Scandals and other salacious Phils. sports (his) stories

Almost immediately after Filipino gymnast Carlos Yulo won two Olympic gold medals for his country, controversy erupted between Carlos (with his girlfriend) and his mother. Both went public with the feud, overshadowing his historic wins in the Paris Olympics. The conflict centers on the management of Yulo's finances and his mother's disapproval of his girlfriend, garnering intense media attention.

Yulo’s public feud with his mother has become another daytime “soap opera” for most Filipinos but is just another addition to rather shocking and often sad scandals in Philippine sporting history. Understandably, majority of these are from the late ‘80s, ‘90s, and more recent years and is most likely due to the availability of more avenues to document stories of prominent individuals plus the spread of and access to the internet.

One of the country’s earliest recorded sports scandals was in 1917 when the goalkeeper from the Philippine national football team punched the goal scorer of China, which led to a brawl and the Philippines’ forfeiture from the football match of the 1917 Far Eastern Championship Games. While recent write-ups are a little tame in their reporting of the event, a 1917 report of the event was more honest: “the match between the Chinese and Filipino teams was full of thrilling and sensational plays. At the end of the first half the score stood 2-0 in favor of China. About 20 minutes after the second half was begun a scrimmage occurred, which was started by a Filipino player who hit a Chinese opponent on account of a congratulation which was considered insulting. The Chinese rooters rushed to the field, and they were followed by the Filipino athletes. A real hand-to-hand scrap was on. The referee stopped the game and declared China the winner.”

But this was rather innocent compared to later issues with Philippine athletes. For instance, in 1992, the country was celebrating when our Little League Team won that year’s Little League Baseball World Series. However, it was later alleged that the some members of the Philippines lied about their age and didn’t meet residency requirements. The Philippine team was stripped of the title due to these allegations. In 2007, a bigger scandal rocked the country. Ronato Alcano, who won both the 2006 WPA World Nine-ball Championship and the 2007 WPA World Eight-ball Championship, and became the third Filipino to become World Champion after Efren Reyes and Alex Pagulayan, was accused by his own 14-year-old daughter of raping her. This allegation, coming in the heels of his victory, overshadowed the nation’s celebration. Naturally, he denied the charges and said his daughter and live-in partner were doing this to get to his money. Interestingly, despite all these drama, Alcano, after posting bail, participated in the 24th Southeast Asian Games in Thailand and then won the gold in the Men's 8-Ball Pool Singles.

There are, of course, many more athletic and sporting scandals and controversies that shocked and occupied the attention of our nation. But the three discussed above should give us an idea of the kind of sporting scandals that our nation faced over the years. As the world continues to become more “woke” and “honest”, dirty laundry and other controversies not just with our athletes but other personalities become the stuff media practitioners have focused on. The issue between Yulo and his mother has divided the country. Some say he doesn’t deserve adulation because he broke with filial piety. Others claim he is being used as a cash cow by his mother. And so on. It is sad that the amazing feat achieved by Yulo has taken a backseat due to his quarrel with his family. What should have been a proud moment for the country has been replaced by yet another trivial “noontime drama” we are so fond of.