By Les Tan/Red Sports. Video by Ian Chew/Red Sports.
You know how when you go to someone’s house, you put on your best behaviour? But if it’s your own place, you do what you like. You put your feet up, dig your nose. Whatever.
When the Singapore Slingers were introduced last Wednesday night, the booing started in the Singapore Indoor Stadium. When the Ginebra Kings were introduced, most of the crowd went crazy.
And this is supposed to be our house.
But, hey, you can’t blame the Filipinos. They support the team they love and they have every right to. They know who they, and they know where they come from.
Do we?
If we don’t support our own boys – and there are seven Singaporeans on the 12-man Slingers roster – nobody else will. And whether or not you like Pathman, Wei Long, Wei Jian, Michael Wong, Steven Khoo, Wai Sian or Desmond Oh is besides the point. Because one day, that player could be YOU.
For all the complaints we Singaporeans make about foreign talents (both in sports and outside sports), when it comes down to it, we don’t collectively step up in enough fan numbers to support Singaporean athletes at actual games. Oh, the bitter irony.
The national netball team played to fairly empty stands at Toa Payoh Sports Hall last year in the 2008 Nations Cup. When the 2009 Netball Super League was on at Jurong West Sports Complex, the stands were filled mostly with friends and parents.
The last near-full house for the Singapore national football team at the National Stadium was in December 2008 while the S.League attendances are poor.
The support at the Asian Youth Games for our local athletes at some of the venues? Embarrassing. You shudder to think about the Youth Olympic Games.
Everyone wants to be supported, but no one wants to do the supporting. It doesn’t work that way.
If we are going to ever have a sports industry in which more Singaporeans can take pride of place as elite athletes, coaches, trainers, physiotherapists, administrators, writers and photographers, then we have to come out and be counted.
The lifeblood of a thriving sports industry is not simply government money. If it is, you and I should ask serious questions because there are other important priorities in health, education and defence. Our government can only build infrastructure and put administrative systems in place but they cannot afford to and should not subsidise sports from cradle to grave.
The lifeblood of a thriving sports industry is commercial sponsors.
Gaping, empty stands suggest to commercial sponsors one simple thing – most Singaporeans don’t care. And if you don’t care, they don’t care. And if they don’t care, they don’t spend.
And what do sports sponsors spend on? They spend big money on the properties like English Premier League and the Formula One grand prix because they assume we care more for foreign talents.
And whatever we say about foreign talents, it’s what we actually do that is more telling.
For example, do you know how much money people on this island are willing to blow on the English Premier League just in subscription fees alone to line the pockets of foreign talents?
$75 million to $105 million.
Every year.
For the last three years.
An estimated 250,000 to 350,000 people subscribe to the Sports Group Package on StarHub cable at $25 per month.
So last Wednesday night at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, the Filipino fans made it THEIR house because there just weren’t enough of us Singaporeans there.
We were outnumbered.
In our own house.
No surprise then when Mark Caguioa of the Ginebra Kings duly obliged and decided he could get away with his punch on Kyle Jeffers of the Slingers. Just check out how he struts around after his punch on Jeffers in the video while the crowd cheered him on. I doubt a Slinger would be able to get away with that in Philippines. The Filipinos would be insulted, and so they should.
This is our house, people.
Claim it.
Or lose it.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZavNb8d1aM
You can also see pictures of the hit here: Caguioa of Ginebra Kings punches Slinger Jeffers
and what if i remove all of ur foreign imports … supposedly smart gilas are just college boys that beated slingers…we just have 1 import hired in that team … but on the slingers they have 8? but giles is a fil-am dont you know that?
@po: The Slingers have 4 imports, one less than the full quota of 5 for the ABL.
Are Fil-Ams dual nationality? Does the Philippines allow that?
@Les
Half-breeds wherein one parent is a local Filipino and the other a Foreign National, in this case an American.
Stop justifying that Philippines is top in Asia, because the Slingers COULD have won your Smart-Gilas team, which supposedly can thrash the PBA all-star national team 90 plus to 60 plus. It’s only 3 points that we’ve lost. What if you guys didn’t have Giles, the ex-NBA AMERICAN player? Probably Slingers would have thrashed up the Smart Gilas team.
So Philippines, your basketball standard is still far from the top in Asia. Stop bragging.
