FOR people on the outside looking in, it’s easy to say that collegiate players shouldn’t be receiving anything from outside the usual scholarship and maybe some food from the schools that they’re playing in.
A couple of decades ago, that argument would’ve sufficed. But as the landscape of collegiate basketball grows with each year, and the demands for these coaches and athletes continue to expand, such justification wouldn’t really fly now.
This conversation was again the hot topic after San Sebastian coach Rob Labagala bared – both on live TV, and in the customary post-game interview with the NCAA beat reporters – that they haven’t been paid by their sponsor Jackson Chua and his group of companies for four months now.
READ Stags coaches, players 'haven't received salary, allowances for 4 months'
Further complicating things was the statement of San Sebastian college president Fr. Rafael B. Pecson, OAR. A statement which seemingly is more concerned with the ramifications of Labagala’s statement to the school rather than the actual welfare of the players who are carrying the school’s name with pride, day in and day out.
Never mind the fact that it’s not even the school that Labagala was referring to.
“We are aware of the recent interview [live] on GMA in which our Head Coach mentioned that the basketball coaches [have] not received their salaries for several months. Out of respect for the truth, I wish to clarify that all our coaches and staff have been receiving their monthly salaries faithfully and on time,” the statement said.
Deer on Headlights
For starters, Labagala has explicitly said that it’s their sponsor that they’re having problems with. He even mentioned that they’re getting some support from the school, as limited as it may be, which basically confirms what the school is saying in their statement.
But again, salaries on coaches and staff alone wouldn’t really cut it. Meals stubs for student-athletes may not be sufficient as well.
That’s why there’s an actual need for these coaches to look for sponsors who will back the team long before being appointed by the school – as in the case of Labagala and Chua, and certainly the majority of the schools both in the NCAA and the UAAP, like Allen Ricardo’s Letran with Strong Group Athletics, or Pido Jarencio’s UST with the San Miguel Corp. and so on.
And it’s not even through a sense of entitlement to say that at this point, these players deserve something other than a scholarship and the customary meals.
Athletes, not only in basketball, shouldn’t be just boxed in with your regular person when it comes to what they put in their body.
They eat differently, or should eat differently, considering the demands of having to train, go to school and compete. Supplementation and a balanced diet is a must for these athletes to be able to sustain what they do night in and night out.
And when it comes to the issue of allowances, why are people so hellbent on denying these players a piece of the pie? Of course we frown on excess, but at the very least shouldn’t these kids get something, maybe a little bit more other than sustaining their very basic needs?
We can talk about the spirit of amateurism all day but the fact of the matter is this – That ship has long sailed when both the NCAA and the UAAP became the flagship athletic shows of major television networks which garner millions through advertisement and pay for the broadcast rights of these college leagues by the millions.
That’s why the statement released by San Sebastian to address the issue is confusing at the very least, and infuriating at most.
“As a Catholic educational institution, we are guided by truth spoken with charity and charity lived in truth. We understand that emotions can sometimes lead to statements made in haste or frustration, but these moments call us not to anger, but to understanding and dialogue. We hold our coaches, athletes, and staff in high regard,” the statement continued.
Instead of standing by Labagala and his coaching staff – people who are actually shelling out their own money now to continue the program and keep these kids’ heads above water – the school opted to wash its hands by framing the rookie coach as someone who spoke ‘in haste’.
Take it from Jhuniel dela Rama, one of the most sought after recruits to come out of high school who decided to play for San Sebastian in college.
“Bagsak po. Bagsak, walang lakas, wala na kaming makain minsan,” he said.
“Yun nga hiram hiram nalang kami ganyan, si coach Rob nagbibigay parin samin yan nang pagtustos, pero naiintindihan namin kung di siya makapagbigay kasi may pamilya parin yan. Ginagawa lang namin nagluluto nalang kami.”
That’s certainly not a statement made in haste. That’s months of build-up. Of living with false promises, of making do with what’s in front of them.
Heck, had the Stags won a little bit earlier and been given the chance to talk to the press a week or two ago, this might have even surfaced back then.
But there’s a reason why it’s truly difficult for the Stags to get wins, ain’t it?
Again, it isn’t even an issue of Labagala vs. the school, nor should it be. It was Labagala putting Chua on notice for missing out on not one, not two, but four months of sponsorship money which would’ve been for the betterment of the very school’s representation in the second largest collegiate league in the land.
But throwing Labagala under the bus while masking it with Christianese language doesn’t bring justice to these Stags in the face of the issue.
You know who opted to wash his hands while the biggest injustice in the world unfolded?
Pontius Pilate.
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