PFL games at Aboitiz Pitch to reignite football fever in Batangas

The Aboitiz Pitch. Ivan Saldajeno
By Ivan Saldajeno

LIPA—The Philippines Football League made its way to Batangas over the weekend by holding three matches at the Aboitiz Pitch.

The main event of the said weekend was the lone match scheduled on Sunday night, Green Archers United's first official home game against Air Force.

For GAU team owner Monchu Garcia, this is the start of something new.

"There are some things that we need to work on to make it pass all the requirements of [the] AFC (Asian Football Confederation), but it is a first-class pitch. It has great potential," Garcia told Dugout Philippines.

Now that the first hosting chore is done, up next for GAU, according to Garcia, is to further boost the game of football in the province.

"Batangas is a big province with a lot of great football clubs," he further said.

Garcia then believes that one way to help football blossom in Batangas is through the foundation of a football association, something he later bared that his club would love to be a part of.

"There is no Batangas FA at the moment, and we are hoping to actually be involved in helping set up an FA here," he quipped. "It's an opportunity for us to help build football by involving another major province of the Philippines in the Philippine Football Federation."

In fact, Garcia bared plans for GAU to be among the charter members should the FA be formally established.

"We want to help build football," he further said.

For the meantime, Garcia looks forward to further beautifying the Aboitiz Pitch.

"We're already to [the Aboitiz Group] about putting some shade for our spectators. We have a lot of rain here, and the PFL have games during the rainy season, so we want to be able to put up some cover for them," he added.

The three PFL matches pushed through amidst the stormy weather.

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