@Pogi, if you know what the argument was about. Apparently, it was someone whining that the local Slingers sucks. So I’m saying that your Filipinos who play are all mixed-blood or raised overseas otherwise they wouldn’t be so good. No pure Filipino staying in Philippines will be close to the players that played the Slingers. Look at Mick Pennisi, he is a Filipino? He is like 99% Polish and 1% Pinoy. That’s the kind of players u support. If we got a Singaporean marrying a woman of Yao Ming’s height, definitely, he would be 2 metres plus too.
@Slingerrocks
I am not going to say that the Philippines is the best in Asia. But if you really are familiar with the current Asian Basketball scene then you should know that top teams like Iran,Jordan, Korea, Qatar, Taipei, Kazakhstan, Philippines, Korea, Japan, Lebanon and even a Yao Ming-less Chinese squad are now almost evenly match and are capable of beating the other in any given game. Even FIBA Champion Iran and China can not be considered that far ahead of that pack. You can mix and match these teams, and you will get different results every time. That is how competitive the current Asian basketball scene is at the moment.
And before you start posting final results out of wikipedia, may I suggest that you actually watch those games. All of the games that the Phil lost were competitive apart from the Qatar game. The final score does not indicate how closely fought those games were.
In regards to the hiring of Foreign players. Philippines does not hold that distinction. Powerhouse teams like Jordan, Qatar, Lebanon have been notorious in acquiring Foreign bred players. Korea, Japan are doing it too.
And didn’t a Chinese national gave Singapore its first Silver medal in the Olympics. Not saying that its wrong, all I am insinuating that its not only the Phil.
Finally, since you asked, here are full bred local players that have grown up to 6’8 and above.
EJ Feighl (retired) – (7’0, 212 cm)
Gian Chu – (6’9, 206 cm)
Marlou Aquino – (6’9, 206 cm)
Japeth Aguilar – (6’10, 210 cm)
Samigue Eman – (6’9, 206 cm)
Yancy De Ocampo (6’9, 206 cm)
Junmar Fajardo (6’9, 206 cm)
Rabah Husseini – (6’8, 204 cm) – He’s Fil-Kuwaiti, but he grew up resides, and studied in the Philippines.
The local NSA (SBP) is negotiating with three of these players (Fajardo, Aguilar, Husseini) to play for the Smart Gilas NT to reinforce already signed players like Fil-Am Slaughter (7’0, 212 cm) and naturalized CJ Giles (6’11)
@pogi: Could you clarify what Fil-Am means?
@slingerrocks
Since you asked. Here is a list of Filipino players (pure bred) that have a height of 6’9 and above
Eman Samigue (206,6’9) – San Miguel
Junmar Fajardo (207, 6’9) – Smart Gilas
Gian Chiu (206, 6’9) – Divine Christian (US NCAA Div II)
Japeth Aguilar (210, 6’10) – Smart Gilas, WKU (US NCAA Div I)
EJ Feihls (212, 7’0) – Sta. Lucia (retired) – PBA
Marlou Aquino (206, 6’9) – Sta Lucia – PBA
Half Filipinos (but have been residing and studying in the Philippines)
Greg Slaughter (212, 7’0) – Smart Gilas
Rabah Al-Husseini (204, 6’8) – Smart Gilas (still unsigned)
@Les- first of all congratulations on this website. I feel like I’ve been living under a rock in Singapore missing basketball until I got invited to the last Smart Gilas-Slingers game. Then watched all 3 remaining tune-up games and had a blast, win or lose. I realize it’s a new Slingers team, and found them to be quick, deadly from the outside and court smart. The locals were impressive too, knew their roles, and had flashes of brilliance – I hope they do well in future games and stay away from injuries. It will get very rough from here on.
I’ve read most of the posts and it’s unfortunate Mark Caguioa did what he did – I’ve followed his career the last 3 years I was assigned in the Philippines and know he’s better than that. If I remember right Ginebra was up by a few points and Mark probably had to make sure a 3 point play wasn’t possible with Jeffers’ fake catching him off balance, which is why he came down hard. Not a good thing- I would have called it flagrant, two shots + possession. Not sure why the referees didn’t call it though. Can’t say I’m glad – that play let me down and wasn’t proud. But hey, these are all pros and they can take it (and surely give it).
To my fellow kababayans – let’s be thankful we’re able to get a taste of good high calibre basketball right here in Singapore, remain passionate but deal with our competitors with deep respect. Win or lose- it’s about making sure we have a great time at the coming ABL games. Bring more friends the next time too. Masaya ‘to!
