Fair Play: The best farce forward
THIS is getting ridiculous.
And I’m talking about the factions in Cebu football, whose fighting, believe, is stopping the growth of local football. Both, mind you, think they are right and in a case like that, nobody wins.
One of the latest issues was Carmelo Genco’s inclusion in the national U13 team.
When it comes to the selection of a team, what the coach says is usually enough. But no, the other faction said. The selection is biased, they cried. And off they wailed to the PFF director, coming up with an anonymous letter from concerned U13 parents asking why Genco got in over the other members of the Cebu Elite U13 team.
And what did that get them? Cebuanos getting called arrogant.
“Why would,” the critics say, “members of Cebu’s Elite U13 team expect to have first shot at the national team in the first place? It’s a national team, not the Cebu team.”
I agree. I wanted to write about that issue but the thing is, Genco getting in wasn’t the real issue. And could the problem have been avoided if the communication between coach and players was not hampered by factionism?
Carmelo Genco’s fault was not being named to the national team over members of the Cebu U13 elite team. His lone fault was being the son of Rachel Genco, one fourth of the current CFA leadership—the other side of the faction.
And now come the Azkals and there’s another petty quarrel? Fighting over who gets to be with the team the way childish Slytherins and Griffindors fawned over 11-year-old Harry Potter?
“We got Potter!” Gryffindor said.
“It was our club officers who fetched the Azkals from the airport! Where were the CFA officials?”
Where, indeed was the CFA? As the local representative of the PFF, they should have been there. And did CAFC’s whisking away of the Azkals from the airport have something to do with the snub on local media?
“The Azkals will join our awarding ceremonies,” CAFC said.
“No, they invited them but I don’t think they will attend because of their busy schedule,” the CFA countered.
“It’s the time to unite, not to fight,” The Sorting Hat said.
The CFA wants to drag the Azkals to their own activities, while the CAFC wants them on their own turf, too. I think it’s a childish tug-of-war and not the best face of Cebu football to show members of the national team.
This infighting started with a clash of ideas, over two years ago, of how Cebu football should be run. The then PFF president drove a wedge between the two groups last year, and this year, things are just as bad.
I have friends in both groups and I take no sides, it would be foolish for me to do so. I support each group’s activities, as long as it is not directed at each other.
It is sad because Cebu football needs the two groups to work together. If they don’t believe what each other is doing, I hope both can respect each other, they certainly deserve it. The CAFC, for what is has done for the sport, staging one of Cebu’s biggest tournaments for 11 years, and the CFA as the local authority of football who led the oust You-Know-Who movement.
How about a truce, guys? Besides, you can take the fight in the RIGHT stage in only a
few months. The CFA elections is this November, right?
THEY SAID IT. “We’re at Plantation Bay!” Tweets from the Azkals, moments after checking in at Plantation Bay, whose staff told Sun.Star Cebu a day earlier that they were under instructions not to reveal where the team was staying and that local media, and fans, were barred from the hotel.
“$#%$(^^&^NG (&^$*@!! F*&%&*&%#ING #@%!#$^%$”--My reply, not tweeted, but shouted at the monitor.
GREETINGS. Happy birthday to Joseli Pascual Mahusay, a football fan and Azkal tita. Jo, they say folks who were born on May 27 do great things. I think they’re right, right?
And I’m talking about the factions in Cebu football, whose fighting, believe, is stopping the growth of local football. Both, mind you, think they are right and in a case like that, nobody wins.
One of the latest issues was Carmelo Genco’s inclusion in the national U13 team.
When it comes to the selection of a team, what the coach says is usually enough. But no, the other faction said. The selection is biased, they cried. And off they wailed to the PFF director, coming up with an anonymous letter from concerned U13 parents asking why Genco got in over the other members of the Cebu Elite U13 team.
And what did that get them? Cebuanos getting called arrogant.
“Why would,” the critics say, “members of Cebu’s Elite U13 team expect to have first shot at the national team in the first place? It’s a national team, not the Cebu team.”
I agree. I wanted to write about that issue but the thing is, Genco getting in wasn’t the real issue. And could the problem have been avoided if the communication between coach and players was not hampered by factionism?
Carmelo Genco’s fault was not being named to the national team over members of the Cebu U13 elite team. His lone fault was being the son of Rachel Genco, one fourth of the current CFA leadership—the other side of the faction.
And now come the Azkals and there’s another petty quarrel? Fighting over who gets to be with the team the way childish Slytherins and Griffindors fawned over 11-year-old Harry Potter?
“We got Potter!” Gryffindor said.
“It was our club officers who fetched the Azkals from the airport! Where were the CFA officials?”
Where, indeed was the CFA? As the local representative of the PFF, they should have been there. And did CAFC’s whisking away of the Azkals from the airport have something to do with the snub on local media?
“The Azkals will join our awarding ceremonies,” CAFC said.
“No, they invited them but I don’t think they will attend because of their busy schedule,” the CFA countered.
“It’s the time to unite, not to fight,” The Sorting Hat said.
The CFA wants to drag the Azkals to their own activities, while the CAFC wants them on their own turf, too. I think it’s a childish tug-of-war and not the best face of Cebu football to show members of the national team.
This infighting started with a clash of ideas, over two years ago, of how Cebu football should be run. The then PFF president drove a wedge between the two groups last year, and this year, things are just as bad.
I have friends in both groups and I take no sides, it would be foolish for me to do so. I support each group’s activities, as long as it is not directed at each other.
It is sad because Cebu football needs the two groups to work together. If they don’t believe what each other is doing, I hope both can respect each other, they certainly deserve it. The CAFC, for what is has done for the sport, staging one of Cebu’s biggest tournaments for 11 years, and the CFA as the local authority of football who led the oust You-Know-Who movement.
How about a truce, guys? Besides, you can take the fight in the RIGHT stage in only a
few months. The CFA elections is this November, right?
THEY SAID IT. “We’re at Plantation Bay!” Tweets from the Azkals, moments after checking in at Plantation Bay, whose staff told Sun.Star Cebu a day earlier that they were under instructions not to reveal where the team was staying and that local media, and fans, were barred from the hotel.
“$#%$(^^&^NG (&^$*@!! F*&%&*&%#ING #@%!#$^%$”--My reply, not tweeted, but shouted at the monitor.
GREETINGS. Happy birthday to Joseli Pascual Mahusay, a football fan and Azkal tita. Jo, they say folks who were born on May 27 do great things. I think they’re right, right?
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