A Football Story

Magarao has a football story to tell

From a town with no football field and with most players from low income families, having only determination and support of generous patrons, Magarao young booters are winning championships and going places.

It was in Summer 2003 when Msgr. Juan N. Buentiempo, parish priest of St. Anne Parish, Magarao, met with Mr. Virgilio Imperial, general secretary of Naga City - Camarines Sur Football Asssociation, Mr. Huberto Villaraza, a sports enthusiast parishioner, and Fr. Pablo Carpio, the parochial vicar then, and expressed his desire to teach football to the children of his parish. The good Monsignor imparted to the group, “Part of my mission as parish priest is to form children as future leaders of the parish. And football, aside from being an attractive activity, is a good means for character formation for the children.”

The group then organized a Football Summer Camp, their first activity. 48 boys and girls from different barangays of the Parish joined the event. As a culminating activity, selected players from the participants played a “home and away” friendly competition against the St. Jude Football Club, organized by Fr. Bob Carpio. The next summer, no less than 250 children participated in the an Inter-barangay Football Fiesta.

The first big exposure for the club was the 2004 Red Ribbon Under-14 National Football Festival at the Ateneo de Manila University. Though the club did not win any game, they brought home a medal when Edmund Bunao was adjudged the Best Juggler after he made 111 touches. After that, the St. Anne FC became a force to reckon with in football as they started to win championships. Most notably was when they bagged the championship of the PFF-Sportsplus World Cup Football Festival (U14 Category) over the Ateneo de Manila University on May 13, 2006, at the Ateneo Football field in Manila. And last Sept. 24, 2006, the club, representing the Naga City – Camarines Sur Football Association, won the bronze medal in the 2nd Aboitiz National Football Festival in Cebu City.

Fr. Pablo Carpio, the main trainor and coach of the club says, “All these tell us that God’s grace is working. The small seed sown by Msgr. Buentiempo in these children is bearing much fruit!”