Tuesday, November 21, 2006

CEBUFA DENIES HIROSHI REQUEST


CEBUFA DENIES HIROSHI FC'S REQUEST TO RETAIN DIV. A SLOT IN ABOITIZ FOOTBALL
Courtesy of SUNSTAR DAILY NEWSPAPER (www.sunstar.com.ph)
November 21, 2006 Tuesday issue
By Marian C. Baring, Staff Writer

CEBU Football Association (CebuFA) denied Hiroshi Football Club’s request to play in the premiere Division A of the Aboitiz Men’s Open Football League next year.

The Men’s Open defending champion Hiroshi FC, also the former top seed in Division A, skipped this year’s tournament because of lack of players, forcing the team to automatically relinquish the top spot and allowing last year’s runner-up, Crazy Horse , to climb atop the rankings.

The Hiroshi FC management wrote a letter of request to CebuFA asking for a slot in Division A next year instead of being demoted to Division B.

But CebuFA president Jonathan Maximo said that to be fair, the committee has decided to deny Hiroshi’s request.

Maximo said if Hiroshi decides to compete next year, the team will have to go through the usual process like the other teams and will need to climb its way up again back into Division A.

“The committee decided on this because there are other teams that were relegated (to the lower division) because they became either inactive or failed to comply with the number of players,” Maximo said.

Meanwhile, the Men’s Open division received an overwhelming response this year after drawing out the participation of thirteen new teams.

Maximo said the number exceeded his expectation of only seven teams for Division B this year.

“These are mostly teams playing in weekend tournaments. CebuFA is able to entice these groups to join us because of the festivals that we have introduced,” Maximo said.

The development, however, entails several problems and the foremost of all is with regards to the scheduling of the games, particularly as to how to finish the tournament on time. (MCB)

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