WHEN you arrive in Iloilo via plane, right outside the airport is a queue of jeepneys and buses that ply routes of just about everywhere in this West Visayas port. If you ask any driver how to get to Barotac Nuevo, almost inevitably, he’ll ask if you’re here to watch football. He knows you’re a tourist because you don’t speak Illongo; for if you did, you wouldn’t be asking.

Barotac Nuevo is one of the 44 cities and municipalities of Iloilo, and in this town of over 46,000 people, for all intents and purposes, the patron saint arguably isn’t Augustine or Anthony. Revisionists have conferred sainthood to the Monfort family for having introduced football to Barotacnons way back during the colonial years. The game, introduced by the Spanish friars and Europeans who settled and did business in the area in the early 1900s, has provided this town with a sense of identity and instilled a measure of pride.

Football is life here, though many will digress and state that the sport is actually a religion.

When people talk about fiestas here, it is meant in the traditional sense where there are parades, food fests, games and the ubiquitous palabas. It’s the original street party, and the football tournament is an integral part of the celebrations.

Outside the San Antonio de Padua Church in Barotac Nuevo is a rather unusual sight—a regulation-length football field, one of two in this town. As a result of their commitment to the growth of the game, the municipality has been a beneficiary of the Fifa Goal Project that helps local programs get off the ground.

The main field in the plaza is filled with people on three different occasions: 1) during the Simbang Gabi in December, 2) during the summer games, and 3) when the finals of the Fifa World Cup Finals or Euro tournament are shown live.

A large outdoor viewing screen is placed in the field and people come out to watch, never mind that the games are in the early hours of the morning. “Everyone is here,” glowed favorite son Emelio “Chieffy” Caligdong, the current bearer of the captain’s armband for the Men’s Football National Team. “Parang fiesta.”

Agriculture is the main industry here, and if you’re thinking relocating and opening up a daycare center, then you might want to reconsider. Mothers here, if they need to go on errands or take some time off, leave their kids on the pitch. They’ll pick them up at dusk when the kids are bronzed and glistening with sweat. Kids play everywhere every chance they get. “Before the rice-planting season begins,” related Duffy Botavero, president of the Iloilo Football Association, “the children—all of them—play in rice fields, the small pitches in the schools, kahit sa mga kalye. Ibang klase talaga tignan. The passion for the game is in everyone. And we ask, ‘Is this what it’s like in Europe?’”

Barotac Nuevo is the local version of Bahia Blanca, Argentina, except that it’s in reverse. Bahia Blanca, home to the National Basketball Association’s San Antonio Spurs’ superstar Emanuel Ginobili, is the one place in the football-mad country where basketball is king. In Barotac, unless you want to be the backward walking member of the tribe, you play football. Basketball is for the weak and faint of heart. Everyone in this town is football-literate, and you can imagine barbershop talk about offsides and the pros and cons of running a 4-4-2 formation.

“Sampu kaming magkakapatid,” said Caligdong, the youngest of a brood. “Joke nga namin magkakapatid sa parents ko, isa na lang meron na kaming football team.”

The walls of the town’s adolescents are filled with pictures of Ronaldinho, Cristiano Ronaldo, Thierry Henry, David Beckham and other international stars. While the locals look up to the foreigners, it’s their brothers, fathers and uncles whom the kids admire and idolize. And unlike in other areas in the country, where people wear football kits because they’re fashionable, here it’s because people play the sport.

At a young age, children engage in sinike,  which is seven-a-side football and where kids here play barefoot—no socks, spikes or even shin guards. Sinike places a premium on skills and passing. “Dito mo makikita kung sino ’yung marunong dumiskarte,” added Ian Araneta, Caligdong’s national teammate, who is also from Barotac.

Pablito Araneta, secretary-general of the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) says that Barotac and nearby town Santa Barbara (both have enjoyed a healthy rivalry for local football supremacy of late) have provided the national team with plenty of players over the years, and that the game is thriving in Cebu, Bacolod, Romblon and Dumaguete.

“It’s not just football that thrives in the provinces,” chipped in PFF deputy secretary-general Jojo Rodriguez. “There are a lot of other sports. In Manila there are more distractions whereas in the provinces there are fewer, and people take to sports as a means to get a college scholarship and play for the national team.”

“Kasi sa probinsya pag pinag-usapan ’yung football hindi involved ’yung pera. Gusto lang talaga ng mga tao maglaro. Tulad dito sa Barotac Nuevo ’yung commitment talaga ng tao ay nasa puso. Naglalaro kami dahil mahal namin ’yung football. Parte ’to ng buhay namin,” summed up Caligdong.

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WHEN you arrive in Iloilo via plane, right outside the airport is a queue of jeepneys and buses that ply routes of just about everywhere in this West Visayas port. If you ask any driver how to get to Barotac Nuevo, almost inevitably, he’ll ask if you’re here to watch football. He knows you’re a tourist because you don’t speak Illongo; for if you did, you wouldn’t be asking.