PFL and World Cup

I DON’T know how the organizers of the Philippines Football League can sleep at night knowing how precarious its situation is right now.

After two clubs -- Meralco FC and Ilocos United -- pulled out of the second season earlier this year, followed by Global’s shock near-collapse, Filipino football fans thought it couldn’t get any worse.

With recurring match postponements and clubs not being able to play in their home stadiums for various reasons, the situation is already that bad. What makes it worse, though, is the PFL’s deteriorating relationship with the clubs and the fans.

The PFL is seen as risk-averse, and with its obsession for following rules to the letter, is seen as anti-football fan and anti-player. Case in point is the Martin Steuble brouhaha.

The PFL was well within its rights to fine the Ceres-Negros FC player P30,000 for criticizing the domestic league and the Philippine Football Federation after winning in the AFC Cup Zonal Semifinals in Myanmar last May 16. Steuble hit the PFF for its lack of support for their preparations leading to the semifinals, while calling the PFL “a big question mark.”

But for fans, it wasn’t so much about Steuble getting “slapped on the wrist.” Rather, it was about an inept PFL having the gall to punish clubs and players when it cannot even get its act together. The PFL has no deal with major TV networks to broadcast the matches live, an essential component for any domestic league’s survival. Its livestream platform via Sportradar is at the mercy of the country’s primitive telecom infrastructure.

And that was what happened during the game between Ceres and Davao Aguilas last Wednesday: the quality of the livestream was terrible, so terrible it prompted the PFL to apologize to fans on its Facebook Page.

“We apologize for the livestream of tonight’s match but we assure you that we are currenlty addressing the issue. We ask for your understanding as we address the matter on hand,” the PFL posted. The response it got? The comments section was riddled with cusswords and whatnot.

No doubt that the clubs, its fans and the rest of the stakeholders are not happy with the PFL. They are not happy because the fans are always left guessing while the clubs spend millions in salaries and operating expenses, not to mention the millions more as franchise fee. The clubs try to fulfill their duties and obligations with the fans, players and the domestic league, but it is the PFL that cannot keep its end of the bargain.

What it’s good at is resorting to legal remedies and invoking legalese every time the shit hits the fan. But as one of the fans in the comments section said, the PFL must “get its shit together.”

Next week, all eyes will be on the World Cup 2018 as it kicks off in Russia. The Philippines will go down with football fever once more. No, this is not a time for the PFL to momentarily escape from its woes.

Rather, the PFL should not just ride the month-long wave of football’s popularity here, but take it as an opportunity to build on the interest generated by the biggest sporting event in the world by finding sponsors, inking broadcast deals, and rallying the troops.

The PFL cannot afford to screw up on this one as this might be the last chance it will ever get.

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