POINT OF VIEW ON WHY FOOTBALL IS NOT A MAJOR SPORT IN THE PHILIPPINES

We understand that a lot has been done in developing football in the Philippines both in the national and grassroots level and the country is also quite effective and efficient in terms of licensing of coaches. However, there are some aspects affecting developing the sport in full force and unless we get it right it will be a longer way to have football becoming a major sport in the country. Below is our top list:

FOOTBALL IS FOR THE RICH: Football is seen as a game for the rich. In Manila, for example, the high cost of registration to join a team or be part of a team has marginalized the rest of the population from having access to the world’s number one sport. This situation limits the game from reaching out to a pool of talents who may belong to economically average and/or less fortunate families. We have seen that when it comes to football, a good percentage of our world best players hailed from poor communities. Therefore, with this current mentality such as this, it will be difficult to find raw talents with big hearts who will be willing to train hard and long for his or her country to win coveted cups in football matches.

CULTURE DOES NOT PROMOTE YET: For any sport to be successful and popular, the culture of the country must promote it. Unlike basketball courts where you find in every corner of the country, it is very rare to see places/pitches where people gather to play or watch football as leisure even in Manila, which is, so far the center of all football activities.

GOVERNMENT DOES NOT PLAY A PROMINENT ROLE: There is no doubt the Philippine government already plays its role in the promotion of the sport, perhaps through funding and several aspects. However, so much more needs to be done in terms of promoting football to become a major sport in the country. It will be difficult to have that big dream of appearing in any FIFA World Cup tournaments with only 5% of the country’s population following the game.

BIGGER FUNDING IS NEEDED: Philippine football will certainly go forward when more money has been invested on its promotion and projects. Greater football feats cannot be achieved if Philippine football heavily relies on money that is given to every Federation from FIFA.

MEDIA DOES NOT PROMOTE: Football does not get featured enough in local Philippine sports channels or news flash on sports. The only professional football league (UFL) in the country does not, or hardly goes live on television. Neither is live commentary on radio available to the listeners. Football needs to be featured more by the media—tv, radio, newspapers, magazines, etc. The audience needs to be seeing and hearing it often for easy recall until such time that they understand the game and gets hooked to it. Just as when an artist launches a new music, you see it on TV, hear it on radio until the population sings and dances to his tune unconsciously because they are bombarded by it. This is promotion.

CHANGE OF RULES

The United Football League changed the rule in signing foreigners into clubs. This has inadvertently affected clubs with lesser budget, as they were, unlike the bigger clubs, unable to sign Filipinos playing abroad or some of the bests in the country. This caused the level of competition to drop dramatically thereby reducing the number of spectators to very few or none at all, as compared to 2015 and the previous seasons.

UNAVAILABILITY OF GOOD VENUE/FACILITIES

When lighting facilities went bad in Rizal Stadium where football matches usually take place, it was not immediately fixed. Instead, all games were scheduled during the day causing three clubs to drop out of the league as most of their players have another work during the day and therefore they are unable to have enough players for the matches. As an unfortunate consequence, about 60 local players dropped out of the only professional football league in the country.

In the upcoming Philippine Football League from PFF, we recommend that PFF make use of the media in briefing the people and public on what are to be expected in the league as this will give people something to look forward to. We also recommend that PFF get into an agreement with Universities and Colleges to allow their players to be members of football clubs and to release players to fulfill their club duties especially during important football matches.

We believe that to widen and attract more people to play football in the Philippines, there must be more public fields for free where people could go and play football. Futsal could be the best way to start as Basketball courts are readily available. It has to be promoted through an intensive campaign across the country. Money has to be invested on this, regular media coverage has to be utilized and the concerned government agencies have to be at the forefront of these activities.

In conclusion, there will be real growth in football in the Philippines when adequate attention has been given not only to Azkals and the Foundations but also to the grassroots football development and clubs and a clear path is established for local talented Filipinos to progress to the National team.

In our next publication we will talk about the important role of college and university football in the overall youth football talent development in the Philippines and its setbacks.