Thirsty for Madness

Picture this. One weekend. 349 football teams. Games being played at the Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC), Don Bosco and BRIGHT Academy yesterday, and more games played today and Friday night at the CCSC. It all kicked off at around 5:30 pm on Friday and it’s expected to end tonight right around midnight. So what’s all this football madness all about? Why run into midnight for a bunch of football games? It’s the Thirsty Football Cup 2013, a weekend bundle of football fun.

It’s football’s belated Chinese New Year package of fun composed of 14 age groups under which the 349 teams are playing. And they come in all shapes and sizes. The youngest age group is the Players 6 division which features kids in pre-school. The oldest? 42 years old and above. One team in the 42-above division is ironically called “Einstein FC.” (I wonder what their mascot looks like.) The “young once” most likely carry their beer bellies around them, but still claim they can play like the Azkals. There are guys and girls, young and old, and even guests from out of town. We have beginners, novice players, the really good ones and even some pros. All playing because they simply want to play and have fun. And have fun they will in a very quick period of time.

But what is fun to all of them? It means playing in a one-day tournament that sees all teams playing at least three to four elimination round games and if they’re good, they’ll make it to the playoffs and the championship, all in one day. Take for instance the Players 6 division, there are 13 teams split into four groups. All teams play the other teams in each group, with the top team(s) making it to the knock-out playoffs stage that determines the champions. Their first game started at 7:30 am yesterday and if the schedule went as planned, their tournament within the tournament should’ve ended around 1:30pm. The Men’s Open division though, is totally “insane.” It has drawn 72 teams spread over 16 groups. They started at around 10pm last night, took a break at midnight, then resumed play at 7:30 am today, targeting to end around 10 pm tonight. Wow. I feel for those who started early this morning and made it all the way to the finals tonight. That’s practically an entire day at the field away from home on a Sunday. But feel for them for what? They don’t mind it at all. In fact, they’re out there enjoying every second of it. That’s why it’s called a football festival.

A football festival is a series of one day tournaments for different age groups or divisions packaged into one weekend of football fun. In other terms, it’s like a fiesta, a celebration of football where all ages converge in one venue or the “town poblacion” for the fiesta or the town procession. Remember the Sinulog? It gathered an estimated 8 million people along Mango, Jones, the CCSC and more. That’s already the entire population of the Cebu province. The Thirsty Football Cup is also doing something similar over the past three days. It’s gathering practically the entire football community to celebrate a fiesta. This is the Sinulog of football, believe it or not. It’s getting bigger every year and the party place is getting too small for the needs of the market. There are just too many teams wanting to join in the fiesta. And nobody is expecting to be turned away by the organizers. It’s a fiesta, di ba? Nobody is rejected at a fiesta. Open the house!

But before we get out of hand with many wondering how this is all possible, let’s all remember that football festivals like this are not playing the regular 11-a-side football game of two 45-minute halves using the entire football field. Festivals play “small-sided” games of seven-a-side with a game lasting around 15 minutes long (or short). The teams actually spend more time waiting for their games to start than the actual game time played. But that’s all part of the fun. The down time is spent bonding with friends, chilling out and playing around doing something else. Some will eat, sleep, read books, listen to music, then jump out when called to play. There are even some who actually miss to play when they get all too pre-occupied with their free time activities.

Madness? Maybe. Nuts? Possible. Insane? Probable. But that’s what it’s about. It’s also fun and enjoyable celebration.

But do you know where real the “madness” is found? What happened to all the talk about the SRP sports fields or complexes? We once had a decent field at the Cebu Business Park (Ayala) but we all know what it is today. It even managed to stay idle for quite some time when it could’ve been used. The old campus of the Cebu International School (CIS) in Banilad had another field perfect for age group football but we all know what’s there now, do we? Idle and useless. Now you tell me, where’s all the madness and insanity? Funny but we need to address this madness to have more madness, the football type which we prefer. Thirsty has made us just that: thirsty for more madness and insanity.

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Time-out: Dear DPWH: You ripped open parts of the Canduman road and just left it there as an eye sore for motorists. More madness indeed! >>> You can reach me at [email protected].