Heroic Azkals: Not everybody happy

By Recah Trinidad


Contrary to what was popularly projected, not everybody went home happy from the historic 4-0 victory of the celebrated Philippine Azkals over Sri Lanka at the Rizal Memorial Stadium last week. This was the gist of the Uppercut column in Filipino sent to the Inquirer by Danny Simon of the tabloid Policefiles. We took the liberty of translating Simon’s item.)

When no one gave a damn about the game of football in the Philippines, the local football federation could not do anything.
Football officials would beg on their knees, if only to gain attention for the sport that did not belong among the favorites of the Filipino.
Then came the luck of lucks, and the national team called the Azkals suddenly gained attention with the help of half-Filipinos that boosted and lent glamour to our national team while it languished at 159th in the world rankings.
Ever hungry for victories, the Pinoy embraced the Azkals who rode mainly on the highly paid half-Filipino players.
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Despite the so-so wins over worthless foreign teams by the Azkals, the Pinoy could not be blamed for getting carried away, hungry as he ever was for international wins the national basketball team could not deliver.
Thanks mainly to media patronage, football suddenly gained tremendous support from practically all sectors.
Everything that had something to do with the Azkals were commercialized.
No wonder, the Azkals must’ve themselves started to feel like icons being worshipped by the masses.
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Meanwhile, it cannot be denied that success has also gone into the head of many people involved in football, mostly officials of the Philippine Football Federation.
The majority of these officials became swell-heads, all too conveniently overlooking the fact that all it needs is a tiny needle to burst their overblown egos.
In fact, in the last match of the Azkals against Sri Lanka at the Rizal Memorial Stadium, organizers of the event went overboard as though it was the world championship proper they were hosting.
They priced tickets beyond the reach of the masses, with the lowest priced seat going for at least P1,000 (Bleacher seats across from the main grandstand cost P200 or P300 each).
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The bigger name of the game during the Philippines-Sri Lanka match was arrogance.
While the masa was practically turned away by the expensive tickets, the media that had helped organizers tremendously were either given a runaround or totally discriminated upon.
The vicinity of the stadium along Adriatico Street and Vito Cruz was closed.
Next, men in black acting as PFF events marshalls sealed all the gates of the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.
The regular security guards were also stripped of their rights and functions.
This, of course, was outright insult to the Philippine Sports Commission, whose officials were reduced to mere spectators.
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Even our media colleagues who were in the vicinity not to cover the game but to work at the PSC-POC Media Center were denied entry into the PSC compound.
Fortunately, there was the veteran scribe Clyde Mariano of Tempo who stood up to the tyrannical men in black, thereby leaving them no choice but to let the reporters into their exclusive headquarters.
The saddest part came after national athletes were removed from their quarters, for one day and night, to prevent from either straying or peeping into the big game.
Yes, our pure-bred national athletes were shooed away from their homes just to give way to stray dogs, mongrels of doubtful pedigree.
Message to the Azkals and PFF: You have a long way to go. A main threat awaits you in your next assignment where, if you fail, you will predictably again go begging for the attention of Juan. Just wait and see.

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