Have the Philippines reached their ceiling?

A runners-up spot in Brunei, albeit in a weak field and a sixth placing in Borneo, with many of the regions top teams in attendance, has to constitute a successful trip for the national sevens team, in just about anyone’s book.

This comes on the back of a workmanlike, but ultimately victorious campaign at home in this year’s Asian 5 Nations Division 3 competition, where after toiling hard in both games to break the deadlock, they defeated both Iran and Guam without conceding a single point.

As the year end fast approaches and all rugby at national level is over and done until next May’s journey to the Commonwealth Games Stadium in New Delhi, where the Volcanoes will look to at the very least cement it’s place in Division 2 of the regional competition, we take a brief look at where Philippines rugby is at and moreover where it is going.

The Philippine National Team 2009

At both sevens and fifteens, it is irrefutable that the Philippines are performing at a standard, way above the level that a country with only three clubs who contribute to the ranks of the national teams, would be expected to be at.

How they manage to do that is plain for all to see; they are the beneficiaries of the migration of Filipinos throughout the entire world and in particular to relative rugby strongholds, such as Australia, the United States and England. In such diverse and far flung corners of the world like Bundaberg, Florida, Modina and Northampton, descendents of natives of the Philippines have been brought up on rugby and have the sport coursing through their veins as much as any true blooded Brit or Aussie (if there is such a species!).

Utilising the power the internet, Facebook and all the other social networking tools available, the Philippines has been able to find and then harness talents, that maybe even five or ten years ago would have remained in the abyss of the unknown. These young men, far too numerous to mention, have journeyed to the Philippines, in many cases for the first time ever and immediately bonded with other Philippine heritage players, locals and expatriates alike. The glue which creates this bond is rugby, but it has to be said that there is something a little bit extra special about the camaraderie within the ranks of the Philippine national teams.

Diverse backgrounds, origins and years of involvement in the sport; the Philippines once fielded a national side with the oldest player nearly 28 years older than the youngest, have no apparent impact on the team spirit or performance whatsoever, however is this reliance on overseas players sustainable and is it helping the growth of the game locally?

Runners-up in Brunei, the national sevens team

One school of thought is that you should always select the best side available, whilst remaining within in the criteria laid out by the sports governing body. The way new, previously unheard of Philippine heritage players are popping up left, right and centre, there will very soon be no local players amongst the squad, let alone the starting team. Many may breath a sigh of relief at not having to see veterans in their mid forties try to roll back the years and relive past glories, but the simple truth is that soon no locals will get in the team either.

Here’s the problem; the quantity and quality of rugby available in country presently, is such that local players cannot gain the experience and skills necessary to perform at a higher level. If they continue to select based purely on merit then they will eventually be the creators of a negative feedback loop, whereby local players will not see a viable pathway to national selection and perhaps drift away from the game. It will also become more and more difficult to encourage locals schools and colleges to participate if the national team is seen to be in effect ‘a bunch of imports.’

There are perhaps some amongst the rugby community who may suggest taking a couple of steps back, in order to eventually move further forward in the longer term. Perhaps the Philippines could adopt a quota system and blood aspiring locals, the way South Africa has attempted to over the years? This I believe would be a huge mistake; not only would the Philippines regress in terms of regional standing, but overseas-based players who felt unjustly overlooked may begin to lose interest in traveling to represent their country (let’s remember that just about all of those who travel in do so at their own cost, sometimes several times in a year).

My suggestions are these:

The Philippines need to establish more clubs and to ensure that these clubs survive, they need experienced players to join their ranks. In Brunei a few years back, all the expatriate players from the top club, split themselves up into four groups and joined local teams, thereby strengthening each and every one of them. They, in one act, had created a competitive league and were able to mentor up and coming local players. The alternative is of course, what they have now in the capital city, where two teams fight it out (literally quite often) for every piece of silverware and new teams get steamrollered every time they have the misfortune to have to play the dominant teams.

The Philippines needs to establish a national development team and put time and effort into ensuring they get adequate funding to be effective. As much time and effort, if not more should be put into this project as the national squad itself.

Lastly they need to ensure that their national teams are able to train together more often and for longer periods. In Division 2 the Philippines will face Thailand, nearly all Bangkok based and in the military and police, China, all based in-country and either students in Beijing or military in Guangzhou and India, who are all in a one year long training camp together. The Philippine teams perform remarkably well given the circumstances (the sevens team had one training session before the Brunei Sevens!), but you can’t ‘wing it’ forever, especially as you climb the ladder. There is only one solution to the problem, money. Travel expenses, accommodation etc etc will have to be covered for those traveling in.

If one, or all of the above are not put in place I would suggest that the Philippines has reached their ceiling. I for one hope that is not the case.