CHICAGO - Thousands of Filipino overseas workers from neighboring UAE and Qatar are eager to support Gilas Pilipinas when it takes on host Jordan in a Fiba World Cup Asia qualifier later tonight.
There's just one problem: Only a small fraction have been set aside for them to procure tickets at the Prince Hamzah Hall in Amman, an arena that can hold a capacity crowd of 7,5000 including 75 seats for VIPs.
[READ: Gilas fans rue limited tickets for Pinoys in Jordan game]
It's not exactly the type of hospitality Filipinos are known to extend to their guests, but when it comes to protecting home court advantage in Fiba events, life is supposed to be unfair.
And Jordan is no exception.
"This is nothing new and certainly not an isolated one," an official from the Philippine delegation told me in an overseas phone interview.
"Knowing our passion for basketball, bina box-out nila tayo. They don't want their arena to be overrun by rabid supporters of the visiting team," he added.
In fairness to the Jordanians, they're not doing anything wrong here because there are no set Fiba rules governing how a host country appropriates arena tickets to a home game.
"IT HAS HAPPENED BEFORE IN TAIPEI AND IN CHINA," THE SOURCE TOLD SPIN.PH.
In fact, during a road game in Tianjin years back, when a team coached by Tab Baldwin paraded Terrence Romeo and Calvin Abueva in the lineup, Manny V. Pangilinan himself had to buy tickets from a scalper.
During that road trip where Abueva was spat on by an unruly home fan, a high-ranking SBP official, who gained arena entry via a credential, watched the game while sitting on Gilas team's ice box.
While there is no expectation of getting the same rude treatment from Jordanian fans in tonight's tip-off, one thing is sure to happen: Our players will hear loud boos from a home crowd that view Gilas as a clear and present danger to Jordan's quest for a ticket to the 2023 World Cup.
The Philippines host Jordan in the upcoming sixth window in February, so the question beckons: Will Gilas also limit the number of tickets Jordanian fans can purchase in our backyard?
Not necessarily.
"Tickets allocated for them," he said.
Fortunately for SBP, it doesn't have to bear with having to deal with a soaring demand for tickets because Jordanian basketball fans are not known to travel for road games and are not as rabid as Pinoy fans.
THIRDY UPDATE. The news that Thirdy Ravena was the final cut for tonight's 12-man line-up was no surprise.
A source told SPIN.ph that the former Ateneo star and current Japan B-League campaigner sprained his ankle at practice. He is listed as "day-to-day" and could see action versus Saudi Arabia.
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