WHILE visiting the CFA office to have the tarps of our SunStar Football Cup displayed, I saw a letter from the CFA asking the CCSC to have the field booked for the Aboitiz Cup. From the letter, I saw that the whole of February and March have been booked.
What about the Thirsty Cup? I asked of the annual tournament that’s usually held in February at the CCSC.
“Adjust lang ta.” I was told. And that, my friend, is what makes the Cebu football community different.
The Thirsty Cup, Cebu’s biggest annual football festival, will have its usual playing dates in February and the Aboitiz Cup will simply be moved. Or since the February and March bookings are all tentative, a schedule will be opened up.
When we talked about the synchronized football schedule with Bob Guerrero of Manila, he was impressed.
In Manila, according to Bob, it’s to each his own and sometimes two tournaments—using the same players and teams--are held on the same day and in the same venue. There’s no coordination or cooperation, worse, there seems to be a “you should adjust to us” attitude.
Here is what Bob wrote for Rappler, “This is in stark contrast to the situation in Metro Manila, where some competitions using the same players run concurrently. The Metro Manila set up sometimes cause conflicts between stakeholders.”
I guess one of the things that differentiates local football is that there is really no competition among organizers. Often, organizers inform other organizers of the dates of their events, so potential conflicts would be adjusted.
It makes for a smooth and conflict-free community. I mean, if you basically are members of one community, why insist on continuing a practice that fosters conflicts? Why not work on a solution?
In the past, the NCRFA was sort of the pet FA of the Philippine Football Federation and sometimes, other FAs were encouraged to emulate them. Well, in this case, it’s the NCRFA who should emulate what Cebu is doing.
All they have to do is look at what’s happening in Cebu to know what cooperation can do to a community.