Cebu Football

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's June 29 edition) I GOT a call the other day from University of Cebu athletic director Bernard Ricablanca, who is also a member of the Cebu City Sports Commission. Bernard called to thank me for suggesting that those who commit unsportsmanlike conduct in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. be required to render community service with the CCSC’s grassroots program for kids in conflict with the law before getting allowed to play again. In the past, Bernard said, violators easily pay the fine and continue their thing. “Pila ra man nang fine,” said Bernard.

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's June 27 edition) TO be one of the best football clubs, you have to have ample support and a real structure and in Cebu--no teams epitomize that support and structure better than Leylam FC and Erco Bro. Before, the dominant teams were Queen City United, backed by the Cebu Amateur Football Club, Hiroshi FC of Haru Iwanaga and Crazy Horse of the Ayabe father and son tandem.

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's June 20 edition) THE Philippine national team is off to its best start in the World Cup qualifiers, winning the first two games against dangerous Bahrain at home and Yemen in Dubai. And do you know what are some fans concerned about? Where’s the homegrown talent? Where are the pure Filipinos? A week ago, sprinters Eric Cray and Kayla Richardson swept the century dash gold medals in the Southeast Asian Games and some again asked where our homegrown talents were, as if getting these Filipinos raised abroad to represent the country in international competitions is a mortal sin. Some even blame them for having the flags that were sewn in their jerseys upside down.

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's June 17 edition) AT this time after the semifinals of the Aboitiz Cup men's open, teams involved in the finals and the battle-for-third should only be preparing for their games. But because of what happened in the Leylam vs. Don Bosco United match, four players will have to rack their brains how to explain their involvement in the unfortunate incident.

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's June 15 edition) HERE'S an interesting comment from a reader who watched the Azkals match at the Philippine Sports Stadium last Thursday. He agreed that we had our A-team, but the real problem in the match was the 12th man, the missing home crowd. “It’s a pity that the crowd was not present. We were officially only about 6k spectators and to make matters worse there were about three to four groups cheering differently. So the home factor has not been a factor for the Azkals which is why I am commenting,” he wrote.

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's June 13 edition) I DON'T know what was more impressive last night, that we beat Bahrain for the first time or that we only had 10 days of training time to do so. Concerns on the lack of preparation for the national team, which even had less than six days to train as a complete unit as the last member arrived on June 5, were immediately thrown out the window the moment we took the field. Lack of training time? Chemistry or what have you? No problem!

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's June 8 edition) WITH no international friendly lined up before they kick off their 2018 World Cup qualifiers, the Azkals made do with a modified friendly with a foreign-laced UFL All- Stars squad last Saturday at the Philippine Sports Stadium. Playing three 30-minute halves to give the whole squad a chance to take part, the Azkals took apart the UFL selection, 7-1, with Javier Patiño scoring two and Iaian Ramsay, Kevin Ingreso, Misagh Bahadoran, Stephan Schrock and Mark Hartmann getting one each.