A football revolution brews in Metro Manila

MANILA, Philippines – Amidst the young revolution of football that is slowly emerging from the dark corners of Philippine sports, a group of men have answered the call to spread the love of the beautiful game in the bustling society of the metro.

Established in 2011, Football Manila was formed with the goal of providing an avenue for the citizens of Metro Manila to play football and learn the basics of the sport as well. 

Aside from being a place where one can play football, the group also provides training sessions for those who want to coach and also, tournaments that promote a healthy competition between football aficionados. 

Comprised of people from all over the world and from different levels of play, the group started to form teams that eventually led to the conception of a 7-a-side tournament dubbed the Manila Football League, which from 8 teams, has now grown into a 40-team competition.

“When I first came to Manila, football was not that popular. BGC Turf wasn’t even open,” said Oliver Lewis, the Fil-British Football Manila founder in an interview with Rappler.

“So I started to organize games in CSA (Colegio San Agustin) in Dasmariñas every Saturday. What I noticed was it was not quite clicking like Filipinos want to play Filipinos, expats would play expats and I thought you know, football was meant to be played with everyone.”

As of the moment, Football Manila caters go adults from different walks of life but Lewis explained that they are planning to launch a program for kids starting next year.

“We’re actually thinking to setup a one session a week for the kids. Because what we really need to do is to promote football in the real grassroots level. We might do it every Sunday starting January,” he said.

Meanwhile, Football Manila, being one of the largest amateur football organizers in the country’s capital region, was chosen by the people from the World Football Fives to hold the qualification leg of the international amateur football competition here in the Philippines starting next month.

Football Manila Marketing Director Brent Steenbergen asserted that events like this held for amateur football players can be very helpful in the development of the sport in the country.

“When an event like the World Football Fives come along, one only for amateur eams, we see it as an ideal event for us to be associated with. We believe that together, Football Manila and the World Football Fives, we can make a substantial impact on the significance of football within the Philippines.”

Steenbergen stated that qualifying competitions in different parts of the country would be held to determine who would be representing the Philippines in the world championships in Dubai next year.

“The team that will go to Dubai to Represent the Philippines will be selected through a series of tournaments that will take place across the Philippines. The winners from all the different areas will then be flown to Manila where a final tournament will be held, the winner of this tournament will be the team to go to Dubai,” he said. – Rappler.com