Organizers move opening of Grassroots Football League due to coronavirus scare
CEBU CITY, Philippines – In view of the threat posed by the novel coronavirus (nCoV), organizers of the third edition of the Grassroots Football League (GFL) have also decided to postpone the start of the tournament.
Due to the ongoing threat of the novel coronavirus, organizers of the third edition of the Grassroots Football League (GFL) have decided to move the tournament’s opening to March. /CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
The GFL would have kicked off this weekend, February 8 and 9, 2020 at the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) campus in Canduman, Mandaue City.
Instead, organizers are looking at starting the event in March and have it end at the end of April.
One of the precautionary measures of the nCoV is to avoid crowded places, thus, it is not ideal to be holding the tournament at present especially that most of its participants are children aged 12 years old and below.
The postponement would also avoid conflicting schedules and use of venue since the 21st Aboitiz Football Cup is still ongoing and also uses the SHS-AdC campus as one of its venues.
The GFL is a brainchild of A-licensed football coach Oliver “Bingbing” Colina with the aim of developing the teams in the grassroots level and fostering among the young ones the heart of champions.
This is one of the reasons why the tournament follows the league-type format wherein the teams with the most number of wins will be declared the champions.
It started with 23 teams back in 2018 and has now grown to close to 40 squads that have signed up for this year’s edition.
Also this year, Colina has implemented two divisions with Division 1 for teams who have previously done well in the past editions and Division 2 for new teams.
Division 1 teams will have categories Players 10 and Boys 12 and will be a 9-a-side format.
Categories for Division 2 are Mixed 8, Mixed 10, and Mixed 12 and will be a 7-a-side.
The top four teams in their respective categories will be promoted to Division 1 next year. /rcg
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