Businessman and football supporter Jeff Cheng was all over the news for the past several days in the local football universe. His resignation as the manager of the Philippine Women’s National Football Team took almost everyone by surprise. Almost because we already had inkling before then that this will eventually happen.
His resignation letter confirmed the struggles between him and the current leadership and some people running the Philippine Football Federation (PFF).
“For several months, we tried our best to make things work, under new and very different circumstances. Unfortunately, the situation is not workable,” Cheng said in a statement given to the media last Sunday.
“Our priorities and goals do not align, and the PWNT organization that we worked hard to develop in the past years is not compatible with current methods,” he added.
From what The Designated Kit Man heard, the final straw that figuratively broke Cheng’s back and probably his patience too, came recently. The PWNT is supposed to conduct an ID and training camps next month in the United States. The activities, however, reportedly got scuttled after the PFF said no, citing rules. The PFF allegedly said that Cheng and company must seek the Federation’s approval at least 30 days before conducting any activity. Moreover, plans to conduct activities or anything related to the PWNT should be discussed first, and more importantly, approved by the PFF leadership for them to push through. Any activities that didn’t pass the requirement will be put on hold as the reports claim.
The Malditas, and eventually Filipinas, rose from being virtually unknown into the feel good story of the last FIFA Women’s World Cup in New Zealand and Australia last year. Long the laughing stock of regional football and even in the whole world, the PWNT became one of the success stories of the “beautiful game.” A World Cup win and AFF title were made possible because of Cheng. Part of the success is most likely, too, due to the system and the operations Cheng and his team has implemented in the past and until he made his intention of leaving the team known.
The PFF, I’m sure, has its reasons for doing so. Heck, they have the right as the national sporting association governing football for one. I’m just hoping that the reasons are not because of whims, power tripping, that “homegrown priority first” mantra or that “having Fil-foreign players has served its purpose” crap. The last two are impractical and annoying now to a fault. We should assemble and send the best team in every competition regardless of whether they were born in the country or somewhere else as long as they are Filipinos.
I just hope this will not be the norm in choosing the members of our youth teams, and even the seniors in both men’s and women’s squads, in the future. Having said this, equal opportunities must also be given to all Filipinos, whether born here or somewhere else, who want to try out and play for the flag and country.
Having an all-homegrown team is the ideal, but can we afford to do that now? Just take a look at our team which is playing in the 2024 ASEAN U-16 Boys Championship. Reportedly made out of the best of more than 1,000 players who tried out for the team, the Philippines remains winless, goal-less and eliminated in Indonesia after just two games. Some would argue that the team played poorly because some of the players were not in their natural positions when they took the pitch among other reasons. So why pick these players in the first place and what happened to the rest who tried out for the team?
Correction, we scored a ridiculous own goal that has drawn so much mention and noise in social media by someone, who is not even part of the team. Pakiusap lang po, just accept what happened, learn from it and shut up.
Someday, we will eventually have a team that everyone will accept, support and love. But this is not the day.
Going back to Cheng’s resignation, what will happen now to the Filipinas’ and the youth teams? Concerns are now being raised not only by players, but also by parents who have invested much time, effort and resources just to support their daughter’s wish to play football for the country. Cheng is not the perfect manager, who is anyway? I may have two or three things to say about him, but he has done a lot for women’s football. No arguments there.
In most cases, you can’t argue with failure much more with success, but when it comes to the powers at be, this is not possible. Either you follow them or leave. And Cheng chose to leave. It will do him good, physically, mentally and financially. It is, however, bad, very bad for Philippine football.
Kumusta pala ang traffic sa Calax?
Stay safe. Stay happy peeps!
For comments or questions, you can reach The Designated Kit Man at erel_cabatbat@yahoo.com or follow his account at Twitter: @erelcabatbat