| Sorry Mr. President |
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| Sunday, 06 April 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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LONDON - I was watching Fil-Brit Neil Etheridge show his wares against Watford today (April 5) at Fulham training ground in New Malden, Surrey when Mrs. Merlinda Dula Etheridge handed me her mobile phone. “That is Mr. Martinez he wants to talk to you’’, she said. I took the phone and talked to Jose Marie Martinez, the new reigning Philippine Football Federation (PFF) president. It was a short conversation because I wanted to concentrate on the match. It was also freezing and my right hand was also turning blue. Martinez told me of his disappointment of the April fools day article which came out of this website last April 1. The article, written by Sun Star Daily Cebu Sports editor Mike Limpag was a joke and it made fun of Martinez. He was composed when I talked to him. I could feel that he was not happy but he remained a gentleman and polite. He said that a lot of his friends and people in the sports community rang him about the article. He was forced to explain to them that it was a joke. He added that what was bad was that April 2 was his birthday and he thought people were calling him to greet him a Happy Birthday. But instead he got calls to ask him about the story. What was worst according to him was that the article came out of the PFF website. “I could not believe it. I checked our website and there it was’’, he said. APOLOGY On behalf of Pinoysoccer.com, I apologize for the article. I apologize for the pain that it has given Mr. Martinez. We did not mean to ridicule him. I am saying sorry on behalf of the website. I did not have anything to do with the article. I even thought it was true when I read it in the beginning. But at the middle of the story, when I read the name of Avril Folle I started to smile. Not everybody though read the entire article and the comments that followed. Lots of people read only the headlines and the first two to three paragraphs of the story. That is where the problem started. Here in England they always write “joke’’ stories every 1st day of April. England’s top tabloid, The Sun, came up with a story about the French president planning to surgically extend his legs so that he will stand taller than his six footer new wife. The story was a banner headline and it even came up with illustrations on how his legs would be extended surgically. PFF PRESIDENT During my life time, I have known five PFF presidents, Khan (forgot his name), Lope Pascual, Rene Adad, Johnny Romualdez and Mari Martinez. In a very short time that he has been in his PFF seat, Martinez is showing us how a president should work. He has been tireless and has been working his buts out trying to make the beautiful game a popular sport in our country. To name a few of his accomplishments so far, he has completed a website for the PFF, he has appointed a respectable coach for the national team and in fact mastered the recruitment of Fil-Foreign footballers who will beef up the RP squad. He has been negotiating to let the Filipino British footballers Phil and James Younghusband, Neil Etheridge, and Chris Greatwich play for the Azkals. His most noted achievement is the PFF hosting of the Group 2 elimination tournament of the Asian Challenge Cup in Barotac Nuevo. Iloilo and Iloilo city in mid May. Although there were kinks at the start, now Iloilo is getting ready to host this year’s biggest football fest in the country. Martinez has also started to gather sponsors. First, he has convinced the Japanese firm Mizuno to pour millions for the national team. He is now negotiating for new sponsors for the National Men’s Championships which is scheduled in August. Martinez has also found time to help organize local football associations. He personally attended the election of officers of the Cebu Football Association (CFA). No previous PFF presidents have showed so much concern for provincial associations. I promised to call Martinez tonight but we got lost on our way home from the Fulham training ground. We arrived in North London home very late. I will give him a call this week to ask him more about his plans for the PFF. Martinez has lived and ate football all his life. He was a player and a very good one. He played for the national team and was even one time Mr. Football of the country. He has been trying to help football for a long time now. He wanted to be PFF president four years ago but he failed. Now that he has succeeded and showed us a lot of promise this early, some people want him to fail. He deserves our support. Bend It and Pinoysoccer.com are giving 100 per cent support as long it is for the sake of uplifting the status of the beautiful game in our beloved Philippines. BEND IT SWEEPSTAKE Dominique is our winner for the month of March. Please send me your house address and brief description of yourself at jackbiantan@yahoo.com. GOD BLESS Email the author
