CVFA and Anton del Rosario

Right now, the Central Visayas Football Association is pissed at Anton del Rosario’s statement after what the local association has done to accommodate the 7s. The CVFA has a busy football calendar, one that is sychronized to make sure no two football events occur at the same time. School-based tournaments like the Cesafi and Cebu City Olympics are already plotted in to make sure there’s no conflict.

When the 7s came in, the Talisay Cup was already scheduled for the days it wanted for its age group event, while the Engr’s Cup was penciled for Sep. 23 and 24. According to Rodney Orale, the CVFA had to ask the organizers of the Talisay Cup to give way for the 7s.

First, a brief background since it seems that not all–judging from the comments in the PFLU page–understand the football structure. The PFF is the governing body for football in the country and is a member of Fifa. The CVFA is the governing body for football in Central Visayas (originally Cebu only) and is a member of the PFF.

But the 7s, as Anton said, is not a part of the PFF, that’s why it refused to pay the sanction fee. And here lies problem, the 7s may have gotten away with that in Manila or in Bacolod, but the Cebu football setup is different.

We don’t have the 7s, but we’ve had seven-a-side football long before the Philfootball.info forum came up with the Azkals nickname. And all seven-a-side football festivals are sanctioned by the CVFA, which means the organizers have access to the CVFA pool of licensed referees. It serves as a protection for both too–the refs are assured the will be paid according to the CVFA tarriffs, the organizers are assured of licensed refs. If the refs don’t perform well, they might not make the list for the next festival.

Judging from the message to the CVFA, where the 7s Cebu Communication Officer asked whether they’re would be enough referees even if there would be a competing tournament, the 7s don’t know the Cebu setup. By having your event sanctioned by the CVFA, the local FA will clear those days for you. I mean, it’s useless having two events in a day when your competing for the same players, officials and audience, right?

I guess, it’s a move that is unique to Cebu only. We achieved that because local clubs, even if they don’t agree with all CVFA policies, respect the body.

The CVFA had to pull out its referees, because as policy, it only deploys referees on events it sanctions. That has been a rule put in place long before the Hanoi Miracle.

The 7s and Anton’s open defiance has put it in a very difficult situation. They were pictured out as the villain in their own turf just because they asked the 7s to follow the rules, just like anyone else in the community.

I assume the 7s and Anton had a difficult experience with the PFF, that’s why it exists outside of it. But I hope whatever those difficulties are won’t lead to a repeat to what happened in Cebu. The 7s refusal to have its event sanctioned under the CVFA, was for me, a disservice to the community.

I hope it’s still not too late to patch things up.