This appears in my Monday October 11, 2010 column in the Business Mirror's sports section.
The Carrot Stick
“Money often costs too much.” So wrote American poet and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson and he is oh, so right. Money makes the world go round for sure but at what cost? What cost to Philippine football? by rick olivares
Every footballing nation has a nickname for its national team. The French call their team “Les Bleus” because of they wear the colors of their flag. The Spanish team goes by that catchy name of “La Furia Roja.” The Philippine team is called “the Azkals” after that resilient and tough street dog that is a part of Philippine society and culture. Kind of cool except I wonder if we should switch animals – from a dog to a donkey.
After all, we’re like a bunch of asses who foolishly allow its sports leadership to drag us into the mire. Furthermore, as soon as some official dangles a carrot stick of financial help in front of us, we go after regardless whether it means turning a blind eye to certain matters or selling our soul to… to… ah, go fill in the blanks.
It’s funny when local football players cry for attention because the sport, which happens to be the global game, is relegated to what – third or fourth banana status after boxing, volleyball, taekwondo, and swimming that receives significantly more media reportage and corporate sponsorships. The few times when the sport honestly makes the news without the benefit of envelop journalism it’s mostly of the controversial nature. We are not of course forgetting the strides made by the men’s national team in years past but the momentum and early interest seems to have gone the way of the last fad.
And that brings us to the eternal question -- what is wrong with Philippine Football?
“Money often costs too much.” So wrote American poet and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson and he is oh, so right. Money makes the world go round for sure but at what cost? What cost to Philippine football?
While watching a University Athletics Association of the Philippines football match last season beside Philippine Football Federation official Joaqui Preysler who was working as match commissioner, we spoke about the problems of local football. Without averting his gaze from the ongoing match, Preysler muttered, "Before, when there was no money coming in from Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), no one gave a rat's ass about the PFF and football. When the money started coming in... ayan na."
How many national sports associations are given a four-year budget of $1 million? And it’s not even from the national government but from FIFA.
That amount has drawn all sorts of people from out of the woodwork. There are the never-heard-ofs, the controversial, the genuine do-gooders, and the people-with-an-agenda. It’s a powder keg situation where people are temporary allies.
Because everyone wants a slice of the pie, everyone has drawn a line in the sand and said, “This is my turf. Invade it at your own risk.” There is no coherent plan for the sport. The sport thrives on chemistry yet there is no overall teamwork. Everyone does his or her own thing. Everyone regards one another with suspicion. Everybody wants to rule the world and that’s not just a song but a fact of life.
It’s a microcosm of what ails Philippine society -- mismanagement, white elephants, monuments to lavishness, whispers of corruption, collusion, and officials who cling on to their posts for dear life never mind if their reputations are sullied. Incredibly, the game is popular all over the archipelago. The numbers that play the sport is huge except the problem is the local football scene is so fragmented that it doesn’t seem much.
Having watched the World Cup abroad, you can feel the fever from the moment you disembark the aircraft. It’s on the streets, public transportation, on television, pubs, clothing, headlines, gossip, betting centers, and whatnot. Here, the only time there’s a buzz is every four years and only because it seems fashionable.
The association is run by people who may have been darn good football players but are crap as managers. Being one doesn’t follow that you’ll do a good job at leading the association. One must strike a balance and install people with no agenda. You cannot have a national coach from a college who enrolls his players from his school (that is a problem currently plaguing the college basketball scene and must be addressed). That is cheating from an administrative level.
Given the latest mess emanating from the House of Incompetence, Lies, sorry, Football, it’s high time that one not only changes the leadership but also a thorough review must be made of the rules, the organizational chart, the goals, and people staffing the association. The national team easily bears the torch for Philippine football. One must make a thorough review about stocking Fil-foreigners in the national team. For months on end, they are mostly absent and back in their home countries yet show up only a day or two before the tournament. I am not even sure if they know the lyrics to the national anthem.
When I look at the football scene, I think of what Al Gore said in An Inconvenient Truth. When future generations take a look at the game and see how it has become the ugly game, they will ask, “What were we doing? What were we thinking of? How could you leave it in this sorry state?”
After watching the recent World Cup in a bar, one wag wondered out loud, “What are we doing?” He was referring to our continuous efforts to make it big in a sport where players of great size, speed, strength, and athleticism have taken the game to another level. “Why do we even bother?” he said with defeat in his tone.
There is perception and there is reality. Football is a sport where we can excel. We’ve seen how it can lift up not just a nation but its economic fortunes. Such is the power of the sport for it transcends boundaries and barriers. In order to fix what ails us, it requires a paradigm shift. And it should start with you asking this question: “what can I do for football?”
That’s the better carrot on a stick.
Here's a blast from the past:
The State of Philippine Football Part 1
The State of Philippine Football Part 2
No comments:
Post a Comment