allegations

DURING a break in the press conference for the Smart Club championships last Oct. 5, tournament director Cyril Dofitas said that for the coaches meeting, he will just invite coaches and managers, nobody else.

"Ang iba dyan,they'd bring lawyers," he said. "We don't need lawyers in football, we need coaches and managers."

Then CFA's Raffy Musni quipped, "Is that why Atty. Tulay resigned?"


That was the first time I learned that PFF secretary general, Atty. Roland Tulay, has resigned from the PFF. The second time was just last Thursday, when I read a disturbing news about his resignation from InterAktv.com, published last Oct. 8 yet.

Tulay's resignation---which is effective Oct. 31--was reportedly due to hazing.  Yep, hazing.  The kind where frat masters bring paddles to whip newbies.

Tulay denied the allegation but citing eyewitnesses, Karl Decena reported, Tulay "presided over a hazing incident to initiate a new employee into the PFF. Eyewitnesses said the incident happened during a despedida party for another PFF employee at the federation’s House of Football in Pasig City. According to people who were there,  Tulay brandished his paddle during the party…Later that night, sources said they witnessed Tulay perform a hazing ritual on (employee), hitting him with a paddle at the back of his legs twice."

I've heard some crazy stuff about the PFF, including one where a former president, to safeguard federation funds kuno, deposited it to his friend's account, and one where a former head coach's rented room was turned into a brothel, triggering his resignation and another when a women's team was formed, three days after the country missed the deadline for a tournament.

But all of those happened in a time when a PFF president can say "I will resign if I cannot make football the second-most popular sport in the country in six months," and get away with it, clinging to office three years into his term.

But now? Under the present atmosphere where football is having unprecendented popularity? This is a disturbing news that the PFF doesn't need.

Of course, since this one doesn't involve certain football siblings missing the team, this has received little publicity, or feedback, or even merited a statement from the PFF.

I hope the PFF--and even the POC--will look into this.  Atty. Tulay, who I have been told is a stickler for rules and protocol, may have left his PFF post, but he is still the president of the  NCRFA and a member of the PFF Board of Governors.  If, as Tulay said, the accusation is baseless, then the probe could clear him.

But if it's merited, then action is needed, too.  In a country that is trying to rid the scourge of hazing, we don't need any of its form to show up in a federation whose national team is the latest toast.

Hazing, like racism, has no place in football.

REACTIONS.  Ricky Ballesteros, the manager of the Cebu City Sports Center, sent me this message after my column on the attack on referee Archie Reyes—which occurred outside the sports center—during last Sunday’s Cesafi finals.

“In future games, I will ask CFA to augment blue guards with presence of uniformed policemen to help secure the are from angry fans and athletes.  In every event, I organize, I always ask the PNP presence at the center, especially in a very physical and contact sport like football.  Especially now that the number of football fans is increasing.  Rest assured, I will discuss this matter with the CFA.”

Ricky said the incident happened outside the CCSC and that drinking isn’t allowed there.  Drunks, too, are not allowed, but sometimes the guard fail to notice them when they enter.  

He did agree with me though, that drunk who attacked Archie should be made an example and he is willing to ban him, a move, that he hopes, will discourage similar attacks.  

Now, the next move is up to the CFA.