BACK in the old days before football became mainstream, one subject always pops up–you can’t make football a mainstream sport in the country because of the lack of pitches. Of course there were arguments against that. Look at Brazil, they play everywhere, even in the streets!
But, it’s a chicken-and-egg thing. Brazilian play everywhere because it’s a footballing country. It’s a footballing country because Brazilians play everywhere.
If we want to get to that level, where Pinoys will love football so much they’ll learn they can play anywhere, we have to make the first step, get them to play the game.
Hence that age-old problem of the lack of access to a pitch.
A problem that no PFF admin has addressed. Until now.
The PFF is on a build-build-build spree and I’m surprised it isn’t getting the traction that it should be getting. We need pitches and we needed them 15 years ago, when interest in the sport was at an all-time high.
Now, the PFF, thanks to funding from Fifa and the AFC and an assist from the Philippine Sports Commission is doing it. They’re doing it so fast that they’re having problems looking for areas to put up the pitches.
Jeez, a decade or so ago, we have problems just looking for pitches.
Now, the problem is where to put up these pitches–nine half-sized pitches, seven artificial pitches, and three full-sized pitches.
Nineteen. 19 more than we had last year.
Whether you like him or hate him, PFF president John Gutierrez deserves the credit for that (and for the changes in the Palarong football too. Cheers EC.)
But it’s too early to be talking about credit. Heck, we shouldn’t be talking about that at all. This is sports, not politics.
The discourse should be development or program driven, not who’s behind it. We have enough of that in the political front.
And right now, I like the way the direction of Philippine football is taking. There are so many developments in so many fronts–our national teams are doing well, our youth teams are doing well, we have national youth level tournaments again, we have so many seminars for coaches and referees.
Of course, there’s a long way to go to play catchup with our Asean neighbors but we are so much better compared to four years ago when you’d be lucky to know who’s coaching our senior team.
Yes, we may have the best women’s team in the region, and one of the top men’s teams, but that doesn’t mean we have the same pool as the rest of Asean. Football in the country remains a niche sport, heck there are probably more tennis players than footballers in the country.
And this latest push by the PFF is the move in the right direction to get there.
I may not have as many insiders as before but the few that I have say the RFAs are singing praises, and giving credit to Gutierrez.
Any other individual made of less sterner stuff could have been crippled by the financial mess he inherited, but he managed to wade through it, sometimes digging in his own pockets. They are no longer in the dark too about the financial status of the association.
One other thing, he doesn’t act high and mighty and even dropped by the Thirsty Cup last week. Since the mid 90s, I don’t remember a PFF president gracing a football tournament here that was not organized by the PFF. Heck, I don’t remember a PFF president dropping by for a tournament at all.
It’s a small gesture, yes, but it’s a memorable one, not just for Thirsty Cup, Cebus biggest and oldest festival, but players and organizers too. To see a face behind the association.