Give And Go
By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
The local football and e-sports scenes had it rough of late with telling pullouts hitting them.
Football saw one of the marquee names in the Philippines Football League (PFL) in FC Meralco Manila cease operations and has made known it will no longer participate in the next season of the national football league while e-sports had a big tournament lose some luster after the “major” label on it was rescinded last minute.
In a surprising turn of events, FC Meralco announced on its official Facebook account on Monday night that it was folding up as team, citing, among other things, the difficulty of finding new investors to help it run operations.
The decision ended more than a decade of existence for the Sparks which saw them in various iterations and competed in various tournaments and leagues, including the United Football League (UFL) and PFL, where they established a solid standing and following.
Like most who caught FC Meralco’s Facebook announcement, I, too greeted it with surprise and sadness.
Surely it came from left field as FC Meralco was one of the teams which performed well in the inaugural season of the PFL, winding up at third place following a steady regular season that had it on top of the standings for much of the time.
The Sparks were pretty much well-run and organized the way I saw it, highlighted by constant contact with the media for updates and all.
Their decision to trade long-time faces of the team — Phil and James Younghusband — took everyone by surprise but it hardly passed itself off as ominous of things to come.
Having had chance to follow the team in the UFL and PFL, it is sad to see FC Meralco go.
The Sparks were one of the marquee teams in said leagues for a reason, making decisions I felt, by and large, geared towards the advancement of the leagues and football in general, including naming a female general manager in Belay Fernando which was groundbreaking.
The exit also reminds one of how shaky still the national league is and a lot of challenges have to be overcome by all concerned.
If a team backed by a company like Meralco is forced to cease, what more the others, right?
But hopefully the remaining teams and the PFL rise above this episode and view it as further motivation to forge ahead and see the cause of furthering the growth of football in the country through.
Over at e-sports, organizers of the Galaxy Battles II, a Defense of the Ancients (DotA) 2 tournament, that is set to happen in the country next week had its “major” label rescinded by Valve Corporation, the parent company and developer of DotA 2, over what it considers as “unreasonable infringements on the privacy of the players,” including mandatory drug testing.
Organizers of the event, led by Malaysia-based Fallout Gaming, expressed disappointment and surprise over the turn of events as it put them in a bind as along with it went the Pro Circuit points, leaving the participation of some of the expected competing teams in doubt.
But they said they are forging ahead with the event, scheduled for Jan. 19 to 21, in accordance with the rules and regulations of the country’s Games and Amusements Board.
Definitely this pullout of the “major” label on the Galaxy Battles is unfortunate as it deprived fans here the chance to see their favorite international teams in action.
E-sports has been growing exponentially in the country and the upcoming event would have been a good platform to further showcase that.
To pullout over among other things because of mandatory drug testing is flimsy if you are to ask me, considering that proponents of e-sports want to professionalize it and want it included even in the Olympics, which encourages such procedures.
It would have been a good opportunity to set things in the right direction and elevate e-sports to another level of conduct.
Indeed, the pullouts football and e-sports in the country suffered recently were tough blows. Here is just hoping that both come out the better after these and continue the growth they have been experiencing.
Michael Angelo S. Murillo has been a columnist since 2003. He is a BusinessWorld reporter covering the Sports beat.
