A chat with Boss Nonong
It's a balmy late Monday afternoon in the Barotac Nuevo plaza and I'm watching an over-40 game with one of the town's most distinguished sons; Mariano "Nonong" Araneta.
Aside from helping run a thriving manpower and real estate company, Araneta is the president of the Philippine Football Federation. Many moons ago he was also a star for U.P. in both football and basketball. He went on to represent the national team with distinction.
Nonong has plenty of stories to tell about his playing days. In 1983 he was part of the SEA Games team, then coached by the legendary Juan Cutillas. After training in Russia, they were drawn in a three-team group with Singapore and Malaysia. The first game was against the Malaysians in Singapore's National Stadium on May 28. The Pinoys battled bravely throughout the 90 minutes and could have won had Rodolfo Alicante's late strike not clanged off the woodwork. The match finished goalless.
The next day was supposed to be a rest day, but Cuto, as the coach is nicknamed, had other ideas. The Spaniard is famous for his teams' fitness, and instead of a light workout, he subjected his charges to an intense practice that left the boys shattered. Plus, instead of resting that night, Cutillas took the team back to the stadium to watch Thailand pummel Indonesia 5-0 and Brunei edge Burma 2-1 in the other group games. After the matches, the team needed a long walk to find a bus to reach their digs. It was 1 a.m. before they were able to get to sleep.
The next day, the Philippines didn't stand a chance against Singapore. The legs weren't there. Buoyed by the legendary "Kallang Roar" of the home crowd, the visitors were thrashed 5-0 and departed the competition.
A year later he was in Indonesia for Asian Cup qualifying. The Philippines would lose all five matches but were only blown out in the last game by Iran, 7-1, according to the FIFA archives (Araneta recalls the score being 4-1.) Nonong smiles ruefully when he recalls how one of his goals, a long-range bomb into the top corner against Thailand, was disallowed because of a bad offside call.
The Barotacnon was more than just a Footballer. He was handy with a basketball in hand too, and has a 100% record as the coach of the U.P. Fighting Maroons. Of course, he only coached one game. But it was a big one.
In 1986 the Maroons looked headed for UAAP hoops glory. But coach Joe Lipa and guards Ronnie Magsanoc and Eric Altamirano were tapped for the Asian Games campaign in South Korea and were to miss a crucial must-win game versus Adamson.
Called on to helm the squad at the ULTRA was none other than Araneta, the team's trainer. "I got one of the power forwards to play the point. We set up Benjie (Paras) in the low-post. If he was doubled we kicked out to Joey Guanio for the three." The strategy worked. The Maroons won easily, and went on to top the UE Red Warriors in the final.
Nonong is pretty much always smiling. Dressed in a khaki shirt, jeans, and open-toed Crocs, the native Barotacnon feels right at home sitting on a monobloc chair beside his wife, Eileen. In front of us the over-40 clubs of Ilaud and CPU Alumni are huffing and puffing away.
We chat about the recent goings-on in Pinoy football. He talks about running into Department of Justice Chief Leila De Lima on a flight from Qatar and asking her for the DOJ's greenlight to renovate Rizal Memorial. He's excited about the prospect of the Philippines hosting the Long Teng Cup in October. If Rizal doesn't have its artificial carpet in place by then, the event could even be shifted to Bacolod. There's also a chance we will host the Challenge Cup in 2014.
But Araneta's thoughts soon turn to his hometown. "Dati, itong field na ito, mas mababa ng one meter. But for some reason mataas yung end line on that end (pointing to the far side). You could play a give and go around your defender with a pass to yourself!"
"Dati gusto ng pari na pagdating ng Angelus, nasa bahay ka na, hindi ka na nag fo-football. Pero sinasagad namin siyempre. Once we would see the sakristan walking towards the church to ring the bell, we'd stop our game, tapos takbo na kami pauwi. If not, pagagalitan kami."
Araneta and his wife are devout Catholics who are helping renovate the town church. They chat about how lovely the inside of St. Anthony de Padua church looks now, and they banter about the prices of the pews they will install.
Religion really does play a big role here. Moments later, we are reminded of that. Ilaud scores a goal but just before the restart, it hits six pm and the church bells towering over the field toll. The players stop and stand in attention as the Angelus is intoned. The Aranetas also stand and bow their heads in prayer. Since I'm no longer a Catholic I sit silently. After the Angelus, the game resumes, with of course, two additional minutes of stoppage time.
Araneta is 57 now and the only studded shoes he wears these days are for golf, not football. But some habits die hard. A stray ball comes speeding towards us. He rises up and adroitly deflects the missile away from his wife with his right leg.
The townsfolk nearby chime in almost in unison; "ara pa gihapon" or "nandyan pa rin." Nonong sheepishly grins and sits right back down.
Editor's note: The blogger's views do not represent Yahoo! Southeast Asia's position on the topic or issue being discussed in this post.
