Last year, when I attended the online press conference for the 22nd Aboitiz Football Cup that was to be held in Batangas, I asked the organizers — who I have to point out, were not part of Cebu’s Aboitiz Cup — if the tournament would return to its Cebu roots.
“It’s on the table and we will discuss it,” one of the organizers said.
The Aboitiz Cup was Cebu’s biggest and the country’s longest-running 11-a-side club and community-based competition up until 2020, when the pandemic forced organizers to end it prematurely. Now, with things going back to normal, one of the things the Cebu football community is looking forward to is the return of the Aboitiz Cup.
However, while waiting for its return, members of the Central Visayas Football Association (CVFA) aren’t just warming their seats. They are organizing seven-a-side competitions to keep the local community busy. Last year, it was the Justice Lee Memorial tournament and this year, they did the Sinulog Cup.
For this summer, it will be the Erco Samareño Football Festival, which will have its third edition on May 13 and 14 at the Dynamic Herb Football Stadium and at the Cebu City Sports Center. The event attracted 220 entries, quite a number, and for me it shows the local community’s hunger for football competitions.
Of course, some will complain about it being yet another seven-a-side competition, which isn’t really good for technical development. But it is what it is. For now, with the absence of the Aboitiz Cup, it’s the best the community can get.
After this, there will be the Ondo Cup in June.
So, there are still events lined up for local football despite the absence of the Aboitiz Cup, but perhaps next year, we can take a different approach.
If there is still no Aboitiz Cup next year, perhaps the different football festival organizers can take the lead and sponsor an 11-a-side competition for an age group or two. Say, let’s have Thirsty take care of the men’s and women’s opens and the Sinulog Cup could have the Boys and Girls 19 and 17-Under. Ondo can have the Boys and Girls 15 and 13-Under and the Samareno can have the youth divisions.
It’s sort of a community-based approach to address a football community’s needs.
The CVFA will have its general assembly next month and perhaps it is something that could be discussed?