When I joined the Daily San Pedro Express (DSPEX) in 1992, the first sport that I reported was football. The PTA (now the Peoples Park) was close to the Grajeda Building, where we used to hold office (we eventually moved closer to the Ecoland Bus Terminal for easy access in the newspaper dispatch to the provinces), so after my classes at Holy Cross ( I was a working student then), I would go straight to the PTA to check on what’s happening there.
The PTA was then the sports center where you can find news sources for tennis, track and field, swimming, speak takraw, and even basketball news. But if you talk to manong Vic, then secretary-general of So Kim Cheng, president of the Davao City Sports Council, then you’ll have a lot of sports tips.
The Davao Football Association (DFA) was then headed by the football “triad” (to borrow the term used by Atty.Guillermo Iroy Jr.) of manong Vic Sai as president, Jose Te as head coach and Edward “Chaya” Lam as team manager.
There I was eating snacks at the Adolfo Canteen and observing the players and officials during their training. After I was able to get some sports information, I would walk my way to the DSPEX office and start writing a sports story on the available manual typewriter, submit it to publisher and editor in chief Nilo Claudio, who then gives the copy to Mila and it gets encoded on the IBM computer, which minutes later, would be edited by Michael D. Locsin or manong Jess Ibanez.
The PTA football field then was “lubak lubak” but it was playable. Out of that “lubak lubak”, the DFA was able to produce national champions and many of them played for the national squad and the eventually recruited by the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Thanks to the “triad” (God bless their souls!).
Few years later, I heard from James A. Zimmerman, then administrative officer of the General Services Office at City Hall, about Mayor Digong’s plan to convert the PTA to a park, and so boss James and his team started the preparations including on how to re-plant those full grown trees you’d probably see today.
There were peaceful protests to save the PTA as a sports center but Mayor Digong was determined to convert that piece of property to a park, which turned out beautifully and enjoyed by all Dabawenyos. So, what happens now to Davao football?
Then came the talk of a new football field at the Agro Industrial Foundation College. And so, the Tionko football field was born. I first heard about it from Gerry Romero-Salas, the Davao FA president then, whose secretary-general Prof. Erwin Protacio became our go to guy when it comes to football news.
The Tionko football field turned out to be one lovely field to play. It’s no longer “lubak lubak”. Even some ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) tryouts were conducted there, and Holcim Cement became a regular backer of the tournaments during the Araw ng Dabaw, Kadayawan and Pamasko festivities.
The last time I visited the Tionko field was sometime in 2008 where I represented then city sports chief Bong Go (now the Senator of the Republic, tiaw mo na, na senador gyud noh?) at the opening of the Holcim Cement Corp. Youth Football Tournament, where I had the chance to meet Kevin Hughes and Roger Cervo of Holcim Cement.
That football field was really nice and well-maintained, pang FIFA event na gyud ang dating, and ever since, it has hosted regular tournaments for players including the regular Acosta Cup of Councilor Mabel Sunga-Acosta.
Then came the Covid-19 pandemic. Everything has just to stop in sports.
Henry Sabate, the current football association president, is an engineer by profession, and according to my ninang Patmei Ruivivar is a Triple A contractor. So, what happened was that Henry (we address each other as “Erap” in the football community that started by Atty.Iroy) brought in his equipment and started doing a complete facelift of the Tionko football field.
And from what I learned from ninang Patmei, the football field is now all-weather, meaning, it would be like the world-class golf course like Rancho Palos Verdes Golf and Country where the fairways won’t be flooded even if there’s heavy rain. Maskig mo ulan ug kusog, after a few minutes, the water will just go down and the field is ready to be played.
Isn’t that amazing? Since we only have two weathers in Davao, rain or shine, football players can now continue to play because there won’t be any “baha” on the field. This type of work is done out of true love for the sport of football and its players.
I don’t know what was on the mind of Henry Sabate but I believe, he has been blessed all these years and saw the opportunity to give something back, big time!
It won’t just be the all-weather field but there will be stands to be installed for the fans and that is why if only all Dabawenyos get the vaccines, I will not be surprised that soon the Tionko football field will be filled with players, parents and fans.
I don’t know what’s with that name Henry. But I notice that Henrys can really do good, big time for the community. And that includes Henry Sabate, the current reigning King of the Davao Football Association.
Hail to King Henry!
