MindanaoToday.com | Killing the Azkals is hurting the fans
By: Jack Biantan
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – I was one of the supporters of the name Azkals when it was created in the middle of 2000’s by the online forum of fans.
The PFF adopted the name and was used as the monicker of the national men’s football team. Then Azkals manager Dan Palami even trademarked the name.
I was working in London then when the word Azkals was formulated and I liked it. I defended the name when the then Philippine Football Federation (PFF) president Mari Martinez tried to kill it when he was elected as PFF president.
He did not like the name as according to him it demeans the Filipino players. Azkals was formed from the Askals, which is a combination of two words aso and kalye in Filipino or stray dogs in English.
The Philippine national football team then were compared to the stray dogs which abound the streets of any city or town in the country. But on the positive side these stray dogs survive the streets and are always ready to bite anyone who would try to hurt them.
The Philippine Men’s National Football team then were like the stray dogs. Support then was limited or sometimes non existent but despite of this they would ‘fight and bite’ on the pitch.
How about the Azkals instead of the Askals? The fans changed it from S to Z when someone suggested that it would be better spelled with Z to be taken from Kalye Azul which mean blue streets, in honor of the official team color of the MNFT.
During the 2008 Challenge Cup qualification tournament in Iloilo City, I had a heated argument with Mari Martinez when he said that he wanted to kill the Azkals’ name. I argued with him asked him why he wanted to kill the Azkals’ name. He said that he did not like it.
I covered that tournament for Pinoysoccer.com, a pioneer football only website created by Edward Smit, the late brother of famous former De La Salle University coach Hans Smit. I explained to Martinez the roots of the Azkals name and that the fans were the reason it existed. He lost the argument, kept quiet and refused to pay my hotel bills.
The AFC Challenge Cup was the first tournament current Azkals captain Neil Etheridge played for the team. Phil Younghusband, Chad Gold, Chieffy Caligdong and long time captain Aly Borromeo were among the players. It was coached by the legendary Negros Occidental coach Nonoy Fegidero.
The PNMFT failed to advance to the proper 2008 Challenge Cup in India after finishing second to Tajikistan in the four team tournament which also included Bhutan and Brunei. It was held in Iloilo City and Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo.
The Azkals lose out to Tajikistan via goal difference after finishing the tournament with an equal two-win-one draw record.
Dan Palami came in as Azkals manager in 2009 and he embraced the Azkals name. He loved he name so much that he even had it trade marked so that it could only use for football.
Then 2010, the Miracle of Hanoi, Vietnam happened. It was the start of resurgence of football in our basketball crazy country and the Azkals became a household name.
Before this tournament the PNMFT were the whipping boys of ASEAN football. But then the miracle happened. The Azkals defeated Vietnam 2-0, in front of more than 40,000 hostile crowd to advance to the semis of the AFF Championship, the first time in the Philippine football history.
From then on the Azkals name became relevant to Filipinos. Anywhere the Azkals would play, they would fill up stadiums. The Younghusband brothers Phil and James have become superstars. Chieffy Caligdong became the most in demand local player.
Every young Filipino footballers wanted to play for the Azkals including the Filipinos born abroad. However, as the Azkals line-up are filled by Filipinos born abroad, the development of local players was neglected. Hiring players and coaches from abroad has become expensive.
The PFF under Nonong Araneta, then failed to capitalized on the resurgence of the Azkals and their popularity started to wane. The current PFF leadership under John Gutierrez has started to recognize the challenge.
Since Gutierrez started working at the PFF office in Pasig this year, he has been very busy and among his first job was to replace the long time team manager Dan Palami with former national team player Freddie Razon Gonzales. He then replaced head coach Michael Weis with a very experienced Belgian coach Tom Saintfeit.
We understand that the PFF wants to start with a clean slate. Gonzales and Saintfeit have named a 30-man training pool for their match in Iraq for a start. Many of the players named are from the local clubs and that is good as they have recognized local talents.
Killing the Azkals name is hurting the fans. Will the fans continue supporting the PMNFT with a different name? Let’s just wait and see if this would work. (jackbiantantambok@gmail.com)
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