 By Noel Villaflor
Footnote
CEBU CITY (SunStar) - What in the world is a 9-a-side match? Today, you’ll find out if you head to the University of the Philippines high school football field.
The past few years, Cebu has become a football hotbed, thanks to 7-a-side festivals. Adults and children who grew up dribbling with their hands steadily learned to use their feet—and occasionally their heads—instead.
Thousands flocked to these weekend or day-long tourneys, in sun, rain or shadow, to cheer or play. And when the last whistle blew, the sport’s followers could only look forward to the next festival.
Yet in between kicks and festivities, some pundits, players and coaches yearned for the level of play that only 11-a-side games can provide. Only in games involving 22 footballers on the pitch can endurance, skill and strategy be upgraded, they argued.
Some questioned the purpose of 7-a-side games. Others went as far as dismissing the festival format as banal.
I beg to disagree. Seven-a-side games teach players to deal with the ball and opposing players in tight situations, with even tighter time constraints. It makes players realize the urgency of scoring a quick goal, and making comebacks in the nick of time.
Seven-a-side games serve their purpose. And such festivals are a necessary part of the footballer’s growth.
This growth, though, needs to be sustained.
Should players, many of whom are weekend warriors, be thrown then into the 11-a-side arena, which, in spite of its breath-taking qualities, is a brutal place for those who love the beautiful game but lack the endurance and polished skills of a varsity athlete?
Any indie football club—those without support from schools, patrons or businesses —knows how difficult it is to organize an 11-a-side squad. Yet to make it really popular among a wider section of society, the sport needs these clubs to grow not just in level of play but in numbers as well.
The 9-a-side apparently addresses both problems.
Organizing seven men is easy nowadays (thanks to the festivals). Eleven men, plus three subs, is still a tough task. But gathering nine men, plus three, is manageable.
Of course you need a smaller football field that fits just nine men and won’t drive them to the brink of exhaustion. Give the teams 30 minutes per game—that should be fair.
This is probably what Donn Rabanes, a lawyer who lives, eats and drinks football, had in mind when he decided to organize a 9-a-side invitational tournament with his mates at the Uptown United Football Club this weekend.
The UP football field isn’t the prettiest patch of green and brown you’d see, but it is adequate.
(Not to long ago, the field was unplayable, but the UP Alumni FC and the college team, moved heaven and earth to bring the pitch back to life last year. With the support of Uptown United, which has put up new 9-a-side goals, this storied field, which was once the site of the Palarong Pambansa, is one step closer to rehabilitation.)
The 9-a-side tourney, sanctioned by the Cebu Football Association, has drawn 10 men’s teams and seven women’s teams.
Donn, joined by Teddy Piasidad, himself a lawyer with a wicked left foot, banker Raul Leopardas and the rest of Uptown United, hope that the tournament “will lay the groundwork for an organized league providing regular competitive events for the community.”
The 9-a-side tournament complements tomorrow’s seven-a-side festival at the Cebu International School football field, dubbed the European Chamber of Commerce Soccer Cup, which also drew 10 teams.
And in a week’s time, the Cebu Amateur Football Club’s 8th Inter-Club Invitational Tournament will kick-off in four different venues, and the Philippine National Team is expected to hold an exhibition match in the opening.
Now that sounds a lot of football to some, and the formats or “a-sides” might even befuddle the uninitiated. But I’m not complaining.
Whether it’s 7, 9, or 11, it’s comforting to know that the men behind these tourneys will always be on the side of football. (gibreel6@yahoo.com)
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