With the current rising of the level of appreciation for the sport of football in the country and in Cebu City, four Cebuano football “legends” shared their thoughts and gave some advice in the hope of giving Cebu’s uprising football stars some guidance.
Now based in different parts of the globe, former M. Lhuillier Jewellers football squad members Eddie Catarinen, Randolph Estremos, Genard Aller and Graeme Mackinnon shared their views on how today’s players can emulate some of their playing styles and how to further improve their skills in the sport.
Estremos, who is based in Macau, said current booters are lucky with the way they are trained.
“Ang karon nga mga players mas nindot na gani sila ug training kay ang football game at present, technical na kaayo compared sa among time,” Estremos said. “Mas rigid na pud ang training nila karon then mas daghan ang exposure nila sa mga training camps, some even outside the country.”
Estremos, along with Catarinen, Aller and Mackinnon were part of the legendary Jewellers football team that gave Cebu City its first and only championship title in the elite Philippine Football Federation (PFF) National Championship dubbed the Don Andres Soriano, Jr. Memorial Cup in Iloilo City in 1988.
They gathered recently to celebrate the team’s 25th anniversary since winning the title that got them enshrined into the Cebu Sports Hall of Fame.
The Qatar-based Aller, for his part, said that the key to becoming a good football player is hard practice and obedience to the coach.
“Dapat dedicated ang mga players to play the game. They must also have perseverance and self discipline kay any player nga naa ana nga qualities, sigurado jud nga mo-improve,” Aller said.
Catarinen, now based in Canada, said, “These young players must train hard in order to develop endurance. They also need to feel the pain in the game, because as they say: no pain, no gain.”
On what keyed the Jewellers’ successful tournament campaigns in and outside Cebu City from 1988 to 1991, the M. Lhuillier Jewellers’ former playing coach Mackinnon said their feat became possible during that time perhaps because, according to him, they believed in what they were doing and they have the fitness and discipline that enabled them to defeat their much-stronger foes on their way to winning the championship title.
“There are three things which made our title win possible. Fitness, belief and discipline. Fitness and discipline to endure the pain during the games and the belief that made us proud on whom we were playing for,” Mackinnon said.