Purefoods–Swift rivalry

The Purefoods Corporation had a basketball rivalry with the Republic Flour Mills (RFM) company in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) for most of the 1990s, where they competed not only in sports but also in products.

PABL Rivalry

Purefoods Corporation burst into the basketball scene in 1986, by joining the Philippine Amateur Basketball League (PABL), which had the RFM-Swifts as its regular members. Both companies, which were into food and beverage business, were the largest producer and marketer of processed meats in the Philippines. Their first-ever match-up took place during the second conference (Founder's Cup). At the Rizal Memorial Coliseum, the two teams battled for the last semifinals slot. Purefoods Food Experts, coached by Domingo Panganiban, won 86-84 over the RFM-Swifts Hotdogs. In the third conference (Filipino Cup), they split the two matches they played.

Overall, RFM Corporation was more successful in the amateur league; its team won championships and featured some of the best young cagers and national team members around, such as Elmer Cabahug, Renato Agustin, Ricric Marata and Zaldy Realubit, while Purefoods were composed of pro-bounds Rey Yncierto, Rosedendo Gomez, Larry Villanil and Julian Tomacruz, who were part of the original Purefoods team in 1986, along with others like Justino Pinat, Edgar Valencia and Guillermo Valerio. In the 1987 season, RFM-Swifts Hotdogs had beaten the Purefoods Food Experts team in every game they played.

In 1987, when the Tanduay Rhum Masters retired from the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), Purefoods had bought the franchise rights from them, and joined the 1988 PBA season. There was some controversy over recruiting national team player Alvin Patrimonio, who wanted to go to the professional league, but was denied release from the RFM-Swifts Hotdogs. RFM had just signed Patrimonio from the disbanded YCO Shine Masters the previous year. Eventually Patrimonio was released; he started playing for Purefoods Hotdogs in the PBA on June 30.

PBA Rivalry

In 1990, RFM joined the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) as an expansion franchise: the Pop Cola Sizzlers. In the First Conference, after the team had lost its first five outings, the Sizzlers registered its first win in the pro league on March 13, beating Purefoods Hotdogs 138-120. In the Third Conference semifinals, Pop Cola now rename Sarsi, beat the Hotdogs, 138-131,^[1] which sent the Hotdogs to an extra playoff game against Shell.^{[note 1]}

In 1991, RFM's Diet Sarsi Sizzlers acquired shooting guard Alfonso Solis of the Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs by offering him a contract that the Hotdogs did not match. On April 14, center Jack Tanuan of the Hotdogs joined the Sizzlers. RFM also tried to acquire Hotdogs' forward Alvin Patrimonio, who neared the end of his contract, but the PBA office fined both RFM and Patrimonio for tampering. The two companies battled in the 1991 PBA All-Filipino Conference Finals. The best-of-five series went all five games, with the Hotdogs winning 107-100. In the third conference, RFM changed their team name to the "Swift Mighty Meaty Hotdogs"(or "Swift Mighty Meaties") to rival Purefoods' "Tender Juicy Hotdogs". In their only Third Conference meeting, the Mighty Meaties beat the Hotdogs, 115-98.

In 1992, Purefoods TJ Hotdogs traded Nelson Asaytono to the RFM Swift Mighty Meaties for a future draft pick. In their last matchup during the First Conference elimination round, the Mighty Meaties beat the Hotdogs 115-114. As a result, both teams finish with conference records of 5-6, and had a one-game playoff on March 26. The Mighty Meaties beat the Hotdogs, 123-117, and qualified for the semifinals.^[2] In the All-Filipino Conference, Purefoods won all three matches against the Swift Mighty Meaties and in their elimination round victory over Swift on July 2, the Tender Juicy Hotdogs overcame Nelson Asaytono's career-high of 48 points in a 110-106 win.^[3] Swift simply dominated their rivals during the third conference with the Mighty Meaties, having Tony Harris as their import, they beat the Hotdogs in all their four meetings.

In 1993, Purefoods renamed their team to the Coney Island Ice Cream Stars, while RFM's team stayed as the Swift Mighty Meaties. In the first conference All-Filipino Cup, the Stars swept the Mighty Meaties, 3-0 in the semifinal series, and won the All-Filipino Cup Finals. In the second conference, the Commissioners Cup, the Mighty Meaties brought in new recruits: shooting forward Vergel Meneses, center Zaldy Realubit and with import Ronnie Thompkins. The Mighty Meaties battled Purefoods' team, renamed the Purefoods Oodles, in the conference finals; the Mighty Meaties won the best-of-seven series 4-2.

In the 1994 All-Filipino cup, the Purefoods team, the Coney Island Ice Cream Stars played the RFM team, still named the Swift Mighty Meaties, in a post-semifinals playoff game. The Stars beat the Meaties 86-74 to advance to their seventh All-Filipino finals appearance.

For the 1995 Commissioner's Cup, the RFM team, already known as Sunkist Orange Juicers had gone 9-0 in the conference until the Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs defeated them in their last game in the eliminations. They meet again in the best-of-five semifinals and the Orange Juicers won the series, 3-2.

For the 1996 Commissioner's Cup, Purefoods signed former Swift import Ronnie Thompkins. After the elimination round, Purefoods and Sunkist, which had former Alaska reinforcement Marques Bragg as their import, had a tie record of 5-5. In the one-game playoff, the Hotdogs won over the Orange Bottlers, 89-76, to reach the semifinal round.^[4]

The rivalry slowed down in 1997, where the RFM team did not qualify for any of the playoffs.

Head-to-Head meetings

Season	Purefoods	Won	RFM/Cosmos	Won
1990	Purefoods Hotdogs	5	Pop Cola/Sarsi	3
1991	Purefoods TJ Hotdogs	6	Diet Sarsi/Swift Mighty Meaty	9
1992	Purefoods TJ Hotdogs	4[note 2]	Swift Mighty Meaties	6
1993	Coney Island/Purefoods Oodles/Purefoods TJ Hotdogs	5	Swift Mighty Meaties	13
1994	Coney Island/Purefoods TJ Hotdogs	5	Swift Mighty Meaties	5
1995	Purefoods TJ Hotdogs	7	Sunkist Orange Juicers	9
1996	Purefoods TJ Hotdogs/Purefoods Corned Beef Cowboys	4	Sunkist Orange Bottlers	2
1997	Purefoods Corned Beef Cowboys/Purefoods Carne Norte Beefies	2	Pop Cola Bottlers	3
1998	Purefoods Carne Norte Beefies/Purefoods TJ Hotdogs	3	Pop Cola 800s	4
1999	Purefoods TJ Hotdogs	2	Pop Cola 800s	2
Total		43		56

Notes

1. The Hotdogs won the playoff match and beat the Alaska Air Force in the finals to become the 1990 PBA Third Conference Champion.
2. The number of Purefoods TJ Hotdogs wins listed for the 1992 PBA season does not count a pre-season win.

References

1. "Sarsi's upset of Purefoods gives Airmen a free lift". Manila Standard.
2. "Swift books ticket to semis, applies broom on Purefoods". Manila Standard.
3. "Purefoods turns back Swift". Manila Standard.
4. "Purefoods routs Sunkist, 89-76, to make semis". Manila Standard.