First pro league in Philippines ties in remote areas
The Philippines boasts Southeast Asia’s highest Fifa ranking but perhaps more significantly, the country’s first professional league began earlier this month, with a bold plan of taking the sport to entertainment-starved regional centres.
The 2017 Philippines Football League (PFL) kicked off on May 6, with Australians Gary Phillips and Ian Gillan in charge of the two newest and most remote teams.
Phillips, a former Australia youth international who coached Negeri Sembilan and Sabah in Malaysia, is guiding the hopes of Davao Aguilas, who play near the southern city where Rodrigo Duterte was mayor before becoming Philippine president.
Gillan, a former Perth Glory and Kedah assistant boss, is based 400 kilometres north of Manila at Ilocos United, who were set up by FilipinoAustralian businessman Jarred Kelly and Sydney-based Englishman Tony Lazaro.
Both Phillips and Gillan saw Asia’s fledgling league — the eight-team competition is the same size as the original A-League of 2005 — go from zero to full operation within a matter of weeks.
“I responded to a Facebook message about a coaching job, and 24 hours later we had agreed on terms and I was on a plane — sign of the times, I guess,” 53-year-old Phillips, who coached Sydney Olympic to the 2002 Australian title, told ESPN FC.
“The owner [Jeff Cheng] holds a major share in Western Sydney Wanderers in the A-League, and has a very good reputation. This is an opportunity to leave my fingerprint on a new franchise, and hopefully create a legacy of opportunity for young players in the state of Mindanao.”
Scottish-born Gillan, 52, worked under ex-Socceroo David Mitchell at reigning Malaysia Cup champions Kedah and Perth Glory, but this is his first experience as a professional head coach.
“We were the eighth and final team to be accepted into the league, and had the least time to prepare... just five weeks to recruit players, staff and put administration processes and procedures in place on a very low budget,” Gillan said.
“But what attracted me to Ilocos United was the opportunity to work off a clean canvas. It’s an exciting challenge.”
Despite sharing hosting rights with Myanmar, the Philippines surprisingly missed out on the knockout stages of last December’s AFF Suzuki Cup.
Even so, they remain Asean’s top nation on the Fifa list at 127th, two spots above regional heavyweights, Thailand.
At the top of the PFL standings are Meralco Manila, powered by brothers Phil and James Younghusband, the English-born former Chelsea juniors who remain the best-known footballers in the country.
The nucleus of the Philippines national team, coached by ex-United States captain Thomas Dooley, comes from foreign-raised players, schooled in European academies, with Filipino heritage.
While the top clubs attract the big names from the national squad, expansion teams like Davao Aguilas and Ilocas United have to make do with less.
“Our players are possibly discarded from clubs, unhappy or wanting a change,” Gillan said. “We have signed many young players and have a 16-year-old and an 18-year-old in the squad. It amazes me how this all works here, compared to the massive budgets experienced elsewhere.”
Not surprisingly, it has been a bumpy start to the season for the new boys, who are still looking for their first wins after a couple of matches.
“We are new to each other so it will take time, but we have seen a lot of improvement and are already competitive,” said Phillips, who has also coached in Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, and Tonga. “My target here is like anywhere else — just to win the next game.”