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Well done the Robins!

Discussion in 'Sport Talk' started by walesrob, Dec 21, 2017.

  1. Mattecube
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    Mattecube face the sunshine so shadows fall behind you Trusted Member

    It' Moanrino
    • Funny Funny x 1
  2. Anon04576
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    Anon04576 Well-Known Member

    Yep. Of whom Fil-Brit brothers, the Younghusbands played for.
  3. Stellar
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    Stellar BANNED AGAIN

    this remark is a total joke. Almost nobody wears soccer shirts in the Philippines and the few that do, it is noticeable that Barcelona shirts are more popular hardly surprising considering the Philippines' history. The sport, although the profile of it has improved somewhat in recent years from being totally zero to just nearly zero, it is still, if anything at all, just a fetishic novelty. Basketball shirts outnumber soccer ones, by 20,000 to 1 and probably more.

    the Akzal soccer matches I attended had a noticeably high attendance of teenage girls, even though the attendance fee was a high 500 pesos both times. They weren't interested in the sport, that was obvious. They were there to gawp at Phil Younghusband, the Philippines' version of David Beckham.
  4. Markham
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    Markham Guest

    Stop digging ...
  5. Stellar
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    Stellar BANNED AGAIN

    there is no organisation in Philippines soccer. They have been trying to organise a national league but with no success. They can't decide whether to organise the representative teams around institutions, such as the Air Force and Army, or cities such as Davao, Cebu and Manila.

    the big problem about soccer in the Philippines is very little spectator interest. Almost nobody cares. There is very little participation in the sport, and nobody wants to watch even the World Cup on television. Never mind the Premier League, which is shown on Malaysian and Thai television constantly.

    Malaysia has the most advanced soccer league in the SEAsian region. They have a proper league that looks a bit like the British, Spanish, or French leagues. They represent towns and cities. None of the teams have titles like Air Force, Army, or a Bank like Thai or Philippines teams do.
  6. Jim
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    Jim Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    • Like Like x 1
  7. Stellar
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    Stellar BANNED AGAIN

    Yeah you can. But Filipinos aren't all that interested in soccer at all. The big sports are basketball, pool (not snooker) and cockfighting for the boys, and volleyball and to a lesser extent, badminton for the girls.

    What's interesting about sports in the Philippines is that even though basketball is easily the most popular, other American sports apart from pool are nowhere. Crucially, there's no baseball in the Philippines. Old timers have told me that previously baseball had a higher profile in the Philippines than it does now and that it might have taken off and become a popular sport, like it is in Japan today. But it didn't. The country became overpopulated and there was no large green spaces available to play those type of games. It's all basketball in the Philippines. I've never seen a bunch of lads having a game of soccer for a change on a concrete basketball court that is there in even the very smallest towns, never not once.
  8. Jim
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    Jim Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    Wife's two nephews and a brother are keen footballers, one of her brothers is skilled, plays for his local team in Bohol.
    They play on a full-size pitch behind the school. It's probably me who influenced them when they were younger I gave them some basic football lessons.:rolleyes:
  9. Mattecube
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    Mattecube face the sunshine so shadows fall behind you Trusted Member

    Are you a Bolton fan?
  10. Stellar
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    Stellar BANNED AGAIN

    you do meet the odd one with an interest in soccer and yes it is probably getting a little bit more popular than it used to be. I do see more replica shirts than I used to, especially Barcelona ones, but that is just fashion, it isn't a lot to do with actual participation in the sport itself. Overall interest in the sport is still low. Soccer is one of the very easiest of games to organise, easier even than basketball, all you need is a ball and not a whole lot else. Despite that and despite the huge numbers of kids in the Philippines, you never see anybody on the street having a kickabout like you would in a country where the game is genuinely popular.

    if you move between the Philippines and other SEAsian countries a lot, you will see a big difference. In Thailand and Malaysia, it seems that even with the time difference making it awkward, that English premier league games are on the TV in every bar - it doesn't have to be a specialist sports bar or anything, it's EVERY bar. Go to the Philippines, and suddenly there's nothing. All of a sudden there is no soccer on the TV any more, and it's basketball, which you never see on TV anywhere else.

    there's a big difference between those countries and the Philippines on the green/blue baize too. In Thailand and Malaysia, you see green snooker, and not blue pool tables so much, everywhere. 12-15 years ago I was playing late night snooker sessions on full-sized snooker tables with Thais in Chiang Mai and they were good players too who scorned playing pool on a small table. They were good. It was only in normal bars, not proper snooker clubs but some of them were getting 60-70 breaks nearly every game. I can't remember ever seeing a single full-sized green snooker table in the Philippines once, or if I ever have, it would have been in a sports bar with foreigner customers. In Thailand and Malaysia they have snooker tables in normal bars, without a foreigner to be seen.

