INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines – When Ricky Ortiz, 35, decided to try out for the Philippine team that was joining the 2009 Homeless World Cup (HWC) tournament in Milan, Italy, everyone thought he was foolish as he had never played football, known the world over as the “beautiful game.”

But the father of five, whose shanty home was scheduled for demolition, believed in himself enough to try. He quit smoking, drinking, and taught himself to play soccer.

Six months later, he found himself playing for the team in Milan. When the team won its first game last week against Luxembourg (6-1), Ricky was so happy: “I was so proud to be Filipino and to represent my country. I even shouted into the video camera: ‘For the Philippines.’”

The Philippine team returned from the Homeless World Cup (HWC) football tournament last week without a trophy in hand but with an extra kick in their step because the games proved there are many ways to be a winner.

Being recognized as the highest ranking team in the Far East (consisting of Hong Kong, India, Japan, Cambodia and Australia) and achieving the honor of being one of the most improved teams had made their journey a special experience.

48 nations, 500 players

The annual HWC is an international football tournament that brings together people who are homeless or who are refugees, those who earn their living as vendors of street papers (such as the Philippines’ Jeepney Magazine) or who are currently in a drug or alcohol rehabilitation program.

Now on its seventh year, the first tournament was held in Graz, Austria, in 2003 and brought together 18 teams. The 2009 HWC held in Milan on September 6-13 united 48 nations and 500 players from five continents. The Philippines first joined the meet last year at the Melbourne games. There are plans to send a Philippine team to the HWC in Brazil in 2010 and to Paris in 2011.

The HWC uses football to energize people who are homeless to change their own lives. Nearly 80 percent of former players undergo a significant life change afterward with 94 percent claiming to have a “renewed motivation for life.” Many come off drugs and alcohol, find jobs, move into homes, finish their education, repair relationships or become coaches or players with semiprofessional teams.

Change attitudes

The event also hopes to change the attitudes that government, media and the public have toward homelessness, and to plant seeds toward creating better solutions to this worldwide issue.

This “street soccer” tournament consists of fast-paced matches with four players per side competing in a game lasting only 14 minutes. The tournament starts with a draw, which divides the 48 teams into three rounds of games.

During the first round in Milan, Team Philippines played against four of the most skilled teams in the tournament and finished 1-4. After an initial win against Luxembourg, they lost to Italy, Ghana, Mexico and Romania. The next round reversed the results – the Filipinos defeated Hong Kong, India, Japan and Australia (with one loss to Argentina) that ensured the team a chance to play for the Host Cup, one of six Cups awarded at the end of the competition.

The Philippines came in fifth place out of eight teams for the Host Cup. Overall, the team finished 29th out of 48 teams – a huge improvement as it placed 37th out of 48 teams in the Melbourne games last year.

The team

The members of the nine-member Philippine team are aged 18-45 and although they have different stories, they express the same sentiments.

Team captain Ronaldo Yurag, 23, says he spent his childhood with the “NPA” (no permanent address) as his family was always moving. He dreams of finishing college and earning enough to own his own home. Living and studying at Rizal Tech through a football scholarship, he says the sport has taught him discipline, teamwork and the importance of hard work to achieve your dreams.

Goalie Joemer Gelena, 19, lives in a squatter area in Oriental Mindoro and is unemployed. He dreams of getting a college football scholarship so he can finish his education. “Football is my life. It made me realize I was good at something. It taught me to respect other people and not to depend on my family,” he says.

Aside from Ortiz, Yurag and Gelena, the Philippine team is made up of Mark Anthony Rosales, Robin Porcioncula, Larry Dela Cruz, Robert Francisco, Marlon Lagundino and reserve Rachy Gunda. They come from Masbate, Cebu City, Quatro, Pagsanjan, Nasugbu, Calapan, Guiguinto, Surigao and Floodway.

Lessons from football

The team has come a long way from the elimination tournament at the Homeless Football Festival held at La Salle Green Hills in May.

Coach Marlon Maro explains the appeal and power of the world’s most popular sport: “There is freedom in playing football – you can do whatever you want inside a football pitch. In the field, there is no big or small, rich or poor as long as you can play. You are free to explore your own ability.”

Maro has trained the team every night for four months. He speaks with pride about the changes he has seen in the team since they started. “They know they are important in society now.”

He explains: “They realize that they have a responsibility – to make noise that homelessness is a serious problem back home.”

Traveling all the way to Italy has also improved their confidence level. “They never even dreamed of riding an airplane. Seeing that there is an opportunity to travel if you have the ambition has opened a new world of possibilities,” Maro says.

OFWs in Italy

In Milan, overseas Filipino workers organized themselves to support Team Philippines in various ways. Members of the Alpha Phi Omega (APO) Fraternity and Sorority, a Filipino community service-oriented association, lent their support via food and their presence.

Unaccustomed to eating Italian food, the Philippine team craved rice, so not only did APO members bring them lunch of rice every day, they made sure there were Pinoys to cheer them on during the games.

Bill Shaw, cofounder of the nonprofit organization, Urban Opportunities for Change Foundation, which put together the team, observes: “We came to Milan as a group of strangers and immediately the Filipino community embraced us as their own. The unity they have shown to us has reverberated to the world.”

APO’s Mary Hazel says, “Whenever we see Filipinos on the metro during our trips to the stadium, we tell them that they need support. They promised to come on their days off.”

Then there was Paul Zialcita, a percussionist and performance artist from the Philippines, who provided live music at the games for the team with his Kalidrums.

His “instruments” consist of five-gallon water bottles (aquadrums) and a large recycled trash can be placed on a rattan stand.

Homeless, not helpless

Using traditional Filipino martial arts hand-striking movements and rattan sticks, Zialcita’s drum performance at each Filipino game provided the perfect rhythmic backdrop to the intensely played matches.

As the familiar sounds of crowds cheering, whistles blowing and balls being kicked fade into their memories, these nine players will return home to the same lives but something will have changed. They now realize they are not alone and that although they may be homeless, they are not helpless.

For the rest of the world, events like the Homeless World Cup serve to remind that the homeless are people, too – and they have faces, stories and dreams like the rest of us.

They deserve our respect and the right to a safe place to live.