The
Blue Haired Fan celebrates his "infamous birth" at Panaad
by rachel montero and rick olivares with pics by mamae fortit and kevin manalo
Who
can ever forget the scene at last year’s AFC Challenge Cup match between the
Philippines and Mongolia in Panaad Stadium when a blue haired and face-painted
guy came down from the stands and ran around while waving a flag minutes before
the match?
The
crowd was buzzing with excitement and looking and the guy in face paint surely
gave them something to cheer about. But he was escorted out of the field by
uniformed policemen and disappeared for some time.
After
pleading his case with the local police that he was no troublemaker, he
reappeared later in the stands to lead the crowd in cheering for the national
team.
That
was the Philippines’ introduction to the Blue Haired Fanatic aka Richard
“Ebong” Joson.
After
pulling such a successful stunt in Panaad, the Blue Haired Fan (BHF) was tasked
to lead the Kaholeros, the official booster squad of the Azkals. And he has
since been at almost every Azkals match be it in Rizal Memorial Stadium or in
Indonesia.
Exactly
one year later, the Blue Haired Fan returned to the scene of the crime (as some
might say) or his place of origin to celebrate “his birth”.
Sans
the wig and face paint, Joson went to back to Panaad Stadium for a celebration
that saw not only merriment in drink and song (Kaholeros Bacolod also surprised
Joson with a BHF-themed cake) but also an impromptu football match. Joson once
donned the colors of Ateneo de Manila and the University of the Philippines
during his school days. He has since made a career in doing voice over’s for
television and radio commercials as well as hosting events. But because of the
events in Panaad last February 9, 2011, Joson has since been catapulted to the
forefront of the Philippine football revolution cheering and supporting our
national teams as well as football endeavors.
For
the football match, BHF teamed up with Kaholeros Bacolod and United FC against
Real Bata FC.
A
few seconds before half time, Kaholeros Bacolod/Unified FC scored to make it 1-nil,
but Real Bata responded three minutes after the resumption of the game for the
equalizer. In the 64th minute, Real Bata scored another goal that
proved to be the game winner.
The
“birthday” celebration continued the following evening at Dugout Bacolod, the home
of Kaholeros Bacolod where they partied all night long.
Without Alcohol there would be no BHF and Philippine football would be different.
ReplyDeleteBottoms up!