LINGAYEN, PANGASINAN — Gov. Ramon “Mon-mon” Guico III on Sunday urged local government units (LGU) in Pangasinan to help him promote football in the province by setting up a football pitch in their town or city.
“We a have a bright future in football. That’s why let us promote this sports,” said Governor Guico, who formally opened the 10th Grassroots Football Day celebration at the Narciso Ramos Sports and Civic Center on May 21, 2023.
Among the guests were Philippine Football Federation (PFF) Youth Development head Tetsuya Tsuchida, and Referees Department head Allan Martinez.
The one-day event, where 31 teams from 17 football clubs in the province played, was Pangasinan Football Association’s (PFA) participation in the 10th Grassroots Football Day being celebrated by Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member associations this month.
PFA, which is headed by Governor Guico as its president, is one of the new frontier areas of the PFF, an AFC member association.
Governor Guico said that by June or July this year, PFF will be granting PFA a regular membership status.
“We waited for this for 14 years,” said Governor Guico, adding that the football club he organized at that time was only intended for his hometown Binalonan. “But we realized that it should be for the whole province,” he said.
Governor Guico said that when PFA finally receives its PFF regular membership status, there will be more football events in the province and training programs for coaches and players, which will be sanctioned by the PFA and PFF.
Leo Arnaiz, provincial sports coordinator and PFA secretary general, said that with the governor at the forefront in promoting football, each town and city in the province will already have a football team by the end of this year.
“The advantage of the governor as PFA president, is that he reaches every LGU. So, I guess many more will be joining us,” said Arnaiz.
“Hopefully, by the end of this year, each town will have a football team. It’s possible. As long as they understand the structure that they will have to be a a member of the association in Pangasinan,” he said.
Arnaiz said that by the end by July, the PFF will be launching a program that will bring football to the schools.
“Bringing football to each school. You know, this is not new to us anymore because most of our schools have football teams. So, this is not difficult for us anymore,” Arnaiz said. (PangasinanPIO)
