Clean Living : Football, not basketball, best suited for Filipinos
By Manolo Iñigo
Inquirer
Editor's Note: Published on page A30 of the June 9, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
THE spectacular month-long World Cup soccer tournament gets going in Germany today. Like the Olympics, the World Cup is held once every four years and attracts millions of followers who are addicted to it.
Still, I find it surprising why many Filipinos are not interested in it. Most people I know are more interested in the National Basketball Association (NBA) finals pitting the Miami Heat against the Dallas Mavericks. Not many are concerned with the outcome of the World Cup.
Our obsession with basketball is a perpetual puzzle. Filipinos have always had a passion for the dash-and-dribble game, a passion which even the legendary Carlos Loyzaga, the greatest Filipino basketball player of all time, once said was wrong “because there are other sports where the Filipino athletes have a better chance of winning honors.”
By other sports, the now Australia-based Loyzaga probably meant those disciplines where height is not an advantage, including soccer (where his late father, Joaquin Loyzaga, was a many-time member of the Philippine team in the old Far Eastern Games), boxing, taekwondo, archery and billiards, bowling and chess if ever these last three events are included in the Olympic menu.
The Philippines used to be a soccer power in Asia during the pre-war years, finishing as perennial champions in the biennial Far Eastern Games which was launched in Manila in 1913. The Filipinos emerged champions.
Among those who played for the country and became household names were Joaquin Loyzaga; Joaquin Lopez, the Letran Hall of Famer who played the longest (seven times) in the FE Games from 1913 to 1925; Jesus Cacho of Cacho Hermanos Printing Press; Dr. Jose Genato, grandfather of Maggie Henson, wife of Star columnist and TV analyst Quinito Henson; Zamboanga business magnate Celso Lobregat; former Sen. Lorenzo Tañada Sr., who was an outstanding goalie from the University of the Philippines; Ildefonso Tronqued; Sebastian Ugarte, after whom the Ugarte Football Field in Makati City was named; and Celestino Martinez Sr., brother of basketball great Primitivo “Tibing” Martinez and father of Congressman Celestino Martinez of Cebu.
Why soccer?
As former Philippine Olympic Committee president, retired Col. Julian Malonso, said, “In soccer, Filipinos can excel better because of their courage and the ball is on the ground. Basketball is not the sport for the Filipinos because height counts much. We should concentrate more on sports where height is not an advantage. Never mind basketball. Football is best suited for us.”
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I'll comment on this some other time.
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I don't know but I don't think football(soccers) isn't for Filipinos either. Look at the countries who domainate this sport, these are countries whose citizens have either Negroid or Caucasoid built, but not Mongoloid. China, unlike Brazil isn't a powerhouse in the World Cup. People of Austronesian extraction from Southeast Asia aren't world powers too. I think we're better of in sports like Boxing, badminton or Tennis.
Admit it or not, height and bodybuilt matter too on football.
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