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Post by Usapang Football on Apr 2, 2013 13:56:52 GMT 8
Hi group, If you're reading this your probably remembered to check the Common Room board, and if you have you are probably a regular or someone who knows his/her way around the forum. With that I ask you, why do you visit Usapang Football? I know this is such a broad question, but let's break it down: there are other Philippine football portals in the internet (though none as cool as us ) and some have bigger followings and have exclusive content so why us? I want you guys to say what brought you to the forum, what made you stay and what UsapangFootball's edge over other portals is. By the way, I hope I didn't give you guys a reason to visit other forums instead.
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Post by stellarboy on Apr 2, 2013 16:20:57 GMT 8
Well, here's my story:
I've been lurking to football fora since 2008 when Philfootball.info and Pinoysoccer.com were still active. It wasn't as regular and I didn't manage to register, though, since I was still starting college and Internet access wasn't that cheap here in Davao at the time. I had interest in the sport of football since around 2005 when we had access to cable TV and channels like Star Sports, ESPN, CNN and BBC World News. The very fact that football updates were almost always the first sports news items coming out from CNN and the BBC made me very curious about the sport because our local news outlets then, save for a few, don't have such.
I had a sort-of "football fever" during the 2010 World Cup, and I was also looking forward for the Azkals in the Suzuki Cup that year. Problem is, the local media had little interest in those competitions then. So I depended on cable TV and Philfootball for updates and discussion.
I found this site through a random Google search for a "Philippine football forum" just before the Suzuki Cup main tourney. I had no clue who the people in here were until I took interest in some of the regulars like former admin Louie, Caz and later, cjeagle. I felt their emotions run high on the 2010 Suzuki Cup thread, especially when the Azkals won against Vietnam. I felt attached to this forum, but I haven't had the time nor the resources then to register and contribute regularly. When the team started their 2014 World Cup qualifiers run, I decided to register.
In the first few months here, I only used to post news updates and short opinions about the team. But here I became comfortable conversing with the regulars before me and I had taken part in preventing newcomers to feed the trolls that used to hound in the forum.
Because I took an IT degree, I sent a proposal to Louie, who was my new friend then, to make a Facebook and Twitter page for the forum, because I felt a need that UF needed to open itself up and widen its online presence. When things were going well for the forum, I soon applied for a moderator position because of my dedication to promote the sport through this forum.
I love UF because the discussion is more comprehensive, up-to-date, extensive, and most of all, more civil. Where do you find detailed updates about our overseas-based footballers? It's only found here. Where did I find opinions about our then-budding UFL? It was here. How did we know about Denis Wolf. OJ Porteria, and Javier Patiño? It was here that we knew about them. That's how I love the most about this site. Everything here is no-nonsense and clear, and people here are friendly and have balanced opinions.
So I encourage everyone who have an interest to Philippine football to be part of Usapang Football today!
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Post by Caz on Apr 5, 2013 10:42:14 GMT 8
My story with Usapang Football is much like stellarboy's, albeit a cycle earlier. There was a time when the only football I'd watch were World Cup matches and that remained true until 2006. It then made me wonder why we couldn't reach that grand stage of football. Coincidentally, later that year the Philippines hosted AFF (now Suzuki) Cup qualifiers in Bacolod and I began to hear of the Azkals' success there. I would read in the newspapers of their dramatic road to qualification and I got excited. I searched online for official websites and couldn't find one but Google led me to Philfootball.info and I got sucked into the elation there. More things fell into place as the official 2007 replica kit became available in Mizuno, something I wouldn't have known had I not started conversing with regulars in that forum. Finally, in 2007 I got to see our national team play on TV for the AFF Championship Cup. I was so happy I didn't even care that we were losing 4-0. But eventually the delight would wane as heartbreak after heartbreak came along. Nevertheless, it was wonderful to just see the Philippines playing the beautiful game. Philippine football fandom was small then and no matter where you logged-on, Philfootball.info or Pinoysoccer or wherever else, you'd pretty much find the same people. However, like many forums, the trolls came along to rain on our parade. Time went on and by 2009, only Azkals.com remained. Even there the experience was marred by infighting between the actual people involved in managing Philippine Football. It was fascinating, disgusting, and ultimately draining. Then former UF admin Louie promoted Usapang Football there and I thought, why not? I started an account here. To be honest, I wanted Azkals.com to be my main forum come Suzuki Cup 2010 as it had been my only source of football information (as well as jonny's blog) for a few years. I even remember the UFL announcing their debut season there. As fate would have it there was a technical glitch there a week before the 2010 Suzuki Cup and I felt I had to start hyping the tournament here in Usapang Football, the only working forum left to my knowledge. The freakin' fantastic win over Vietnam happened and all of the old forum regulars somehow found their way to UF to join the celebration. The rest is history as many people know it. So why UF? In my case, mostly for sentimental reasons and that the discussions here are well moderated. It also helped that Louie wrote some very clear cut rules when posting here. It was evident that this was the place for Philippine Football fans, and eventually for football fans in general.
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