Yes, I jumped the Azkals bandwagon! I admit before I really don't care about football at all since it is not popular here in the Philippines although during the World Cup this year I felt left out when I found out that the Philippines is one of the two countries that did not really even join the qualifiers. I wondered, football captured the hearts of every nation in the world except the Philippines, why?
But well when the Philippine Azkals Football team beat reigning champion Vietnam in the AFF Suzuki Cup, things changed. For the first time football made the headlines. There was massive hype and they got the attention of the media. ABS CBN Sports immediately got the rights to air the next game of the Azkals against Myanmar on Studio 23 and I watched a football game for the first time. Watching the Philippines vs Myanmar match made me understood why the rest of the world finds the sport exciting. I guess it will really matter to you if you have a team to root for. It felt refreshing that a sport aside from basketball and boxing is making waves here in the country.
As I type this the Azkals are currently battling it out against Indonesia to advance to the finals. I don't want to be pessimistic but I think a win is really a long shot but nevertheless I'm still proud of the Philippine Football Team. Their achievement will forever be remembered by the country and hopefully this will be a start for a brighter future for Philippine football. I have a former colleague who told me that football is popular in the provinces so there is already a following in the country, we just need to make the football program in the country stronger and better exposure. Who knows maybe in three to five years the Philippines could be a force to reckon with in football.
4 comments:
I didn't even imagine I could experience (in my lifetime) seeing our football team in such atmosphere were the national anthem is played facing thousands of hostile fans, things that I could only see elsewhere but not here. It was the most amazing experience as a football fan supporting the Philippine team in international competition, and yes, I hope we could build up on this so that we could see more of this in the future. Nice support by ABS-CBN to the Azkals even if we didn't progress in the semi-finals.
Hey there Kuya Nathan! Ikaw nga agad naisip ko when Azkals started to become famous. I think this is really a good step, kasi people like me (and I know a lot of others too) na before walang interest sa football got hooked with the Azkals. It's about time na macapture din ng football ang puso ng mga Pinoy :)
'Supporters' of your kind will be gone again after this hype ends, because that's what is expected from BANDWAGON FANS LIKE YOU.
Sakay sa uso, para lang masabing may alam sa nangyayari. Quality fans are better than bandwagon fans. LOL
Of course quality fans are better than bandwagon fans, I agree 100% with that. But who knows bandwagon fans can turn into "quality" fans in the future right? Maybe joining the bandwagon could be a good starting point for them to fully appreciate the sport that even if there's no media hype anymore they will still continue supporting the game. Maybe there's really genuine interest from these bandwagoners now that may exposure na yung sport sa Pinas?
I do get where you are coming from and I respect your opinion. I hope that you will see this exposure/fandom that something that could lead to something better, I know its annoying to see bandwagoners, but it's part when something breakout sa mainstream consciousness. Wag naman puro pessimism at panghuhusga :)
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