THERE were plans for the Central Visayas Football Association (CVFA) to pay a courtesy call to Lorenzo Chao Sy, who was then the appointed chairman of the Cebu City Sports Commission. However, the political intramurals at the CCSC scuttled those plans.
It turns out, there was something bigger waiting for CVFA.
Rodney Orale, the CVFA president, paid a courtesy call to Bohol Gov. Arthur Yap along with Board Members Josephril Partosa, Nilo Ferraren and Antonio Trebol and their brief meeting paid huge dividends and the group should be busy for the years to come.
Governor Yap not only supports football, he also sees the potential for the sport in boosting tourism in the tourist destination. Initially, he told CVFA that he couldn’t develop a field in each town because of the size of the area that is required. However, when he was told about how you only need a basketball court for futsal, he saw the potential of how the sport could help his province.
In fact, he asked CVFA to help teach the sport in the barangay level in Bohol and promised to provide the equipment needed for the sport. He also wants all the municipalities in Bohol to have a fustal program and wants to identify which barangay it could be started.
That’s just for futsal, mind you.
We all know that Bohol is famous for its beaches and beach soccer is already under the CVFA under the committee of Partosa, who is an architect by profession. The CVFA has identified areas ideal for the sport in Bohol and have also found a willing partner.
I saw pictures of the resort and it really is ideal for beach soccer, another small-sided version of the beautiful game. Among the plans is to hold beach soccer events in resorts in Cebu and in Bohol and to have the champions and runners-up in these early legs compete in a champions league type event in Bohol.
As for the full game? Well, CVFA has its hands full, too. After meeting with the stakeholders in Bohol football, it managed to convince them to get rid of the old mentality of factionism, which admittedly hit Cebu a decade or so ago. The kids suffer under such setup and Orale et. al managed to convince the Boholanos that they should unite for the sake of the sport.
The brief visit to Bohol means Orale et al will be busy boosting the sport in the tourist province in the next few years. I think they have just wakened a sleeping giant.