I’ve long wanted to write about the “Fil-foreigners” rather on the use of the term ever since I heard Chad Gould’s father’s remarks during Mari Martinez’s visit in the CebuFA elections.

(Please check Jack Biantan, my former boss’, column at Pinoysoccer.com for reference.
To sum it up, the term Fil-foreigners, according to the senior Gould, is an insult, since these folks are 100 percent Filipinos.

They got it wrong.

The Fil-foreigner tag isn’t supposed to denote a Pinoy’s lineage, it simply serves to identify where that certain Pinoy learned the sport. Note that the “Fil-foreigner” is a term unique to Philippine football—owing perhaps to football’s global reach.

In the PBA, they are identified as Fil-Ams, or Fil-Tsongan, or as others would have it, as Fil-Shams.

These Pinoys learning of the sport–and training—is what makes them different. It’s not about lineage, or ancestry. Hence, the Fil-foreigner tag. By being named or tagged as a Fil-foreigner, they are supposed to save or to deliver…lineage notwithstanding (unless you include the purists)…Philippine football from the doldrums.

Why then do we have reports that say, the Philippine team, bannered by Fil-foreigners…or the Philippines will pin its hope on basketball gold on Fil-Ams…It is never–and was NEVER– about lineage, it is always about skills.

Take the case of billiards for crying out loud. If football has Pele, or basketball has Jordan, we have Efren Reyes. Do we have FIl-foreigners in billiards? We don’t! Instead, we have players who are identified as “Filipinos who are now based in Indonesia, Malysia or Dubai.”

No Fil-foreigners!

To the Goulds, Younghusbands, Greatwitches, Del Rosarios, don’t you ever think that being branded a Fil-foreigner is an insult. It isn’t. It should be an honor, and a privilege, something you must prove that you deserve, hence you have local players asking, what does this dude have against me that I don’t and have not experienced..except for the place where he learned the sport?

As to the change of attitude or rather the attitude that the team should adopt and learn from these Fil-foreigners (and yes, I shall continue to use that term).

In previous tournaments, the Philippines played not to lose, and not only that, they played not to lose by 10 goals or more.

When these guys showed up, they showed that not only do we have to play to win, but we CAN play to WIN!

And that, is what a Fil-foreigner is all about!

The SYKES 2008 Involve Football Tournament opened up with a BANG! The opening ceremony was graced by the presence of Cebu Football Association President Richard Montayre, who, thanked the players for their support in promoting the sport in the country and encourage them to join the upcoming CebuFA tournaments.

Despite a yearlong hiatus, each team displayed the true meaning of “For the love of the game.” Team RED and Team GREEN were both scoreless in 10 minutes into game 1. Mark Limpag had the first scoring opportunity for Team GREEN via penalty but Sherwin Ngujo was quick enough to deflect the kick and the followup. Romuel Balintag (MVP, 2006 Tournament) scored two goals for Team RED near the end of the first half. Team GREEN pushed for goals on the second half, attacking from both wings and the middle, prompting Balintag to help the defense. Team GREEN’s efforts finally paid off when Juvelon Soria sneaked past Team RED’s defense and found the back of the net. The game ended 2-1 in favor of Team RED.

Team BLACK dumped CSI (7-2) in game 2 bagging their first win for the tournament. Vince Rendon scored 2 goals and David De Madrazo added one more to seal their lead early in the first half. Kathrina Bejec scored 2 goals after getting a through pass from Dori Jay Bontilao. Juvelon Soria scored a header for Team WHITE from a corner kick well into the second half. Dori Jay Bontilao scored 2 goals after a beautiful set-up from her Dial teammates. Kristian Perez managed to sneak in a counter attack and shot below the bar, scoring the second goal for Team WHITE just before the end of the game.

Composed of mostly new players, Team LIGHT BLUE started strong this year, surprising the audience with a good display of defense. S/G Allan Daclan together with Brian Villafuerte and Eleazar Montemayor led the attacks against Team DARK BLUE but they could not break the Rabaya-Canama-Lavadia defense. Team DARK BLUE had numberous chances including a well-timed header from Sherwin Arnade but goalkeeper John Obed Enojardo was always alert and did not allow a chance of scoring a goal. A foul by Team LIGHT BLUE changed their fate, allowing Adriane Canama to score the first goal for Team DARK BLUE from the penalty spot. Jay Perasol scored the second goal on a breakaway and Julius Besana shot the third past the goalie off an assist from Canama. Game 3 ended with Team DARK BLUE blanking Team LIGHT BLUE (3-0).

* A goal by female player is equivalent to 2 goals.

From Sun.Star Cebu

FIFTEEN teams have already signed up for the Men’s Open category of the upcoming three day football tournament—the University of the Philippines (UP) Centennial Cup on June 7 to 9 at the UP Cebu College football field.

