POINT OF VIEW ON WHY FOOTBALL
IS NOT A MAJOR SPORT IN THE PHILIPPINES
We understand that a lot has been done in developing
football in the Philippines both in the national and grassroots level and the
country is also quite effective and efficient in terms of licensing of coaches.
However, there are some aspects affecting developing the sport in full force
and unless we get it right it will be a longer way to have football becoming a major
sport in the country. Below is our top list:
FOOTBALL IS FOR THE
RICH: Football is seen as a game for the rich. In Manila, for example, the high cost of registration to
join a team or be part of a team has marginalized the rest of the population
from having access to the world’s number one sport. This situation limits the
game from reaching out to a pool of talents who may belong to economically
average and/or less fortunate families. We have seen that when it comes to
football, a good percentage of our world best players hailed from poor
communities. Therefore, with this current mentality such as this, it will be
difficult to find raw talents with big hearts who will be willing to train hard
and long for his or her country to win coveted cups in football matches.
CULTURE DOES NOT PROMOTE YET: For any sport to be successful and
popular, the culture of the country must promote it. Unlike basketball courts
where you find in every corner of the country, it is very rare to see
places/pitches where people gather to play or watch football as leisure even in
Manila, which is, so far the center of all football activities.
GOVERNMENT DOES NOT PLAY A PROMINENT ROLE: There is no doubt the
Philippine government already plays its role in the promotion of the sport,
perhaps through funding and several aspects. However, so much more needs to be
done in terms of promoting football to become a major sport in the country. It
will be difficult to have that big dream of appearing in any FIFA World Cup
tournaments with only 5% of the country’s population following the game.
BIGGER FUNDING IS NEEDED: Philippine football will certainly go
forward when more money has been invested on its promotion and projects. Greater
football feats cannot be achieved if Philippine football heavily relies on
money that is given to every Federation from FIFA.
MEDIA DOES NOT PROMOTE: Football does not get featured enough in local
Philippine sports channels or news flash on sports. The only professional
football league (UFL) in the country does not, or hardly goes live on television.
Neither is live commentary on radio available to the listeners. Football needs
to be featured more by the media—tv, radio, newspapers, magazines, etc. The audience needs to be seeing and
hearing it often for easy recall until such time that they understand the game
and gets hooked to it. Just as when an artist launches a new music, you see it
on TV, hear it on radio until the population sings and dances to his tune
unconsciously because they are bombarded by it. This is promotion.
CHANGE OF RULES
The United Football League changed the rule in signing
foreigners into clubs. This has inadvertently affected clubs with lesser
budget, as they were, unlike the bigger clubs, unable to sign Filipinos playing
abroad or some of the bests in the country. This caused the level of competition to drop dramatically
thereby reducing the number of spectators to very few or none at all, as
compared to 2015 and the previous seasons.
UNAVAILABILITY OF
GOOD VENUE/FACILITIES
When lighting facilities went bad in Rizal Stadium where
football matches usually take place, it was not immediately fixed. Instead, all
games were scheduled during the day causing three clubs to drop out of the
league as most of their players have another work during the day and therefore
they are unable to have enough players for the matches. As an unfortunate consequence, about 60
local players dropped out of the only professional football league in the
country.
In the upcoming Philippine Football League from PFF, we
recommend that PFF make use of the media in briefing the people and public on
what are to be expected in the league as this will give people something to
look forward to. We also recommend that PFF get into an agreement with
Universities and Colleges to allow their players to be members of football
clubs and to release players to fulfill their club duties especially during
important football matches.
We believe that to widen and
attract more people to play football in the Philippines, there must be more
public fields for free where people could go and play football. Futsal could be
the best way to start as Basketball courts are readily available. It has to be
promoted through an intensive campaign across the country. Money has to be
invested on this, regular media coverage has to be utilized and the concerned government
agencies have to be at the forefront of these activities.
In conclusion, there will be real growth in football in the
Philippines when adequate attention has been given not only to Azkals and the Foundations
but also to the grassroots football development and clubs and a clear path is established
for local talented Filipinos to progress to the National team.
In our next publication we will talk about the important
role of college and university football in the overall youth football talent development
in the Philippines and its setbacks.
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