jerjer
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| naunsa na mo? wakoy alamag dinhing dapita |
ceburoo
said:
| Joshuey, You said and I quote NOT FORGET TO SAY THAT MR. MARTINEZ TOGETHER WITH CFCIA AND NCRFA TOOK THE OLD LEADERSHIP ( MAXIMO/BRETHERTON/LOTZOFF ) OUT OF CEBUFA. You made that comment that a group outside of Cebu combined with CFCIA to overthrow the previous administration. That is a very serious statement to make and all I asked was a simple question of how this was achieved by you and your group. That is a serious question to your serious statement. But as usual as you have done previously in the past you dont/cant justify your comments. |
Joshuey
said:
| ceburoo, simple like this: SERIOUS ANSWERS TO SERIOUS MINDED QUESTION! |
ceburoo
said:
| JOSHUEY, HAHAHAHA. So you don't know who the Paul that I am referring to is? Just typical of te way you lot operate. Anyway Joshuey you have now made three posts but still you will not or just refuse ( the latter is more the truth I would expect) to clarify the comments you made and I queried. So why dont you cut through the sabre rattling and red herring tactics and get to the nitty gritty and answer the questions? Simple as that Joshuey. I dont think it is such a difficult request unless you cannot answer it. |
Joshuey
said:
| BTW CEBUROO: HAVE a NICE DAY! J. GUTIERREZ ( CFCIA ASSISTANT MANAGER ) |
Joshuey
said:
| THANK YOU CEBUROO, THAT YOU COMMIT THAT YOU AE A BIG LIAR !!!!!!!! DEFACTO ! I'm JOSUE GUTIEREZ ( PERUANIAN CITIZEN living in GERMANY/BONN ) and my LEADERS are ADONIS QUITOY ( CFA BOARD DIRECTOR ), ACHIM RODTHEUT, RICHARD MONTAYRE ( CFA PRESIDENT ) and ( bec. CFCIA is member of CFA ) PFF PRESIDENT MARTINEZ! THAT's MY LEADERS! SO YOU LIE IF YOU SPEAK ABOUT SOMEONE WHO YOU NOT NAMED BY HIS FULL NAME! ONE WORD CEBUROO: THANK YOU FOR YOU COMMITMENT! YOU ARE a LIAR AND DOUBTFUL! |
ceburoo
said:
| Joshuey,. You only have one leader and that is Paul. And we all know how doubtful he is. As usual and more importantly you make coments and when queried you cannot back them up. Check the post I made and then answer the questions that I asked. It has nothing to do with reputations as you suggest. Just answe the questions, if you can, which I doubt. And while you are at it maybe you might like to highlight the lies that you are alleging that I am making. To be honest I think you make comments and cant back them up when asked to justify your comment. (just like Paul does . . . he has taught you well) |
Joshuey
said:
| "doubtful leader", OF WHOM U SPEAK CEBUROO ? pff pesident MARTINEZ, RICHARD MONTAYRE, CFCIA PRES. QUITOY, CFCIA VICE PRES. ACHIM RODTHEUT? MY REPUTATION IS ABSOLUTELY CLEAN AS A PERUANIAN FOOTBALLER/MANAGER in GERMANY and ALSO MY CHIEFS in CFCIA! SO WHY U ARE TELLING LIES? MAYBE YOUR REPUTATION ISNT CLEAN THAT's WHY! I'm PROUD NOT TO BE A MAFIOSIS and TO HELP MY COUNTRY and PHILIPPINES! |
ceburoo
said:
| Joshuey, Another thing. You mentioned that you were able to take the old leadership out of the cebuFa (maximo/bretherton/lotzof) i assume you mean during the elctions cause that is the only way you can do that by having them beaten at the ballot. Although in Mark bretherton's case maybe you used some mafia type tactics (contrary to FIFA Fair Play) on him prior to the nominations coz he didnt even nominate for the election. Did you Joshuey, or PFF President Mr Martinez or the NCRFA Board, convince Mark not to nominate for the election. |
ceburoo
said:
| Joshuey said: BUT NOT FORGET TO SAY THAT MR. MARTINEZ TOGETHER WITH CFCIA AND NCRFA TOOK THE OLD LEADERSHIP ( MAXIMO/BRETHERTON/LOTZOFF ) OUT OF CEBUFA. ____________________________________________ Joshuey are you saying that mr matinez PRESIDENT of the PFF, NCRFA OFFICIALS and cfcia somehow masterminded the overthrow of the past cebuFA administration? CAN YOU PLEASE ENLIGHTEN US AS TO HOW YOU, MR MARTINEZ AND THE NCRFA OFFICIALS WERE ABLE TO DO THIS. If you read the forums you would have known that the knives were already out for the past administration which meant, given the ground swell among the masa, that there would be new faces in the administration of cebuFA and the likliehood of any of the past administration being relected was about next to zero. And that is exactly how it all turned out You didn't have to be Einstein to understand that. Now you come along and are taking credit for the overthrow. come on joshuey better you concentrate on your stuttering football career ( if in fact there is one) under your doubtful leader. |
