Teamwork, camaraderie and how one could blend with the others are the usual essentials why sports exist. Competition on the other hand is how the game is played and how it could encourage individuals to do better. Sports as a program unites people, it aims to bond them and later on educate and gain social awareness on how winning and losing matter.
Advanced countries that have a productive sports program commonly excel – the government spends much on education and sports while reaping the world’s respect during international competitions, Olympics and the like. In third world countries such as the Philippines, sports are used as a secondary source of fund (prone to corruption) and sometimes guise as a program to promote the well being of its citizens.
Since when did the Philippines excel? What sport? I remember quite well when people Onyok Velasco nearly won an Olympic Gold Medal during the Atlanta Olympics, the people suddenly looked on the possibility of Filipinos to be good at Boxing. The birth of Manny Pacquiao up to his stardom now earns the respect of the global community in terms of his prowess, courage and skill.
Then came out the slogan “pinoy pride”, “proud to be Filipino” and “ang mamatay ng dahil sayo” but was it easy for the government to claim that what Filipinos achieve abroad is due to its efficient sports program? I think not. The government only came to recognize if an individual has made its own mark already.
Needless to say, they did not care while the athletes were just starting to train and compete. Government support follows only when an individual or team has made it to the international scene or has reaped medals from abroad in a competition. It is sad to note that there is no concrete program to promote sports in the country – a government spending more on military and debt servicing could only hope that an Olympic Gold is just around the corner.
The sad state of sports in the country remains to be backward and lack government support. Politicians however make use of these acts when they plunge into their campaign and make it look like everything is well balanced.
The arrival of the Azkals Football team is a perfect example of how people inject politics into sports. A separate press conference was held due to a minor misunderstanding of people on how a sporting event should be. Contrary to what sports is aiming to, I saw the opposite of unity, the disinterest of people in government because of personal interests and lack of recognition were among the factors that made this worse.
The political rivalry between two opposing politicians had also gone up to the media while each quarter maintains an irreconcilable stance. Promoting the sport is not bad – being held in the City of Bacolod is not bad either. Leaders should shove away politics in order to give a welcoming atmosphere both to the players and the tourists that is rooting for the game come February 9, 2011 at the Panaad Park and Stadium.
In sports there is unity, in Bacolod, we just hope so.(end)#osb