Set to compete in this competition commemorating the 100th year since the founding of UP in 1908 are House of Hope Football Club, the visiting Ormoc FC, the organizing club Uptown United FC, the home team UP Alumni FC, Lear FC, the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines Football Cup champion Tsuneishi FC, Talisay FC, People Support FC, Spectra FC, Xantos FC, Barili FC, Camputhaw FC, the First Uptown United Invitational Cup champion University of Southern Philippines Foundation Alumni FC and the Don Bosco Pipol FC.

Donn Rabanes, the tournament director, said he is still waiting for word if one of the city’s top teams, the Don Bosco Alumni FC, which was one of the chosen few invited in the tournament, will send a team.

This football extravaganza will also be highlighted with a friendly match between Uptown United FC and the UP selection team.

The registration fee for the event, which is the second tournament organized by Uptown, is P2,000

With the lack of tournaments in Cebu ( a weekend without football is a weekend wasted), we should be thankful for the groups, clubs and schools who organize their own football tournaments.

However, one downside of this is the common complaints of people who say the organizers swing a certain way.

Now, I generally do not pay attention to questions on referee’s bias, vis-à-vis the organizers, but saying “A tournament started by a DB affiliate is in favor of DB teams. All officials and tournament heads are biased to DB. They give high priority to DB teams and give low priority to other teams,” is quite something.

Of course, here in Cebu, you can replace the initials “DB” with Queen City, SRFC, CebuFA directors,…etc..in the previous statement.

Every referee is biased, based on which side of the fence you sit.  And as a little Ripley-believe-it-or-not, during the break between the eliminations and the semifinals of a national open, I spent a few hours enriching SMC with the referees, and they all said that “the host could have gotten a few calls their way if they just managed to treat the referees better.”

Now as to the organizer’s bias.  Did the organizer say, put the good teams in one group and put in their team in a weak group?  Did they, say in a single-knockout tournament, make the better teams face each other before the winner faces their team in the same day?

If I am wrong, do say so but as a general rule, people organize football tournaments to 1.) promote their product, 2.) support their place’s fiesta, 3.) promote their school.  But I haven’t met an organizer who put up a tournament so their team will emerge as champion.  It’s silly and counterproductive.

All this, reminds me of my football years.

Lousy organizers?  Lousy referees?  One time, after warming up, both our team and our opponents spent two hours waiting for the referee.  He arrived, alone.  Since he didn’t have any linesman, me and another opposing team’s benchwarmer had the dubious honor, of not only not suiting up for the game, but being the linesman, with only a jersey and a shirt to use as a flag.

I was going to tackle the Phil Younghusband and Joyce Ramirez “scandal” (an upgrade-your-traffice-sort-of-post), when I got the chance to read the comments in the shoutbox.

First, as to the interference, all I can say is, “Ablate Español?”

Second, as to the concern of the teams that most of the referees in the Beach Soccer Open were from Don Bosco, all I can say is:

“Duh!”

The event was organized by the Don Bosco Alumni Football Club, where will they get their referees?  Slrap?

Referees always make a judgment call, and for each call, half the players on the field will agree with it and the other half will think the referee should be skinned alive.

Unless of course, there was blatant bias, say the water boy of Opposing team punches his fellow waterboy of Don Bosco affiliated team and the star striker (or keeper) of non-Don Bosco team gets red carded for drinking water, then we have a reason to cry foul.

Otherwise, the participants should have raised the issue, knowing the organizer is affiliated with football teams, during the coaches meeting (insert sarcastic question mark and smirk.)

Of course, we could also question why the Milo Olympics, or the Cebu City Olympics have referees who are mostly affiliated with Abellana National School.

Now back to the Phil Younghusband + Joyce Ramirez “scandal.”

There isn’t.

For me, the scandal is Ramirez’s failure to aggressively promote Younghusband and the RP team.  They were in Cebu for crying out loud.  A mall tour here, a clinic there, heck even a boodle fight involving the team and the fans would have done wonders.

Check the first report regarding the Charlie Cojuangco Cup. (Yep that failed charlie by Charlie)

http://pinoysoccer.com/philippine-football/fu-drubs-um-in-1st-coc-cup-bootfest-opener.html

“Organizers, led by former 4th district Representative Carlos O. Cojuangco, held a press conference before Monday’s CPU-USLS match at the Panaad media center, together with visiting Spanish coach Maur Rozen, match commissioner Leo Dayot and referees inspector Dennis Estaniel.”

Nothing about the press conference?  Usually, when things like this occur, it usually means that during the press conference, nothing substantial was said about the event.  Reporters usually say (What the hell am I going to write) if they attend a football press conference that turns into a critique about why the Philippines should adopt the Federal system.

“He added that both UAAP titlist Far Eastern University and NCAA reigning champion San Beda College were also invited but failed to beat the deadline for confirmation, while reigning Nopsscea champion West Negros College was also invited but had to forego participation in favor of its stint in the National Prisaa meet in Zamboanga City where they were the defending champion.”