MikeH
said:
| Daniel, or is it Paul? Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla. Morgan, its either either real hard, or wet like a sump when it rains. There is no in between, at least not here in Cebu. No sprinkle system, they dont water the fields here, and they should specially this time of hear. |
Alex Ryan
said:
| To offside, You can change the size of the font on your browser. On Mozilla Firefox, go to View -> Text Size -> Increase. On Windows Internet Explorer, go to Page -> Text Size -> choose whatever size is suitable. |
offside
said:
| Jack, for some reason, the small white font on black background is difficult to read. can you change the fonts or colors? thanks! |
DANIEL SCHLOESSER
said:
| BTW: IF SOMEONE IS INTERESTED IN CEBUFA and CFCIA CLUBS: www.CEBUFA.org |
DANIEL SCHLOESSER
said:
| MIKEH, DON,T TELL LIES in THIS BOARD. LOOK THE REALITY AND FACE THE FACT THAT CFCIA is IN CEBUFA BOARD AND INTO PFF ! DANIEL SCHLOESSER ( CFCIA ASSIST MANAGER ) HAVE A NICE DAY MIKEH |
Morgan
said:
| To Alex Ryan, i saw that in www.goal.com. i was laughing my head off too while i was reading it. no offense to newcastle fans, but c'mon, nobody's going to believe that. not in this lifetime. ;) |
Alex Ryan
said:
| "but i read a funnier story elsewhere, that of paolo maldini's alleged interest with newcastle. hahaha, some people can be harsh." Bwahahahaha, where'd you read that from? The day Maldini trades the rossoneri shirt for Toon stripes is one day I would never want to see. |
Morgan
said:
| yeah Mike, i heard from a friend that the pitches we have here are heartbreaking to play at. would that be the same as muscle-tearing? =) well, at least our new guy won't be running around as much as the other guys. by the way, those were some heated words there. chill man. it's a hot summer. =) |
MikeH
said:
| Joshuey/Paul, bla bla bla. Please dont include CFCIA, you guys dont have done anything. You just sit in your rooms and post on internet, thats what youve been doing. Morgan, i agree with you. The heat can take its toll on everyone, specially if youre not used to that kind of heat. I remember my first game in Cebu last year. It was hot as hell, but i coped with it. Im still not used to the heat even after 1 year of playing here. Im sure he knows how to prepare for the heat, one other thing are field conditions. They are not even close to the fields they have in Europe. |
Joshuey
said:
| GOOD AND TRUE COMMENT JACK! BUT NOT FORGET TO SAY THAT MR. MARTINEZ TOGETHER WITH CFCIA AND NCRFA TOOK THE OLD LEADERSHIP ( MAXIMO/BRETHERTON/LOTZOFF ) OUT OF CEBUFA. CEBU has now a real chance to OVERTOP BACOLOD. PFF can be iNDEPENDENT FROM NOFA, even it would be nicer to have friendship w/ NOFA. CFCIA is proud to be invited now by NOFA PRESIDENT CHARLY COJUANGCO. WE ARE OPENMIND TO LISTEN TO HIS COOPERATION IDEAS, even our TARGETS are clear! Mr. MARTINEZ INDEED he makes a MUCH BETTER JOB as Mr ROMUALDEZ. HOPEFULLY he STAYS by his TACK, THEN PHILIPPINE FOOTBALL will GET MUCH SUCCESS. IT WOULD BE NICE IF HE INCLUDE THE FILIPINO-GERMAN FOOTBALLERS in the AZKAL SQUAD, so PHILIPPINES can SURE RANK UP! CFCIA ASSIST MANAGER JOSUE GUTIERREZ |
Morgan
said:
| To Mr. Jack, Your report on Neil Etheridge is quite interesting. However, it just came to me that if he'll be arriving only in May, i sure hope that he can adjust quick enough to the weather here. Because man, it's really scorching hot. 37 degrees is no joke, even to a locally born filipina like me who used to play in the streets. Already it's like you're walking in an oven when you're venturing outside. If this goes on until May, i really think it's going to be a problem for our foreign-based players. Just a thought though, lest everyone thinks that i'm dampening their mood. Well, to be constructive, perhaps you can already warn Neil beforehand? =) |
Reddevil
said:
| Point taken Jack, its your call and to some extent i share that principle with you. Football doesnt need enemies, especially in the Philippines. I think he is heading in the right direction and I would be the first to give him all the time he needs. We need that kind of commitment after all these years in the wilderness. I respect your take on this at the end of the day. But since your coloumn has been a venue for us little guys to voice our opinion, and as long as we keep the comments constructive and not personal attacks on people's dignity, I hope we can continue to point issues out even if they hurt. |
