IT’S admirable that Ricky Yanson is spending his own money for the Mindanao Cup but I hope if ever he becomes the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) president, he won’t use the Mindanao and Luzon Cups as a template for a grassroots program.
Why? Consider this: the Mindanao Cup is ongoing, while the Luzon Cup will be in late November and the champions of the Mindanao edition will be sent to the Luzon edition.
What’s wrong with that? Isn’t that something the PFF should be doing? Well, I tell you, if the PFF conducts a similar program, I’m going to lead an online campaign to have the sitting president unseated for wasting funds for politicking.
There’s only the Mindanao and the Luzon Cups but no Visayas Cup. Why? Because of the 32 voting football associations in the election, there are only four in the Visayas. And of the four, Ricky only needs to woo two--Central Visayas and Negros Oriental. He has Negros Occidental, while Dan Palami’s Eastern Visayas is with Nonong. So, why waste time and resources for a Visayas Cup for only two votes, eh?
The Luzon Cup that will happen in late November that will pit the Mindanao Cup champions? That will coincide with the PFF elections. For me, it’s one thing to hold a grassroots tournament to prove the PFF isn’t doing its mandate, but it’s also another thing to use such to “Cup” your way to the PFF presidency.
But I could be wrong. I had a nice chat with my former boss Jack Biantan and he explained why he was going all out for Ricky Yanson because for him, he is what Philippine football needs. (Poor Jack, he was censored in his own website because of young guns who thought his critique of the present PFF admin was too much. They never lived through that time when being a football writer meant being a voice against the PFF.)
I haven’t changed my mind. I still think the baggage Ricky carries is too heavy for Philippine football.
Well, what family doesn’t have any infighting? Close-knit as we Filipinos are, disagreements are inevitable but most family disagreements don’t reach the courts and most certainly, no other family disagreement involves the country’s top club and a regional FA head.
I want Nonong to win so we can avoid Philippine football being dragged into the corporate infighting but heck, Philippine football is already dragged into the infighting. We have Ricky Yanson on one side and his brother Leo Rey backing Nonong on the other.
How can we get through unscathed in the election? Well, for me, two things must be respected: 1.) the result of the election and 2.) the fact that Ceres is the top club in the country. Whoever loses must respect the first, whoever wins must respect the second.
It’s a month to go before the PFF elections and it’s going to be a busy month for the FA presidents. They’ll be busy entertaining calls and such. Forget the Cups, forget what has been said and written. They have to choose who they think is the best that will lead us in the next four years.
And after they make that choice, we owe it to them to back that guy. That’s the only way to move forward.