When was the last time you heard some good news?
Well, there’s something good that happened just last month that almost went unnoticed — the football players of the Negros Oriental Football Association (NORFA) triumphed over all their opponents in the under-19 eliminations in Bacolod City last April 25-30. They made a clean sweep of the teams from Negros Occidental, Cebu, Leyte and Iloilo.
With that victory, our very own athletes won the right to represent Eastern Visayas in another tournament that is going on in San Carlos City this week. This tournament will determine who among the teams in the country will represent the Philippines in the Southeast Asian Games in September.
Our boys will be pitted against two teams from Luzon and two teams from Mindanao. And, as Norfa Secretary-General Alfredo “Dodo” Bustamante says, there’s a big chance that we will land on top, basing on the amount of time and energy they have spent in training and the individual talents of these boys.
Negros Oriental is truly the football capital of the country. Iloilo also makes a similar claim. But as Bustamante says, Iloilo booters produce a lot of national players. Negros Oriental, on the other hand, produces not just national players but coaches of almost all the national football teams.
Indeed, there’s a big promise waiting for lovers of football in Negros Oriental. The Negros Oriental Football Association, headed by veteran football player Dick Emperado, has several good things going for it. Among these are the talent of Negrenses and the support of several institutions and people for this sport.
However, there is still room for a stronger and a united football program in Negros Oriental. We look forward to a better football program in the province under Norfa so no one else can lay claim to being the Football Capital of the Philippines.