And Les – if you’re ever in the Philippines wanting to watch PBA -let me know. Best seats await you.
@ron: Hey Ron, thanks for your encouraging words. I would love to catch the PBA. Heard so much about it. I mean, a game with 20,000 fans rocking the stadium?
Must be amazing. : )
That’s what I call sports fans and the Filipinos beat Singaporeans hands down when it comes to showing up and showing support.
Come on la, Smart Gilas and Helterskelter. By giving excuses and trying to justify for the loss to Slingers isn’t going to help Phil basketball in any way. I never said Slingers was really super good. But I said they were improving and our locals improved so much that we could even beat PBA teams, when we initially thought had we would get thrashed by 40 points.
More local Pinoys like Vergara should be given the chance to improve and step up. Look at the PBA, full of Fil-Americans or Fil-Fiji (Asi Tauvala) or Fil-Australians. Those guys are diaspora and holding dual citizenships. They are even born elsewhere. That’s why they even grow so big till 6-9. Name me someone who is born in Philippines and holds only a Philippines passport and has grown to that height.
They are not different from half-imports. Don’t u want pure Pinoys, like Al Vergara, to improve in basketball?
Sorry, my mistake in the FIBA Asia Results. You guys beat Taiwan once. But even Taiwan is higher ranked in terms of the 2009 FIBA Tournament standings. They beat Qatar 87- 79 and Philippines lost: Philppines 65 – Qatar 83
Another result: Philippines 56 – Korea 69
There is much to improve before Philippines can safely say that they are the best in Asia.
China, Iran, Lebanon, Jordan, Qatar, Taiwan and Korea are the countries above Philippines in basketball.
Is Philippines basketball really really sooooo good right now? Nah.
If Filipinos want Phil to improve, they got to be realistic and not deceive themselves to thinking Phil is really good. Come support the ABL, because that is the way Phil and Spore can both improve.
Support Al Vergara because he is a Filipino and he plays well for the Slingers. Even our local supporters are rooting for him.
Pray hard that Slingers can sign Donaldo Hontiveros as their final import. That guy is not God or anywhere close to an NBA player, but he is guy that Slinger fans would want to cheer for tooo. He plays clean and he is good and effective.
Helterskelter i know your point. But this slingersrock is talking the other way around…sarap tirisin. hehehe…
Les, there is no tradition of Americans being naturalized just to play basketball for the Philippines. CJ Giles is the first in 23 years.
every other player you’ve seen and thought to be foreign is just Filipino diaspora at its best.
@Sinigang Tampines: Thanks for enlightening me on that. I stand corrected.
Can someone enlighten me on Fil-Ams please? I read that alot but can only hazard a guess that they are of Filipino-American parentage.
But beyond that, I’m hazy.
erratum: can do WITHOUT Seigle.
@smart gilas are you referring to Danny Seigle and Danny Ildefonso. Nah… Maybe Danny I, plays well and is crucial to the championship runs of San Miguel but Danny Seigle has been gone for a long while. And San Mig has shown that they can do without Seigle (as shown in the last conference). I Don’t think San Miguel lost because the Danny’s were not there. I think they did not really think much about winning. Think, what’s there to gain? Di mo naman ipagmamayabang na natalo mo ang Slingers di ba? I think it was more of an experimental game for them and also a show for our kababayans. It’s just a warm up for San Miguel which was apparently a big deal for the Slingers. Ginebra, Smart Gilas or any other team will not go into the PBA season thinking that they are already good because they beat the Slingers while the Slingers will feel good entering the ABL if they beat (and they did) a PBA team. See the point?
@slingersrock…2 of SMB stars are not playing.SMB is not doing good and not in full fluid motion without this 2 guys.That is why sometimes they are champions in PBA bec. of this 2.Without them they are INCOMPLETE… So you said you won and your team or rather your local is doing good now a days. Look at the score sheet and who is your top 3 scorer even the first sin/aus/phil/nz slingers. Is it your Local? OK lets put it this way.Remove your 4 imports(AL vergara,Leblanc,Jeffers and marcus) and play with any club in the pba. Are they gonna win?You’ll see what your talking about.
