Football for All: Three different stories of a shared journey

Football in the Philippines has always enjoyed a loyal circle of followers. And thanks to the Azkals (a.k.a. the Philippine National Football Team), the sport’s fan base grew at an amazing rate. Lately, it’s almost impossible to miss any of the team’s games or at least running commentaries of them from various social media.

The Azkals popularity is good in many ways. It means that another sport is getting its share of the spotlight, which is often focused on the big B’s of Pinoys’ favorite pastimes – basketball, boxing, and billiards. It won’t come as a surprise if someday, we’d see more Pinoy fans go out on the streets in droves each time there’s a big game especially one hosted at the home front. I’ve seen Vietnamese fans do that, clogging the streets of Ho Chi Minh while their national team was playing a match in the 2003 Southeast Asian Games.

Just recently, three different football stories stood out. Each one told a unique tale and yet seemed to highlight a shared journey. It’s about a sport, of the audacity to dream, of dreaming big, and doing whatever it takes to make it happen. It’s about setting sight on the goal, getting the ball, and aiming to score.

The tales of Philippine football changemakers:

• A nine-year-old Pinoy gets prestigious scholarship from elite Spanish football academy~ Sandro Reyes, a student of Southridge School in Alabang, will soon be leaving for a three-year training in Barcelona. Sandro is a recipient of a highly coveted scholarship from world-renowned FC Barcelona.
• The Marines’ “Football for Peace” Campaign ~ UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon once said, “The world is over-armed and peace is under-funded.” An unfortunate truth if we really look into the gap between war and peace-related spending. But the Philippine Marine battalion landing team under the 1st Marine brigade is doing its part in achieving what little peace they can find far from the ends of their guns. Launching a program to teaching football to out-of-school-youths, the group has earned the support of groups and individuals who’ve donated soccer balls for the project. It would be great to see a future Azkal star rise from the ranks of kids who’ve at some point been caught in the middle of a war they didn’t choose.
• The Azkals’ SE Asian tour ~ Analysts probably have plenty to say about each match in the tour. From a point of view of a football n00b, it’s just fun to follow and watch games where athletes play their heart out. More importantly, it’s just great to see that finally, there’s more attention given to the sport.

It’s likely that we’ll see and hear more of the heroes of these three different tales in the near future. In the meantime, Pinoy fans are are cheering for Sandro, the 1st Marine brigade, the out-of-school-youth football trainees, and the entire Azkals team for being Philippine football’s catalysts of change in their own little ways.

PSC & POC reaching out to LGUs

Last February, the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) along with the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) asked for the support of the Local Government Units (LGUs) in strengthening sports development programs.  The appeal was made during the PSC-POC-LGU Sports Summit attended by hundreds of local government leaders.

The PSC-POC initiative to involve LGUs answers a previously raised question here at pinoysportshub regarding the possibility of creating more partnerships between National Sports Associations (NSAs) and LGUs to drive sports development. NSA as well as the Philippine Sports Association for the Differently-Abled leaders who attended the summit were given a platform to initiate their respective campaigns on partnership-building with various LGUs.

This step taken by the PSC and POC presents several possibilities. It leaves the sports community hopeful that sought-after developments will transpire with focused and unified efforts. It can likewise boost the Sport for All objectives that the POC, NSAs, and PSC promote through their respective programs.

In the same venue where sports and local government leaders took steps towards enhancing sports development at the grassroots level, PSC‘s presentation of its ten (10) priority sports was one caveat worth noting.

The PSC’s 10 Priority Sports:

(Olympic Sports)

• Athletics
• Archery
• Boxing
• Swimming
• Taekwondo
• Wrestling
• Weightlifting

(Non-Olympic Sports)

• Billiards
• Bowling
• Wushu

Increased funding and support is always a welcome news for NSAs. In an ideal world, all NSAs should receive government funding on top of private sponsorships they can get. This ensures that their respective discipline’s Sport for All initiatives are pushed alongside their elite athletes’ training.

The announcement of the priority sports is something of a bittersweet occasion for Philippine sports. While it fuels the targeted NSAs programs, it sadly leaves the rest grappling with persistent challenges of insufficient support and funding.

PSC, POC, and some critics of certain NSAs have at some point stated that sports associations should not rely solely on government funding. It is hard to debate that point given the annual budget PSC receives intended to support all the regular, associate, and recognized member associations of the POC. But it should also be noted that there are certain factors at play that make it doubly harder for other NSAs to find alternative sources of funding.

Some of the challenges of managing an NSA:

• Funding ~ Not all NSAs are equipped to harness the support of the private sector. Organizational structures and dynamics are not the same. Some are highly organized and managed in a corporate-like environment with a wide support base. Others thrive on simpler organizational set-ups with little or no volunteers.
• Popularity ~ Mass appeal is key to generating resources outside of the government. Billiards, boxing, and basketball each enjoy a huge fan base. Sponsors gravitate towards other sports that show promise of high marketability. Saying that some NSAs are lazy and too dependent on government funding is a sweepingly inaccurate statement. Factors like a sport’s popularity to a wider public also has to be considered.
• Facilities ~ Promotion is crucial to build a wider audience and generate more support. However, promoting a sport is extremely difficult without the necessary facilities. This is why provision of facilities and equipment helps NSAs not only to promote their respective sports but to undertake critical projects as well.
• Training ~ Top of the line training for administrators, coaches, athletes, nutritionists, sports psychologists, and other sports medicine staff are equally important to achieve a world-class and holistic sports program.

With stagnant or dwindling financial support for many NSAs, the future looks especially challenging. Challenging but not devoid of possibilities. Especially if more LGUs step up and adopt sports including those not in the priority list. Also, there remains within the ranks of NSAs people who willingly devote their time, effort, and resources to promote their sports.