The Chemistry of Passion

In aiming for the semis, the SRRU was unassumingly tenacious. SRRU booters pummeled the Nasipit Football Club from Mndanao, 9-1, last week. An almost unknown team that was formed only last year, the club has grown because members are bonded with a chemistry – the chemistry of passion. Most of the members in the men’s open have full time jobs but when practice is called or a tournament is slated, they leave their desks and offices to don their jerseys, shin guards and soccer shoes then race to the football field in wild abandon. In a sense, they somehow leave the world behind with nothing on their minds except the ball. Or more specifically, the goal.

This very chemistry has given the team its advantage to communicate and coordinate in this offensive-minded game requiring players to score goals, prevent their opponents from scoring, keep possession of the ball or dispossess the opponent of the ball using mostly – you guessed it – the feet. Although players may use any part of their bodies like their heads and torsos to intercept the ball in midair, the last thing they should be using is their hands or arms. It is not just moving the feet – it is the strategy of knowing what part of the foot to use or where you want your foot or feet to take the ball.

To score a goal, each team competes to get the ball into the other team’s goal. The team that scores more goals at the end of a 90-minute game is the winner. But then getting the ball to the other team’s goal is no easy kick. It needs intensity. With intensity a chemistry – the chemistry to attack and defend in a strategy to mix things up and keep opponents guessing with quick, unpredictable passes or moves. It is not just the gravity of keeping the ball in possession but the chemistry to keep the team united while keeping the opponent disunited in split second decisions throughout the 90-minute game time.

The child in you.

Thing is, what has perhaps driven these men, mostly in their 30s and 40s to be passionate about the game is the way it unleashes the child in them. Football players have broad chests, well-toned muscles and beautifully shaped torsos but they become boys on the inside with childlike dreams when at the pitch. SRRU men say football has become a cathartic therapy to stressful jobs. Most of them have been playing football since children. Unconsciously though, the chemistry that keeps them faithfully enamored to the game is the way their passions come to play and how satiating these passions have become like a religion. It is the heat of the excitement that comes with gratifying, indescribable high when striking the ball past the goalkeeper.

Strangely this chemistry has a different mix among Cebuanos. The 8th Interclub Football Cup, said to be the biggest, most prestigious football game, was held in this city on April 27 to May 4. In other parts of the world, football unleashes the heat among fans in droves of thousands and millions who behave like beasts as they scream, claw or are ecstatically gripped in stupor. They watch the event in stadiums and from closed circuit television. But the crowd at the University of San Carlos Talamban football field hardly reached a hundred. While there was a crowd of about 2,000 during the parade and opening day, spectators thinned out during the week.

At most those who attended were either genuine, bonafide football aficionados, or people who have genuine affection for football players. No matter, it gave the impression that the reputed most popular sport in the world – and the greatest mover of humanity – is seemingly being lightly esteemed in Cebu.

SRRU president Sheldon Colina deplored that there is no chemistry between the local government and football. Indifference by government to football has impeded awareness that in doing so deprive the youth from enjoying the passion of the game and from being exposed to the game. He said most local governments are passionate about supporting basketball and boxing but rarely host football tournaments.

Perhaps the local government needs a firm kick to streamline their unpredictable stance on football. Beyond winning, football clubs share a vision of promoting football among the youth. SRRU coach Totot Colina said they will soon be forming a players 8 team.

At the end of the game when players take off their jerseys, they still need to play around with an inevitable, far more unpredictable opponent — without the chemistry of local government or community to the game the passion for football will have to be among a limited mix of enamored players. It’s time to put the best foot forward for the love of the game.