Let’s enjoy both football and basketball

ARNHEM, The Netherlands—I am here with six Ateneo students on a journalism study tour. Through Lokaamondiaal, a Dutch NGO deeply involved in developing journalists and the Asian Center for Journalism at the Ateneo, we are returning last year’s Philippine visit of six Dutch students who pursued feature stories on Filipino life. Now, it’s the Filipinos’ turn to find engaging topics on Filipinos here and Dutch culture.

Jio Igual, one of six Filipinos on this trip, is a fan of international football. He wants to experience what it’s like to enjoy the game inside a European pub.

In this quaint city about an hour from Amsterdam, we visit Mick O’Connell’s Irish pub at five in the afternoon. On its flat TV screens are two important games: Manchester United versus Chelsea in one wall and Ajax against FC Twente in another.

Jio, a Communication senior, is quietly rooting for Manchester. He knows the Premiere League enough to carry a conversation with the 30 or so males inside the bar.  There are loud, painful groans with every missed attempt and an explosion of cheers when Manchester scores two goals in the first half.

The game that Manchester eventually wins, 2-1, is also being watched in almost every restaurant down the narrow side street. Focus later shifts to the Dutch battle, which FC Twente wins, 3-2.

Football is the Europeans’ game and no other sport seems to consume them.  Dutch sports media devotes volumes of space and broadcast time to analyze games while football jerseys and team paraphernalia are for sale everywhere.

The journalists we meet here, whether they are news producers or editors, talk to us about the game. It is the game of their childhood and teenage years. Older men and women who now make a living or are retired stay connected to the game by following their favorite teams in stadiums, at home or in city pubs.

Sports following inside bars for us is basketball, where barkadas huddle around buckets of beer and pulutan.

PBA championships nights have always been great reasons for friends to share a night out. Of late, UAAP games have also started afternoon get-togethers among schoolmates, regardless of how long ago you were in school.

Probably, when football grows as the Azkals improve and remind Asia that we can play this sport, we will see some more football pub-watching in Manila bars. If our club leagues can get more TV coverage, then football might be a new way to lure patrons to the pubs, although there is already a steady expatriate following of European games in a few bars in Makati and Manila.

We want to see football and basketball enjoying Filipino fan support and patronage.

There should be no animosity toward either sport as both can reside peacefully in our part of the woods. Football fans must entice new followers by explaining the intricacies of the sport and not simply claim that their sport is more pervasive than any other.

Basketball die-hards must watch football with patience and not simply dismiss the game as an arduous journey to a goal.  The struggle to score is the thrill of football and the reason why players attempt to hone their individual skills to very high levels.

We can play and enjoy both games, even if the enjoyment becomes limited to raising a glass in a bar and staying glued to the tube.