Actually alot of pinoys are not in favor of PBA bec. of too much hype and very commercially inclined. Since the PBA inception in 1975 basketball in the phil is going down bec. players afraid to get injured coz its their bread and butter.Plus its patterned to NBA which most move is for showtime and for entertainment only.The last time we get the gold medal in asia is during samboy and caidic era which currently is the coach of Ginebra.The team that beats your team slingers.
We never say we dont respect your local players.We respect them very much.Do you respect pinoy teams? I dont think so. But honestly your local are still far from pinoy skills and agility and that is the truth.
@smart gilas: It is true that the local Singaporeans cannot start and win the game right now. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have the potential. The good thing about the ABL is that it gives them a whole season long of pro training and games to get better.
I think any talented player, Singaporean or Filipino, just need a real league and real competition to improve. The Filipinos have their PBA and now Singaporeans have a chance with the ABL.
So the 7 Singaporeans on the Slinger roster now have a real chance. Before the ABL, they never played enough games with the national team because they weren’t sent to enough tournaments by their sports association.
In the space of one month, the local boys have played as many hard games as they’ll get with the national team set up throughout the year.
When PRO teams play pre-season games with “weaker” teams, the goal is not to win but to experiment and try new tactics. The line ups of the PBA teams pit against the Slingers aren’t even complete/final. This is not to say that the PBA teams do not take the game seriously (because then the game will be just a waste of time), however the games are to apply what they have been doing in training and also get the “new” guys or bench players some experience. There is actually a parallax of goals when Slingers play against PBA teams.
1. Slingers play all out to win as a gauge of their competitiveness for the upcoming tourney.
2. PBA teams experiment and try to get the other guys in the team involved.
Of course, it is still the stars that gain a lot of points. Consider this: trying new plays to get the main guys open for or maybe the bench players really suck. Hehe.
Winning against PBA teams (by the Slingers)in pre-season games is not actually enough to boast as a credential. However, it is a good gauge of how the Slingers aim to win in the upcoming ABL.
Les, CJ Giles is the first American in 23 years that’s even being considered for naturalization just to play basketball for the Philippines. it’s nothing traditional.
@slingerrocks: before you say something about phil basketball do a research first ok…Phil is one of the best in asia in terms of basketball it just so happen that these politicians in my dear motherland are….no words to say.Plus for the record no other asian countries able to be 3rd placer in world championship even this mighty china team Hay…anyway,Admit it bec. of Al vergara slingers have a very consistent pg. Look at every game he play plu plus the 2 import u have.opps 4 including vergara hehehe.
Sorry pal,what your saying is out of mark.Let me tell you hontiveros and arwin santos (lucky his offnight today if not tsk tsk tks)are the only SMB player that currently part of the PRO Philippine Team others are scattered to different ball club. Smart gilas that won over your slingers is a developmental team compose of collegiate stars plus 1 import to be soon naturalize pinoy.GInebra have limited stars due to injury but they won bec of their character.
We respect your commercial team i mean your slingers team anyway its not your national team right. Its just a PBA team club that you beat and without import.
@slingerocks– i think the slingers game vs san miguel, there’s a lot of things at stake there. first, going into the game 0-2 may have bruised the ego of the players, losing on home front. second, these pre season games are gauge on how the slingers may fare against other teams in the ABL. third, with a period of days the ABL will unfold, and the jelling of the players are suspect in their games. You see, no one can transform a team into a champion squad overnight. They should earn it by learning from the experiences and mistakes they made in every game, win or lose. Man there’s a light in every end of a tunnel, unless obstacles come in the way. The Slingers have captured some respect in themselves when they won over PBA champion San Miguel. But there still a lot to be done in Slingers basketball, slowly but surely.And one way to earn more respect, you should learn to respect yourself first… right @Slingerocks.
@ndc Hey buddy, trust me, Filippino basketball credential is the last thing we’ll question, we all know how good the players are. I was very very impressed with players like Dondon Hontiveros today, he’s a clean player,and I respect him as a lethal shooter with a Ray Allen like form. What we’re concerned with is the discipline of some of the players like Caguioa. Players like Asi Taulava laugh off fan jeers and just get on with the game, that’s something the hot headed Caguioa can learn from, I have zero respect for him.
i think with the advent of regional basketball in Asia, Singapore should beam their radars on talent-rich Filipino basketball players, many of whom are not playing in the PBA or LIGA Pilipinas. This is one way Slingers can lure Filipino basketball fans on their side. Al Vergara is one, but still there are more players that you can recruit on your line-up. Good luck on your campaign!