jackbiantan
said:
| Red Devil, I have a principle in life that it is better to make friends than enemies. Mr. Martinez was offended so I have to apologize. If he was not offended then there was no need to. He is trying hard to make football popular in our basketball crazy nation. Give him time. |
red devil
said:
| Hi Jack, I am just surprised he called you for an article that came out here and on their website. Seems to me someone screwed up, if he cant control what comes out in their own website. I can see why you have apologised Jack since he was very polite and decent. But dont get carried away. he is after all a politician. He is a few months into the job and seems to be doing alright. Some of the things going on with the national team doesnt seem to be on but then again, with limited resources, you cant expect a lot. To me, He hasnt performed anything extraordinary either. I think time will tell and Ronaldo has brought a few points there. If he starts really helping the FA's then maybe we can see something here. More importantly, With these turn of events Jack, I think people are starting to take notice of whats being written here. It means, your in the limelight Jack. Right now, you suddenly have a responsibility since a lot of people read your article. If and when the PFF screws up, I hope you dont think that you owe this guy anything. That article was an April Fool's joke for crying out loud. It was damm funny. Once they mentioned the Department of Lost Causes, I knew it was a joke. I mean how ironic acan it get? He should expect this for taking a position like that. Its nothing but good fun and I think he would have been more endeared to everyone if he took it in stride and joked about it also. Anyway like I said, your in the spotlight now amigo. And with it comes a lot of responsibility. |
ronaldo
said:
| this i want to know from martinez - will he allot portions of the FIFA subsidy to the FAs ? there is a big gap between proclaiming support to the FA's and actually helping them out. that's the difference between promises and action. if the budget or cash at hand that the PFF has does not make it practical to subsidize FA activities then i feel that the PFF should at least help out in the fund-raising activities of the FA's like endorsing their solicitations. I have many experiences as far as ways and means are concerned, and believe me, companies are better impressed when a national office signs for solicitations. that's the difference between a few hundreds and tens of thousands. martinez already admitted not having a grassroot program but mentioned that Milo was interested. what does he mean by that ? will Milo formulate their own grassroot program and PFF will endorse it or will Milo adopt a future PFF grassroot program. a couple of years back, Milo had their football camps all over the country, but it catered to paying customers. if we are going to define grassroots as reaching out to those who can AND cannot afford, then perhaps PFF should clear this out with future interested sponsors. of course, beggars can't be choosers but i would like to think that martinez and PFF will tell these interested sponsors that our grassroot program will focus more on the non-paying community. Jack, if you can, please ask martinez if he plans to include DECS in his grassroot program. the failure that was Kasibulan was due to the fact that DECS was uncooperative and the PFF went directly to the individual PE instructors instead of getting DECS commitiment to the sport. i still strongly believe in the Kasibulan concept and would like it to be pursued with clearer guidelines. as for mike's april fools joke - 'wag naman siya'ng maging balat sibuyas. people holding public office should expect these things. pointing out that one is volutering and not getting any compensation for this job should then get out of it. people will shut up when you do good work. if the foundation that martinez is doing right now will eventually help philippine.football then people will stop complaining and ride on his bandwagon. he should take this as part of the hazards of his job that he himself pursued voluntarily. |
jackbiantan
said:
| MikeH He is fantastic Mike. I will come out with my report tomorrow. I worked today and also tomorrow. I do not have time to write the report. Just bear with me. |
Morgan
said:
| i fell for that too, as i didn't read the entire article. thank goodness it wasn't true. but i read a funnier story elsewhere, that of paolo maldini's alleged interest with newcastle. hahaha, some people can be harsh. |
MikeH
said:
| How was Neil? |
