Kaholeros take their chants to the malls

The Kaholeros — the official cheerleading group of the Philippine Azkals — took their cause one step further today by invading the one place where Filipinos love to converge.

In an effort to drum up support for the coming friendly versus Malaysia, the group led a meet-and-greet with some of the Azkals at SM Megamall in Mandaluyong, where they taught the crowd their cheers and gave away free tickets to 100 lucky mall-goers.

It's all part of a new campaign by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) through the Local Organizing Committee of the February 29 friendly and done in cooperation with SM Malls to drum up support not only for the Azkals but for Philippine football in general.

At the forefront of all this is, of course, the face— or to be specific, the blue, red and white face - of the Kaholeros, the guy known as the Blue-Haired Fanatic, who led the proceedings with his typical energy and enthusiasm. I managed to talk to him at the event of the event, and he said this meet-and-greet is the first of hopefully many more to come.

"This is a pilot project," the BHF told me. "We at the Local Organizing Committee believe that SM will be a critical partner in terms of them having an SM mall in every major city in the Philippines. It's a partnership that we'd like to cultivate. It's something that if the Azkals need to fly off to another city, there's gonna be an SM there, we can have something from them."

The BHF, whose real name is Ebong Joson, has extended his support for the Azkals beyond the usual rah-rah stuff, and is now more involved in the actual organizing of friendlies like the one that will be held next week. He wants this initiative to cover not just the men's senior team, but all national football teams from the grassroots up.

"I want this to be able to support our grassroots program, because not a lot of people can immediately go to the field," he explains. "What we can do is to send a pilot team or an advance team and make noise in whatever cities our grassroots program or grassroots tournament are going to have it. We can drum up interest and make some noise so that when the tournament comes there, the people will not just find out about it during the day.

"So we're trying to hit all the angles. We're trying to hit the Internet, we're trying to hit the broadsheets, we're trying to hit radio, TV, and text messages and tweets. You know, you have a lot of Filipinos walking in the malls. Even today, we had hundreds join us here."

The Kaholeros, Ebong says, have already expanded and have what he calls "satellite Kaholeros" all over the country and even in some other Asian countries.

"They've already opened up the membership. I don't have the exact numbers, but it's quite huge. We already have satellite Kaholeros in Cebu and Bacolod. I was just in Bacolod celebrating the first year of the BHF, the first anniversary of Azkals vs. Mongolia. I was there in Panaad with Real Bata and Unified FC. We have Kaholeros in Taiwan, we have Kaholeros in Singapore, in Davao, in Mindanao. So it's spreading, you know, it's spreading."

We're still a long way off from the level of support other countries have for both their club teams and national teams, but Ebong is confident that they're taking a step in the right direction.

"That is true," he said, when asked to comment on it. "In other countries, they have their own clubs and their own fanatics. For club and country they are able to drum up their support. But it's almost institutionalized, you know what I mean. It's in their culture. It's like them breathing in and out. You don't have to tell them to breathe in and out. And that's what we're trying to start out here. There are ways and means to support and back up your team. In our small way, we're trying to be the spark. It will take time, and I'm doing my best to make this happen."

Because of his bigger involvement now in the organizational side of things, Ebong is finding it more difficult to don the blue wig and face paint during home matches, so much so that he is seriously thinking of anointing a new blue-haired fanatic.

"The thing is, because of all the work that I have to do for the PFF and the LOC, I now need to wear two hats to home games. That is why a lot of people don't see me anymore as the Blue-Haired Fanatic during home games, especially the ones against Madrid and Icheon.

"So for the game against Malaysia, I cannot be wearing my blue wig because I'll be wearing my suit as the chairman of the LOC. That's why the Kaholeros are already training new leaders to take over. As much as I'm raring to go back to the Kaholeros and lead the crowd, there really are some responsibilities I have to do. In fact, during the SEA Games in Indonesia, after I had left after the second game, the third, fourth and fifth games were taken care of by a friend of mine who is based in Indonesia. He was the one who wore his own blue wig."

Also at the meet-and-greet were Azkals Roel Gener, Misagh Bahadoran, Eduard Sacapaño, Lexton Moy, Aly Borromeo, Angel Guirado, Luis Guirado, Jason Sabio, Carlie De Murga, and Nate Burkey, along with Coach Hans Michael Weiss. James Younghusband arrived shortly after the program started, while brother Phil came in towards the end.

Weiss said the team would be heading out to Nepal after their match against Malaysia to get acclimatized to the weather. They will be joined there by some of their European-based teammates who will miss the Feb. 29 friendly. The Azkals' first match is on March 9 against heavyweight North Korea.

"We will be heading immediately after the game on Friday to Kathmandu in order to get used to the high altitude there," Weiss said. "So we will most likely not field many of the Fil-foreigners who normally strengthen our team because we want to make a compromise and get them ready for the Challenge Cup.

"Basically it will be the team that played against Australia in the last match in Dubai, plus the Younghusbands. I am very, very positive that we have a very strong team on Wednesday. It's not only Phil and James on our team. We have a new player from Germany, Denis Wolf. We have one more coming in the central defense in the absence of Aly. So we have a deep pool of players. It's not just focusing on one individual."

Borromeo, the team's anchor on defense, will miss the Challenge Cup as he continues to recuperate from an ACL tear.

"I have two months left in my rehab and hopefully I'll be back on the pitch soon," the Azkals skipper said."

A fan asked Weiss about defender Anton Del Rosario, who was left off the team that went to the Middle East, and is also not in the 27-man line-up against Malaysia.

"Anton, at this moment, is not in the group," Weiss explained. "There are several reasons behind it. I don't want to speak in public about it, but it is not for good, and Anton has a chance to back after the Challenge Cup."

E-mail: sid_ventura@yahoo.com. Twitter: @Sid_Ventura