Sports in the Philippines

Rural children playing basketball in the Philippines.

Sports in the Philippines is an important part of the country's culture. There are six major sports in the Philippines. These are basketball, boxing, football, billiards, tennis and volleyball. Despite being a tropical nation, ice skating is a popular sport in the Philippines.[1][2] Sports such as athletics, weightlifting, aerobics, and martial arts are also popular recreations.

Among the others there are: badminton, baseball, bowling, swimming, wrestling, underwater diving, kayaking, sailing, windsurfing, cockfighting, horse racing, Cricket, Australian rules football, motor racing, sepak takraw, and jai alai are also appreciated. With the sport of cockfighting being wildly popular in the Philippines, attracting large crowds who bet on the outcome of fights between the birds,[3] and the sport itself a popular form of fertility worship among almost all Southeast Asians.[4] Such sports activity as the sport of cockfighting, related to ritual forms of worship as practices and rituals of ancient worship intended for the blessings of the supernatural, as "in Indus Valley and other ancient civilizations, mother goddess had been invoked for fertility and prosperity"[5] which included that religious cockfight lay as a prime example of "cultural synthesis of 'little' and 'great' cultures"[6] due to religious syncretisms causing the loss for some of religious significance and hence a sport, while remaining for some as a form of ‘fertility worship’ and still for others as Baal or Baalim.

On July 27, 2009, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed Republic Act No. 9850 into law, declaring Modern Arnis as the Philippine National Martial Art and Sport.[7]

Olympics

The Philippines has participated in all editions of the Olympics except in 1980 when it joined the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics. The country is also the first tropical nation to participate at the Winter Olympics, debuting at the 1972 edition and has participated in three other edition of the winter games. Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) is the National Olympic Committee of the Philippines.

Individual Sports

Boxing

Boxing is among the most popular individual sports in the Philippines. Some Filipino boxers such as Manny Pacquiao, Gabriel Elorde and Pancho Villa are recognized internationally. The Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines is the governing body for amateur boxing in the country.

Tennis

Outside of basketball tennis is the most played sport in the Philippines especially for the middle age and up category. Many housing subdivisions have tennis courts that can be enjoyed by both residents and guests. Most towns also have a tennis court that operates a tennis club member only system that maintains and operates the tennis court while the original construction is sponsored by the local government.

Figure Skating

Ice skating rinks used as venues for figure skating are limited to shopping malls in the country, particularly in the Metro Manila area. The first ice skating rink in the country was opened in 1992 at SM Megamall in Mandaluyong. The first Olympic sized ice skating rink was opened at the SM Mall of Asia. An ice skating rink also operates in SM Southmall. There are more figure skating coaches in the Philippines than ice hockey coaches and the first Filipino ice skating coaches were roller skaters. The Philippine Championship is a national competitive for ice skating in which the winner gets to represent the country in international competitions.[8] The Philippines has also managed to qualify and send a figure skater to the 2014 Winter Olympics becoming the first Southeast Asian country to do so at the Winter Olympics. The said figure skater was Michael Christian Martinez.[9]

Team Sports

American football

American football is a relatively new sport to the Philippines and people often confused it with both codes of rugby football. ArenaBall Philippines currently holds a 4 team competition. Since August 2013, a fifth team joined-in marking its first official expansion team in the league. Apart from that, American Football Federation of the Philippines, the organization behind the Philippine Punishers and lately Philippine Valkyries, the former's female counterpart, has been actively competing against other Asian regents such as Shanghai, Hong Kong, Saipan and US Guam Confederate.

Famous Filipino players to have played in the National Football League in the United States include Eugene Amano, Tim Tebow, Roman Gabriel, Tedy Bruschi, Chris Gocong, Steve Slaton, Aaron Francisco, Jordan Dizon, and Doug Baldwin.

The Philippines also organizes a men's national team.

Association football

The Philippine Sports Stadium, the largest football stadium in the country

The Philippine national football team or Azkals, is the national football team of the Philippines, and is controlled by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF). The United Football League (Philippines) is the Top Flight football league in the country, the (PFF) arhe planning to launch a National Football League this 2015 or 2016, each club's will represent their respective Cities or Provinces and required to have a youth squad for the Youth League. It will also help to promote football awareness and grassroots program to the young Filipino footballers who admires to play professional football.

Baseball

The Philippine national baseball team is ranked 22nd on the IBAF World Rankings, and after the WBC Qualification tournament held at Taiwan in 2013, baseball in the Philippines is gradually gaining popularity.

Basketball

A PBA basketball game at the Mall of Asia Arena.
A PBA basketball game at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Basketball is considered to be the most popular sport in the Philippines and is played on both the amateur and professional level. The professional league in the Philippines is the Philippine Basketball Association and currently runs a 12 team competition, but also in Asia's professional basketball league after the National Basketball Association. The national team is popularly known as Gilas Pilipinas and has recently qualified to compete in the 2014 FIBA World Cup.

Rugby league

Rugby league is a relatively unknown sport in the Philippines and is often mistaken for rugby union and even American football but is growing rapidly since its inception in 2012. The Philippines National Rugby League are the governing body and are responsible for the growth of rugby league in the Philippines. The sport was introduced to the Philippine Merchant Marine Academys by Australian expats.[10][11] Clubs have also been established by Papua New Guinean expats and students (where rugby league is their national sport).[12][13][14]

The national team are known as the Tamaraws and represents the country in international rugby league competition.

Rugby union

A rugby union match between the national teams of the Philippines vs Iran (A lineout)

The Philippine Rugby Football Union was founded in 1998 and is the governing body of rugby union in the Philippines. There are currently around 12 schools playing rugby union in the Philippines and 10 teams that compete in regular competition. The national team is known as the Volcanoes and competes in the Asian 5 Nations and the Asian Seven Series.

