American football makes RP debut thru ArenaBall

MANILA, Philippines - American football finally made its local debut recently courtesy of ArenaBall Philippines (ABP), a Filipino organization that promotes tackle football Philippine-style.

During a media kickoff at the University of Santo Tomas open field last Saturday, ABP founder Bernardo “Dodi” Palma explained how the game is played while men in tights, shoulder pads and helmets did a demo game.

Palma had long been a fan of American football, watching Super Bowl games on TV since he was a kid. He recently got a life-changing experience of watching a football game live. He swore to bring the sport to his country and let his countrymen watch, feel, play and enjoy a truly spectacular sport.

With the help of Filipino and American partners, Palma put up the ABP by gathering four teams of football enthusiasts from various areas of Metro Manila. Known as the Juggernauts, Bandits, Wolves and Barracudas, the four teams are composed of Filipinos, Fil-Ams and American expats living in the Philippines.

They now do exhibition games to educate Filipinos on ArenaBall.