WELLINGTON, New Zealand – The Filipinas are in for a festive, morale-boosting treat as they play the hometown Ferns in a critical second FIFA Women’s Group A match at the Sky Stadium here Tuesday afternoon.
Numbering close to a 100, Filipino expatriates clad in colorful “Ati-Atihan” attire will do a street dance starting at 4 p.m. from Shed 6, popular waterfront hangout, then gaily march towards the Sky Stadium in time for the kick-off of the Philippine-New Zealand match at 5:30 p.m. (1:30 p.m. Manila time).
The colorful costumes are part and parcel of the popular annual “Ati-Atihan” festival in Aklan that is one the country’s top tourist attractions.
“We bought our tickets early, then it suddenly dawned upon us that this is going to be a very historic game so we just had to do something to boost the morale of our national team,” Matilde Figuracion, head of the Filipino Artists in New Zealand and one of the event’s organizers, said Monday.
“Since Filipinos are now among the biggest ethnic presence here, I believe it was only right to support them so we organized this in the last two weeks,” Figuracion, a ranking New Zealand government employe here for nearly 20 years, disclosed.
She said word of their pep rally for the charges of Australian coach Alen Stajcic had begun to spread around that the event became a front-page story last week for the Wellington-based Dominion Post, complete with pictures of them wearing their costumes.
Figuracion said these were the same ones that were well-preserved when they took part as one of the cultural sidelights in 2011 when New Zealand hosted World Rugby Cup.
“We will assemble at Shed 6 where we will begin our street dance then walk through the side streets leading to the Sky Stadium. We managed to get approval from FIFA to bring in our costumes and drums inside,” said the community leader, whose husband, Mark, will be one of the drummers.
Asides her own group, she said, also getting involved are the New Zealand Boholanos Group, NZ FILIFESTR, Knights of Rizal, Silhouette Productions and other members of the Wellington Filipino community.
“Once the word got out, a native from Aklan reached out through his son-in-law to us and wanted to be part of the festivities. We told him that we would reserve one of our costumes for his use.”
“We have even blocked a section for some 150 members so that we will be able to heard as we cheer for the Filipinas,” she said. “But I predict that there will around 500 of us who will be there to cheer the Filipinas on.”
All the fanfare surrounding the national women’s football team prompted the longtime expatriate, who once worked for Senators Juan Flavier and Orly Mercado, to research their history, and the socio-civic leader realized that Filipinos were cut out for football.
”It is really a game we can play, especially women. Ang galing, like wow!” Figuracion exclaimed.
So, amid the din of the hometown cheers for the Ferns, should you overhear loud and lively chants of “Hala Bira! Hala Bira!” within a section of the sprawling arena in-between, that would the Figuracion and her proud compatriots playing their role in inspiring the Filipinas to glory.