    The Philippines is just a country with a marked pivot towards the United States, much more than any of the other Asian ones. The top Thai snooker players have made it into the very highest echelons of the game, just as the best Filipino pool players are well known, to fans in the US.
  11. Mattecube
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    Mattecube face the sunshine so shadows fall behind you Trusted Member

    Droppng off a bit now in the Championship.
  12. Mattecube
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    Mattecube face the sunshine so shadows fall behind you Trusted Member

    Do they play
    Do they play Snakes and Ladders?
  13. Mattecube
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    Mattecube face the sunshine so shadows fall behind you Trusted Member

    Do they play
    Do they play Snakes and Ladders?
  14. Markham
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    Markham Guest

    Since you don't actually live in the Philippines, spending more than a few nights in any one place and therefore ignorant of what's available locally - beyond birds, bars and beds - your ramblings should be read in that light. You are, of course, entirely incorrect and soccer is played ad-hoc in many local communities. Every school in the vast area known as "Davao City" has either a dedicated soccer pitch or a multi-purpose 'court' where soccer, basketball and softball are played.

    Next you'll be telling us that the playing of rugby union is unknown in the Philippines.
    'Fraid not: there are currently 18 rugby clubs and 13 schools affiliated to the Philippine Rugby Football Union and some clubs have both men's and women's teams (eg Cebu Dragons and Manila Mayhem). As well as participating in a local league, clubs play international matches against teams from Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and elsewhere in Asia. Whilst there is westerner participation by Brits, Australians and New Zealanders - in mentoring and training - almost all the players are Filipino. The national team, Philippine Volcanoes, has an impressive record (in the Asian context) having won all their matches against Brunei, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and UAE.
  15. Jim
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    Jim Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    BWFC use to go a lot in the past, also use to watch MCFC too.
  16. PorkAdobo
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    PorkAdobo Active Member

    I don't think it's *that* controversial to suggest that football is a niche sport in the Philippines.

    Football is undoubtedly growing in popularity. Little brother Jerwin has recently joined a football team at school which I'm very excited about as I can join in playing this game far better than basketball. However, there is still a long way to go before participation levels reach just a small percentage of the country.

    It's a shame really as the Philippines was never going to be an elite basketball playing nation. If history had been different, there is no reason why they could not have reached Japan or Korea's level in football and other sports.

    I think sport is an area where the Philippines is a huge under achiever. They have produced some world class guys like Efrem Reyes and, of course, Manny Pacquiao. However, there are no swimmers, no athletes of note, few badminton players and there should be far more boxers and Mixed Martial Artists.

    Although basketball is huge as a participatory sport, I rarely see a huge appetite for watching the NBA Finals or the domestic league ( based pretty much entirely in Manila).
  17. Mattecube
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    Mattecube face the sunshine so shadows fall behind you Trusted Member

    agree its all down to lack of investment!!
  18. PorkAdobo
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    PorkAdobo Active Member

    And poverty.

    Parents of a precocious runner or boxer would understandably have that child work to support the family rather than take a 1 in a 1000 chance that s/he could be become an elite sportsman.

    Entertainment and singing is something that can be done alongside work and can provide immediate rewards unlike sport.
  19. Mattecube
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    Mattecube face the sunshine so shadows fall behind you Trusted Member

    Poverty is Not an excuse or a reason look at Brazil the Africas
  20. PorkAdobo
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    PorkAdobo Active Member

    Agreed, but those countries participate in sports where they are more likely to encounter success.

    In a country where the average height is about 5'4, there will be very few people who can make a living through basketball.

    Had the colonial history of the country been different, who knows what could have been.

    As it stands, there is a general ambivalence towards sport and there is nobody (currently) of the same pedigree to replace Pacquiao as the country's iconic sporting figure.

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