With the build-up towards the opening of the Philippine Premier League at the end of this month, we’re eager to see what difference does this league have over its predecessors Philippines Football League. However, there’s another movement worthy of our further attention.
Over the last two months, I’ve been running around and looking for football action that we can deliver to our readers, however, most of them are just friendly matches in preparation for the participating clubs in the upcoming PPL. A sudden spark of an idea came into mind when one of my good friends asked me if I can come to one of their futsal events.
To my surprise, it was bigger than what everyone thought. Michael Reyes and Coach Andy Williams, a UEFA A Licensed Coach and Futsal Licensed Coach of Team Socceroo Football Club has recently organized an event called Tahanan Futsal League. It featured teams comprised of players of their club as well but was just divided into different teams to showcase their talents.
Yes, it seemed just a regular futsal league but what made it different is that it was played on three matchdays with three fixtures per week and a culminating cup format. Another thing that made this league standout was the effort of the club to tap individuals that can bring the word out to the football community so that they can take notice of their efforts to bring futsal closer to Filipinos.
With that being said, we get to see how Glen Charles Lopez from Upstream Media PH and Haru Sabijon from Pinay Futsal, operates behind the camera to bring futsal games closer to the masses via Facebook Live Streaming. In Team Socceroo’s Tahanan Futsal cup, I caught a glimpse of how Glen sets up his broadcasting system.
It usually takes an hour and a half for him to set it up on his own so that viewers can enjoy the multi-cam setup of the stream. I get to know the setup better during our coverage of the 17th season of the WCSA Futsal competition and 15th season of the MNCAA at the UA&P Gym last March 9, 2019.
The tournament was already exciting given the history amongst the participating colleges. In the WCSA, Enderun Colleges Titans, who finished third last season, have demolished Assumption College in the first semi-finals fixture via nine goals to one while Miriam College marched past UA&P through the score of 5-1.
The action got to fever pitch when the lads went out on the court as the Titans made a successful comeback to win four goals to two against University of Makati Herons while penalties were needed to find out the winner between UA&P Dragons and Philippine Women’s University Patriots.
Interestingly, a rivalry has been forming between UA&P and PWU as they faced each other in two championship matches already. The Dragons won the first one in season 12 while the Patriots got their revenge two years after. PWU then took advantage of the penalties to knock their rivals out of the competition and have a shot for a back-to-back title.
The streams might have caught just a few viewers, however, it’s a sign that a movement is already in place and that futsal is heading the right direction. Without the likes of Lopez and Sabijon, as well as the resilience of sir Michael Reyes to spearhead such movement, the sport will not see an even brighter future.
This movement might contradict with its larger-scale origin but it will get the masses to connect more to the sport. As we all know, Filipinos love a fast-paced, non-stop action in every match and futsal possess all those elements. Once the people start noticing about the sport, we’ll never know what happens next with futsal and football respectively.
Photo Credits: Pinay Futsal, MNCAA and WCSA Facebook pages
