Exciting times once again! The World Cup fever is sweeping over football nations, as we all gather in the living room to await the rush of one collective roar: Goal!!!
But ask the Filipino youth, “What is the most popular sport in the world?” The majority will say basketball. Well, in case you don’t know yet, playing hoops may be our national sport, but the worldwide honor belongs to the beautiful game of football. It is such a beautiful game, I think it should be our national sport.
The World Cup is the most watched athletic event in the world. More people watch it than the Olympic Games. The World Cup Final in 2006 saw to it that the infamous Zidane headbutt was witnessed by 715.1 million viewers across the globe. The only problem is the Philippines did not participate in that World Cup. Nor the one happening right now.
We have produced world-class champions at only a handful of sports. Names like Manny Pacquiao, Efren “Bata” Reyes and Paeng Nepomuceno have given the country global recognition and elevated our beloved OFWs to proud Filipinos working abroad. But what do these sports have in common?
That’s right. No height requirement.
I love basketball, but let’s be realistic. The Philippines will never produce a national hero the likes of Yao Ming. The 7’6” Chinese prodigy is a product of the coupling of a 6’7” father and a 6’3” mother, both basketball players. Whether it was a marriage arranged by the state, we will never know.
All I know is, it’s hard enough to find a Filipino man of that height, what more a Filipino woman well above six feet tall. Add to that, the highest we placed in Olympic basketball was fifth place in 1936, way before the era of gigantic flying humans like Shaquille O’Neal and Lebron James.
Football is a sport that does not discriminate. If you have two legs that can kick the ball, anyone can play. The rudimentary skills of a superstar are speed, footwork and balance. Everything else can be learned between the pitches. Except maybe, for the most important thing.
Barotac Nuevo is a small town in Iloilo widely regarded as the football capital of the Philippines. Their history of playing the “beautiful game” dates back to the Monfort brothers teaching Barotacnons how to kick the ball in the 1920s. It has since evolved into a town that recognizes only one sport — the heart and soul of Barotac Nuevo is football.
Which is why we should implement football into PE classes as early as grade school. I used to play in the vast football fields of Colegio De San Agustin with friends. We played mostly for love of the game, but one time we had to kick some ass against this team of South Korean kids. Aside from us, there’s the A-team playing in the other field. These are the guys who talk about football drills and actually get excited enough to do them. They are the true-blue football aficionados out to compete.
These sharks regularly go up against Brazilian models who insist on playing topless all the time. We call these topless men the “Spartans.” Their abs are all perfectly identical, like computer-generated muscles in the movies, minus the scary beards and armor. I don’t recall seeing one Spartan with his shirt on.
Pitted against each other, the Brazilians play with more control and finesse, while our shorter brothers play with the overcompensating fervor of an underdog team playing against Ronaldo and Ronaldinho. But even against players from the top football nation in the world, there wasn’t much disparity in terms of physical strength.
Have you heard about countries like Eritrea, Grenada and Togo? Well, these are tiny countries that have much less resources than us. They’ve been participating in the World Cup for some time now. Our national team failed to apply on time, which only means they’re getting little support, if any at all.
Which is ironic, because football is one of the easiest sports to hype up. Just take a gander at Cristiano Ronaldo’s abdominals. Put that athletic body in the middle of EDSA, and you can sell anything from Pepsi to pantyliners. Or if you want semi-local meat, there’s always Fil-Brit football sensation Phil Younghusband. I heard he’s an eligible bachelor.
Watch the ongoing World Cup to see what I mean. Root for the powerhouse teams like Brazil, Italy, Germany and France. Root for the upcoming Asian teams like China, North Korea and Japan. Go out to the nearest park to kick a few balls. Dribble across the field if you like. Bring the little ones, they might grow up loving it.
Football should be the national sport — the premier league of our republic.
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Let’s talk football @ http://twitter.com/pingmedina.