INSIDE SPORTS: PHILIPPINE FOOTBALL CATCHES FIRE WITH FANS
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 24 Dec 2010
There may be those who question the sudden turnaround of FIFA, the international governing body for football which initially upheld the presidency of Mari Martinez and then shortly afterwards recognized the election of Mariano ?Nonong? Araneta and ratified the method by which he was elected.
But the undeniable fact is that it stopped what may well have become a debilitating leadership struggle when the call of the times is to enjoy our new-found success and move forward by building on the gains of the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup performance of our gallant Azkals.
The foundation has clearly been established for football to grow and become an integral part of our national sporting passion. The immediate support given by the esteemed businessman-sportsman Manny Pangilinan and his commitment to help football is a much-needed shot in the arm.
The TV ratings of the two games against Indonesia which outdid the PBA games both in the breakdown of ratings in specific areas as well as nationally, tells us that the public will support a national team no matter what the sport because there is an unmistakable thrill in cheering for a national squad competing internationally.
The almost fanatical reception give the football players by the rank-and-file staff, middle-level and top executives of Smart when they trooped to the Smart Tower in Makati City for a luncheon hosted by Mr. Pangilinan and Smart president Napoleon Nazareno was, to quote Smart Sports' Pato Gregorio, twenty times more than the screams and cheers that greeted the Smart Gilas basketball team on a similar occasion.
The fact that there were many good-looking players on the football team and these were new faces, not like the basketball players who have become a fixture in our everyday lives , was perhaps one of the reasons for the incredible reception from a whole bunch of truly lovely smart girls.
The other key factor we believe is in the character of the players who are mostly from Europe and have imbibed a different culture from the Fil-Americans who demonstrate their skill in the PBA. As we told PLDT-Smart?s Mon Isberto, its also a question of education and upbringing. In a British educational system which brothers Philip and James Younghusband and Chris Greatwich among others surely enjoyed, they teach young men to first and foremost be gentlemen. In America, from what we know, the accent is on how to get ahead and do well financially. Nothing intrinsically wrong with that except that the difference is eventually palpable and being suddenly exposed to Fil-Euros as Mon would rather refer to them, our fans have warmed to the difference.
It certainly helped a great deal that the football players were far more accessible and genuinely warm to one another and to the fans probably because they never savored the kind of attention they received after their performance in the Suzuki Cup.
Mr. Pangilinan and the Smart people sensed it right away which means support for the development of football and taking it to international standards of the highest level will receive the support it richly deserves. But as we have pointed out time and time again, it is unfair to expect MVP to go it alone, helping so many sports the best he could and believe me, that is substantial. We need the other corporations to join in and spark a true renaissance not just in football but in the sports where we have the physical attributes to compete at the highest level and also the sports we have long had a passion for such as basketball, billiards, boxing, baseball and tennis.
In our euphoria over the success in football we shouldn?t cast aside the other sports that have brought our country and people honor and glory in the past because that would be unfair. We should never divorce ourselves from a sport merely because we failed to achieve what we hoped we would.
Basketball may be facing somewhat of a downswing right now in terms of TV ratings for instance but there are still PBA teams that attract 15,000 fans to the Araneta Coliseum like Barangay Ginebra did on Wednesday vs Alaska. To us, Ginebra is all about battling the odds with a never-say-die spirit and playing the game in an attractive, creative and entertaining fashion. The Smart Gilas team has to play somewhat differently because of the demands of the international game. While we may have failed to fulfill our peoples expectations just yet, it would be a little unfair to write the team off and give up on basketball.
The two sports must feed off each other just as when pro league Commissioner Chito Salud showed his openness and sportsmanship by inviting the football team to grace a Ginebra game where they were given the warmest of welcomes from diehard PBA fans before they left for Jakarta. With all due respect to those who may disagree, its not a question of one sport over another...its an issue of standing behind all our national teams because they represent us.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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