Booho, failed to beat the deadline? Or did they not bother to respond to the invitation.  Imagine that, the reigning Bacolod collegiate champion decided to forego the competition in favor of the Prisaa.  Hello?  The Prisaa was over a month ago!

I’ll jump the gun.

PFF president Mari Martinez has abandoned his plan to change the moniker Azkals, but upon reading the story of how the team got its name, he said, “That guy again!” when he got to the bottom part.

To quote Alain at pinoysoccer.com, “And from what I’ve heard, Martinez is still fuming about the April fools joke.”

Coach Norman won’t be back at the team, tired as he is with all the interference.  The PFF will finally put its own website, (I’m curious what news will be in that site.)  For a change, the Pinoys will travel to England to train with the Fil-Brits and as to the brouhaha about Phil Younghusband’s failed signing with the LA Galaxy, well with David Beckham getting the lion share of the payroll, someone else is bound to get the ant’s share–no, the parasite of the ant’s share–of the payroll. 287 dollars a week to play football?

And oh, the pinoysoccer.com community share the same idea with the PFF president with regards to a certain bald guy, at least, when no one else is listening.  The words used were, “He’s very difficult to deal with.”

Catch all the details at pinoysoccer.com.

PFF president Mari Martinez isn’t happy with the name and has ordered the PFF marketing director to look for a new name.  Martinez further reasons and out and tells Jack Biantan that he hasn’t read anything about “Azkals” in the papers.

Ok, so we have a president who doesn’t like the name, does that mean we will have a new name as every four years? That Martinez haven’t read anything about Azkals in the papers shows that our president isn’t truly aware of football in the whole country, perhaps he only bothers to read the newspaper space which the PFF has managed to buy.

A lot of discussion went with that name, which was adopted as early as 2005, during the SEA Games, where was Martinez then? Musing about the failed Prama Cup?

Judging with how the PFF will handle this, I don’t give a barnyard dung whatever new name they come up for the Philippine national team, not even if they managed to plaster it in the national papers, (newspace for sale). One thing for sure.

Azkals stay.

Courtesy of Sun.Star Cebu (again) by UP Mass Comm Intern Eva Marie Gamboa

THE Don Bosco Pinoysoccer.com team didn’t think they had a big chance of winning the 8th National Inter-Club Football Tournament since compared to the other teams who practiced everyday, they only got to practice “once in a blue moon” and with three or more members absent.

The one-week tournament was so far the biggest event organized by the Cebu Football Association (CFA) and was attended by teams from outside Cebu and was graced by the presence of the Philippine national team.

During the Scoop forum with Bobby Inoferio, Don Bosco Pinoysoccer.com shared the challenges the squad faced.

“The players had no commitment (with the team) because some of them are working,” said Warloo Sabella, one of the team members.

The members of the team were selected from different schools and clubs, but they were able to project a certain “chemistry” on the field.

“The team is already a selection in itself,” said Br. Jose Ma. Aberastori of Don Bosco Boys Home.

Don Bosco couldn’t find enough members for their team so they selected players from the University of San Jose-Recoletos, Iligan City, Don Bosco Alumni and other clubs.

They defeated FC Inter Lapu-Lapu, 20-0, on their first game, scored 4-3 against Davao and then defeated Dipolog, 3-0.

After their Inter Club win the team will represent Cebu in the Men’s Regionals.

Courtesy of Sun.Star Cebu by Edri K. Aznar

THIS summer, the heat of the shores of Moalboal will turn up a notch as 35 teams will battle it out in the 2nd Beach Football Open at Basdako, Moalboal tomorrow.

The defending champions in both the Men’s and Women’s Opens, the San Roque Football Club, will send three teams, two for the Men’s category and one for the Ladies division.

Joining them in the Men’s category are three teams from XP Moalboal, two teams from San Roque Royal United, University of the Philippines Foundation Alumni, Monger Inc., St. John Bosco United, two squads from FC Inter Cebu, CSAT-FC, two groups from Queen City United, two teams from Danao FC, Barili FC, two squads from Don Bosco Lawaan, Crazy Horse, Don Bosco Alumni Youth, Maitland Smith, Cravings and Kapuge (both from San Carlos City).

In the Women’s Open it will be a battle between the Lasalle Alumni from Bacolod, Mobelhaus, Don Bosco Women’s, Queen City United, Bangan (University of the Philippines Alumni), CSAT Women’s, University of San Carlos and Turnbouts.

Games will be played with two 10-minute periods with five players per team inside the pitch. Each team has a maximum of 10 players in their squad.
Aside from the tournament itself, the event also be serves as the selection for the first Cebu Beach Football team, which will be sent to San Carlos City for the National Championships on May 31 to June 1.

The president of the Beach Football Association of the Philippines (BFAP) Mike Athap, BFAP chairman of Cebu Dido Aviles and Cebu Football Association board member Bro. Mari Aberasturi will handpick the individuals worthy for a spot in team.

The games will start at 8 in the morning.

Registration fee will be P2,000 per team