NEWLY-ELECTED Philippine Football Federation president John Gutierrez wants to bridge the gap between Fil-foreign and homegrown players through quality training that he wants to be at par with international standards.
Gutierrez said he wants local talents to have access to the same training that Fil-foreigners are receiving overseas so that more homegrown players would eventually have a fighting chance at making the national team.
READ John Gutierrez succeeds Nonong Araneta as PFF president
“Filipinos are Filipinos regardless of how much Filipino blood they have. I think the real issue is not the percentage of blood in the players representing our country. I think the issue is those representing our country are not being developed locally,” said Gutierrez during a press conference nearly a week after he was elected president.
“By the end of my term, I wish to have closed the gap between how the Philippines develops its talent against the rest of the world. And the only reason our national players are better than local talents is because of the kind of training and development, and the kind of exposure that is accorded to them. And in my administration, that’s the gap that we plan to bridge,” said Gutierrez.
Gutierrez said a technical group will be formed in order to take care of different levels of training, from the national team down to the grassroots.
“We plan to have this technical team to come up with a module or a curriculum that we will pass around the country through DepEd (Department of Education) and RFAs (regional football associations) so that people from Tawi-Tawi will have the same training module experience as we have from people in Batanes,” said Gutierrez.
“Players developed outside the country are only better than us because of the resources that they get and not because of our physical make-up or better off financially. It’s because here in the Philippines, we cannot afford them the same opportunities they get in other countries. And that’s what we want to try to bridge,” said Gutierrez.
With the plan, Gutierrez is hopeful that more homegrown talents would make it to the Filipinas and the Azkals rosters.
“I certainly hope that we have more homegrown talents in the national team. Tigilan na natin ‘yung ‘we have so much Fil-foreigners in that team’ and ‘we need more pure Filipinos.’ Filipinos are Filipinos. Ang ipaglalaban natin dito is have more of the homegrown talents in the national squads.”
New man at the helm of PFF
Gutierrez took over the PFF presidency after gaining 33 out of the 36 votes to gain a four-year team, succeeding Mariano ‘Nonong’ Araneta who has exhausted his two-term limit.
Philippine football legend Freddy Gonzalez and Far Eastern University coach Vincent Santos will also be active movers in the new PFF administration, while Coco Torre is staying as general secretary.
Santos said the new administration’s goal is achievable.
“I think there is enough talent locally. We just have to nourish and develop them further and give them opportunities ... It’s very much doable. I think the Philippines is a sleeping giant. We have the chance in the next four years to show it,” said Santos.
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