Gerflor coach Sammy Acaylar. –PVL PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Gerflor coach Sammy Acaylar admitted that his team is facing financial problems in the 2023 Premier Volleyball League (PVL) second All-Filipino Conference.
Acaylar set the record straight regarding the status of the Defenders, who remained winless in six games, saying the team is facing internal problems with the management, which first came to light due to a viral Reddit post.
“As you already know, there is a problem. It has spread [online]. Maybe, it’s up to the management to answer that but as I’ve said we don’t want to get ahead of the management,” the Gerflor coach told reporters in Filipino after their 10-25, 16-25, 14-25 loss to F2 Logistics on Thursday at Philsports Arena.
“If they don’t, I told them ‘I will support you as long as you take care of our players.’ Because I’ve experienced this before. I’ve been a coach for how many years, I don’t want my players to be at a disadvantage,” he added.
An anonymous Reddit user claimed that the players from an unnamed PVL team have not been getting paid despite having a legal contract and registration with the Games and Amusement Board as professional athletes.
The viral post, which former volleyball player Mela Tunay later shared, also said that the managers are not treating them well, spreading rumors about the players.
Playing through issues
Gerflor Defenders. –PVL PHOTO
Danika Gendrauli, who signed with Gerflor this conference, said the team is trying to play amid all the problems but she hopes the management would address their financial problems.
“We’re just trying to make it our mindset to play through this. But you know, we also need our [salary],” said Gendrauli in Filipino after scoring 11 points in their game. “My teammates and I talk every day after training about setting aside our problems because it affects our game. As you can see in our showing earlier, we tried not to let the problem get to us.
The veteran opposite spiker also hopes that there will be a change in their training schedule, which is set at 8 a.m. to 12 noon— with several players missing the practice due to their day jobs–for a more stable environment.
“We just want a more stable training venue. We don’t want to train in some random places. I hope they listen to us because we want to train as a complete group,” said Gendrauli.
“Some of my teammates have day jobs, so sometimes there’s just five of us in training and it’s sad. We hope they [management] listen to us about being able to train at night because of this, so that even though we don’t have our salary year we’re still able to attend our practices.”
The team managers, who were singled out in the anonymous post, weren’t seen in the team dugout after the game.
Low morale for Gerflor
Gerflor coach Sammy Acaylar admits that his team is facing financial problems. #PVL2023 | @LanceAgcaoilINQ pic.twitter.com/jgM5ADmdpA
— INQUIRER Sports (@INQUIRERSports) November 9, 2023
Acaylar admitted that his players’ morale is down after losing a couple of games combined with their financial woes, which almost led to some players skipping the games.
“The team’s morale is low. It’s not surprising considering we’re already losing games and then we have these kinds of problems,” Acaylar said. “But I control my players, As a coach for how many years, as a national team coach, I’ve learned how to motivate them and I’m doing that now, just so I can get them to play because sometimes they don’t want to anymore.
“I don’t want to spoil the league. Of course, I love Ricky Palou and Tony Liao and I don’t want to ruin the league because it’s been doing good.”
“My players are working very hard. They’re trying their best to win or score. I accept that I’m new to the team and I have some new players. They need more long training especially not all of them are simply playing as commercial players unlike in other teams,” he added.
Gendrauli, as a veteran, helps Acaylar in motivating her teammates as the PVL is currently investigating their current situation.
“As the eldest in the team, I’m trying to help as much as I can, but not when it comes to money because I also have needs. I just tell them to try not to think about it. We try to laugh about it because if we take it too hard, we’ll lose it,” she said.
“You can see how the team is really willing to play. If not for our coaches motivating us, if we listened to what others our saying that we should just stop play, then we’d be gone by now. But that didn’t happen, so I’m still thankful.”
For now, Acaylar said that the Defenders will continue to fight but if the management won’t address their problems, they will make a move.
“At the moment, we’ll focus on our work. We’ll make our move if worse comes to worst. So hopefully they will find solutions to our problem If not, I told my players, then we’ll make our move,” he said.