25 March 2013

Azkals risk losing Fil-foreign stars due to 'embarrassing' Rizal pitch, says boss

By Karlo Sacamos and Reuben Terrado


AZKALS coach Michael Weiss has warned that the country is in danger of losing its Filipino-foreign standouts if the condition of the Rizal Memorial Stadium's football pitch does not improve.

The German mentor rued the pitch conditions at Rizal during the Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup Qualifiers match between the Azkals and Cambodia on Sunday night when play was halted for an hour due to an unplayable pitch caused by the heavy rains.


“It’s an absolute embarrassment to play in these conditions,” Weiss said. “If you had seen the pitch three weeks ago, it wasn’t like this.”


“So the people who are handling these matters should really think deep because eventually these (overseas-based Filipino) players they lose interest,” he added.

Stephan Schrock, one of the prolific Azkals based in Germany, expressed disappointment over the pitch, which saw numerous puddles forming on the pitch when play was resumed.


“It was different than when I was here last time. So I was a little bit disappointed that the pitch was not that as good as I had known,” the shifty left winger said. “But we’ll see on Tuesday how the pitch is prepared.”


Curiously, the Rizal pitch had been upgraded only last December in time for the AFF Suzuki Cup semifinal match between the Azkals and Singapore. The work was done by the same contractors that maintain the immaculate, all-weather fairways of top golf course Sta. Elena.


The Philippine Sports Commission had been in talks with the Football Federation about converting the pitch from natural to artificial, but negotiations hit a snag when the PSC refused to give Fifa, which was supposed to shoulder the transformation, control of the pitch.


According to PSC commissioner Jolly Gomez, the conversion of the field into an artificial playing surface will push through and will be funded by the government sports body. But it will only be done after the stadium hosts a rugby tournament in May.

“After the Asian 5-Nations Rugby Tournament in May, we will convert Rizal into an artificial playing surface,” said Gomez during a press briefing.


Responding to criticism about the condition of the field, Gomez admitted that work really needs to be done on the field. But he said maintaining an all-weather natural grass field is not practical because the field is prone to overuse.


“We already acknowledge the fact that we cannot have an all-weather natural grass field considering the amount of use that the field has,” said Gomez.

The PSC commissioner also said that they are also allotting a P5 million budget for the installation of a drainage system to avoid flooding on the field, in case of heavy rains.

spin.ph



7 comments:

  1. Blame it on the Volcanoes. The Volcanoes should not be sharing with football. They should find their own field. After a scrum they leave a crater, but do not contribute anything for the restoration of it. In April they will have a bunch of friendlies with Pacific Island teams. Have you seen a Pacific Islander? They look like cows. After a scrum they will leave a crater. And who is going to restore it? The PFF.

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  2. DUDE RMSC is not a private property. Therefore, anyone can use it. If you want exclusivity, better sponsor a stadium he he

    Blame the officials coz they do not maintain it properly. Alam mo naman gobyerno is palpak and petiks

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    1. I think for now, why we focus only in RMS? Look guys...kung hindi nga lang tayo bulag, why don't we look with other alternative places????

      Why? Philippines is only for LUZON???? hey... wake up.....

      even in remote places if we want to develop any kind of sports we can as long as our "OFFICIAL" having a brilliant mind for the country not for the "BULSA" and last sunday match, yan ang nag papatunay on how they managed their position and do their job up to now......




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  3. Aside from the pitch, it is also embarassing to see many empty seats right in heart of Metro Manila. The AFC Challenge qualifiers should have been played in Cebu and there wouldn't have been an empty seat plus the hotel accommodations are at par with Manila.

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  4. To those who complain a lot about field conditions in the Philippines during their match against Cambodia, especially from our very diplomatic Coach Weiss, i just want to point out the various conditions the matches have been played in here in CONCACAF. Aside from a game being played last Friday by the US against Costa Rica in a WC qualifier in Colorado, in the middle of a snowstorm that was ankle deep and practically obscured the sidelines, they have also played in conditions that an observer described as waterlogged fields, mud pits and de facto water polo venues in the Caribbean and Central America. Guatemala for instance prefer to play their home games in the middle of a jungle where they can get high humidity and nearly oven hot conditions. Other teams especially in South America aside from less than ideal field conditions, play their home games in highly elevated fields that would be dangerous to the health of players who are not used to it. All in the name of homecourt advantage. I hope the staff at RMS and PSC learn their lesson from this game and improve conditions in our national stadium, but in the end, our pampered players and coaches from Europe should understand that this is typical of conditions in fields outside their continent and just suck it up.

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  5. The tickets are so expensive that's why there were a lot of empty seats. I didn't even see the Kaholeros in their usual spot. They transferred to the side bleachers.

    It is time for the PFF to acknowledge the fact that if they want to host an event. They have to make sure that the people can afford it. We have the most expensive ticket price in Southeast Asia.

    They should stop milking the cow and should start promoting the to the masses.

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