Global Cebu Comes Home

Remember those MBA days when the entire Cebu Coliseum crowd sang the refrain of the song “YMCA” in unison and had the opponents of the Cebu Gems crumbling against the home-crowd “pressure?” Remember how Cebuano fans would madly cheer for their beloved Gems led by Dondon Hontiveros and company? Remember how the Cebu Coliseum was simply rocking? Don’t look now, but we are now being given another opportunity to relive all these, albeit in a different but bigger setting. Finally.

The Global Cebu FC football team is taking its act “home” and will have its first real home game in the Philippines Football League on Wednesday, July 5, 7pm at the Cebu City Sports Center. The highlight of it all is that they face Ceres-Negros FC in a battle of the country’s top football teams in what is now being called the “Visayas Clasico.” It may have taken awhile to get it done but Global Cebu FC is finally coming to Cebu for all its home games. And let’s go all out to support them. For the first time since those MBA days, we’re going to bring back those regional battles with our neighbors but this time in football. The PFL is the country’s first national football league patterned after the big leagues of the FIFA world. Games are played on a home-and-away basis among the eight teams of the PFL: Ceres-Negros FC, JPV Voltes Marikina, FC Meralco Manila, Kaya Makati, Stallion Laguna, Davao Aguilas FC, Ilocos United and Global Cebu FC. As I write, JPV is at the top of the standings with 18 points (6-0-2 won-draw-lost slate. They are followed by FC Meralco (17 points, 5-2-0), Global Cebu FC (13 points, 4-1-2), Ceres-Negros FC (10 points, 3-1-1), Kaya Makati (10 points, 3-1-3), Davao Aguilas (4 points, 0-4-4), Stallion Laguna (3 points, 0-3-4) and Ilocos United (2 points, 0-2-5). Global Cebu FC has twelve more home games scheduled from July 5 to October 29 after playing “at home” in Manila due to the absence of a legitimate football field here fit for topnotch football action. With the Cebu City Sports Center football field being spruced for action, there’s no turning back now. Pictures of the field undergoing rehab have been posted on Facebook, and it’s looking impressive. Don’t worry about those brown spots. Those were purposely done to even out the field, and these’ll turn green on July 5.

But what does this all mean to us? With basketball highly unlikely to adopt a national league with a home-and-away set-up, football could be the sport that could serve as a focal point for uniting a football-mad Cebu. Sports is always a great unifying element and we have seen this on so many occasions, from Gilas Pilipinas to the Azkals and all the way down to your school and barangay-based teams. The Governor’s Cup finals for the North and South divisions were good and recent examples of this (Consolacion-Mandaue / Minglanilla-Dalaguete). And I’m sure the finals will be even more intense in terms of crowd support between Consolacion and Minglanilla.

Now this is going to be a totally new phenomenon for Cebu so let’s temper expectations but at the same time help it grow. For starters, the Ultras Sugbo will be there to lead in the cheering for the team. They’ve been there since the start, even if Cebu hasn’t hosted any game here. They’ll sing and chant all game long, and will lead all fans and joining them. This is not the time to be timid and shy. Stand up, shout your lungs out and join them. They’ll need all of us Cebuano football fans to go all out and cheer for the team. Remember how we all cheered for the Azkals when they played in a friendly game here twice? These weren’t even bearing/tournament games yet the Azkaleros were amazing cheerleaders and all of us cheered with them. Just recently at the SEABA tournament for basketball, the Ultras showcased their cheering ways when they cheered for the national basketball team Gilas Pilipinas. It was basketball’s first taste of football-style cheering and the Araneta Coliseum loved it. Let’s bring that to the stadium on July 5 and all the other home games of Global Cebu FC. Tickets are priced at P200, P100 and P20. These are amazingly cheap!

So mark your calendars now: July 5, 9, 12, 29; August 6, 19; September 13, 16, 27; October 15, 29. Stallion Laguna comes to play on July 9. For those fans of Phil and James Younghusband, they visit us on July 12, but you’ll still cheer for Cebu, won’t you?

Global Cebu FC is coming home. I certainly can’t wait for Wednesday (and eleven more game days) to see a rocking Cebu City Sports Center uniting a Cebu football and sports community. Let’s do this!