Football dads to organize summer tournament

By Cheska D. Geli

Saturday, February 11, 2012

A CASUAL conversation resulted to an agreement among three friends to host the 1st BRO National Football Festival on April 20 to 22 at the Aboitiz Sportsfield.

Engr. Keith Buyco, Engr. Rodney Orale and Don Bosco high school head coach Glen Ramos got inspired to put up a tournament that they hope will become a regular feature every summer.

“We are fathers of footballers and we also play the sport so we asked why not make the tournament that will help football in Cebu?” said Buyco.

The tournament is backed by Erco-Samareño FC, which is owned by Orale.

“This tournament will be the fulfillment of a long-time dream,” said Orale.

The tournament will also serve as culmination to some summer clinics organized for kids as it will be scheduled at the end of April.

Major school and club-based teams from the National Capital Region, Central Visayas and Mindanao are expected to compete in a format that was used during the Rifa and Alaska Cups. It will feature categories from the Boys 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,13,14,15, 16, 17 and 18 and the Girls 15, 16 and 19. The registration fee for these categories is P500.

Other categories are the ladies and men’s open, executive 35, executive 40 and the Inter-BPO division, which will have a registration fee of P1,000.

Deadline for registration is on April 12 but organizers are willing to extend the deadline depending on the demand.

They will put up a website , www.brofootball.org, to make it convenient for out-of-town teams who also want to look for accommodations.

The organizers are trying to contact pension houses and hotels to provide discounts for these teams.


Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on February 12, 2012.