Corruption and mismanagement

Cases of graft and corruption are also persists in the Philippine sports industry. Graham Lim, a former secretary general of the Basketball Association of the Philippines, a former POC-recognized national federation for basketball, said in a The Manila Times article that politics and monopoly in Philippine sports started when the present leaders, including Peping Cojuangco, the current Philippine Olympic Committee president and his golfer-friend Richie Garcia, the chairman of the Philippine Sports Commission, took over the control of the sporting sector in 2005 that made Philippine athletes to suffer decline and deterioration on their high-caliber quality due to corruption and politicking.[15] In 2009, Lim arrested[16] and later declared a "undesirable alien" by the Department of Justice due to countless deportation cases, in connection with his questionable citizenship, said that the deportation order is issued because the pressure pushed by his arch-rivals Manny V. Pangilinan, the head of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, the later-recognized NSA for basketball and Cojuangco.

Lim also exposed a top government official, through a deputy has asked 6 million pesos to settle the case, also he claims that several NSAs (National Sports Associations) are headed by some people who have "toe the line" to Cojuangco and anyone who do not follow his orders would be dismissed "by hook or by crook".[15] An NSA also questioned the appointment of Cojuangco's daughter Mikee as the representative of the Philippines in the International Olympic Committee without any caution. Former Senator Nikki Coseteng also noted that the suffrage of the athletes was emerged due to lack of foreign exposures and depleted training program as a result on sports bodies' insufficient budget and incompetent sports officials.[17]

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, the former Table Tennis Association of the Philippines president filed a graft and corruption case against Cojuangco and Garcia in 2012 due to issuance of checks and releasing of funds of PSC to the group of Ting Ledesma who have claimed as TATAP officials despite a court case filed by Manila Regional Title Court on the legitimacy of TATAP officials.[18]

A column by Jarius Bondoc in the Philippine Star dated March 2, 2016, reported that more than 1 billion pesos of earnings from casinos that supposed to fund the sports development program of the PSC by the First Cagayan Leisure and Resort Corporation, have been diverted into the account of former Philippine National Police chief Alan Purisima from 2012 to 2015.[19]

In March 2015, Edgardo Cantada, brother of prominent broadcaster Joe Cantada and president of the now-unrecognized by the POC, Philippine Volleyball Federation, also questioned Cojuangco on the removal of the body into the local olympic commission, and replaced by another formed NSA by Cojuangco, Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas. Cantada pointed three reasons that POC is under dictatorship: worsening campaign for the national teams in international tourneys, including the Southeast Asian Games, NSAs in turmoil against POC are involved and the negligence and corruption issues between Cojuangco's favorite national sports associations.[20]

See also

Notes

    References

    1. ↑ "Metro Manila · Basketball - the Philippines' most popular sport".
    2. ↑ Tarra Quismundo (August 12, 2007), RP skaters vow to soar in Skate Asia 2007, Philippine Daily Inquirer, retrieved 2008-08-31
    3. ↑ Bomb hits Philippines cock-fight - BBC - 14 April 2012
    4. ↑ "Using Spirit Worship to Infuse Southeast Asia into the K-16 Classroom". Tun Institute of Learning. January 15, 2005.
    5. ↑ A Panorama of Indian Culture: Professor A. Sreedhara Menon Felicitation Volume - K. K. Kusuman - Mittal Publications, 1990 - p.130""
    6. ↑ A Panorama of Indian Culture: Professor A. Sreedhara Menon Felicitation Volume - K. K. Kusuman - Mittal Publications, 1990 - p.127-128""
    7. ↑ Republic Act No. 9850, Chan Robles Law Library.
    8. ↑ Aquino, Tricia (17 February 2014). "ICE RINKS IN THE PHILIPPINES? | Before Michael Christian Martinez, SM's Henry Sy had one crazy dream". InterAksyon.com. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
    9. ↑ "Manila on ice: YOG athlete Michael Christian Martinez creates history for the Philippines". Youth Olympic Games News (Olympics.org). 15 February 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
    10. ↑ http://www.philippineconsulate.com.au/home/4-latest-news/399-phl-teams-become-rising-stars-at-rugby-league-competition-in-new-south-wales-australia.pdf
    11. ↑ http://www.rugbyleagueplanet.com/rlp-nations/philippines/1054-rugby-league-in-the-philippine-merchant-marine-academy
    12. ↑ http://www.looppng.com/content/png-coached-manila-league-team-set-first-match
    13. ↑ http://www.emtv.com.pg/article.aspx?slug=Batanga-Warriors-PNG-Rugby-League-in-Philippines&subcategory=Sports
    14. ↑ http://www.rugbyleagueplanet.com/rlp-nations/philippines/2534-png-students-establish-a-rugby-league-team-at-the-university-of-batangas-philippines
    15. 1 2 Sy Egco, Joel M. (March 6, 2016). "‘Corruption persists in Philippine sports’". The Manila Times. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
    16. ↑ Araneta, Sandy (December 12, 2009). "BAP's Lim nabbed, faces deportation charge". The Philippine Star (ABS-CBN News). Retrieved March 8, 2016.
    17. ↑ "Philippine sports is a mess – Coseteng". The Manila Times. July 13, 2013. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
    18. ↑ "Corruption raps filed against PSC, POC". Antonio Trillanes IV. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
    19. ↑ Bondoc, Jarius (March 2, 2016). "‘Purisima’ collected P1 B from casino – but for whom?". The Philippine Star. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
    20. ↑ "PVF to POC: Respect NSA autonomy". The Philippine Star. March 7, 2015. Retrieved March 6, 2016.

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