Long Teng Cup: An Azkals’ Historical Relevance (Part 2)

Continuation from Long Teng Cup: An Azkals’ Historical Relevance (Part 1)

After years of playing with a unique group of Chinese players, my father and his friends had bonded over time and connected themselves to one another through a passion for soccer. This group was formed in a foreign country, in a far away place from home, by ethnicity, culture and love for the game. This brotherhood would soon find its way back to it roots in the years to come, reuniting with a past time through the very sport that brought them together.

In 1971, my father and a group of Chinese American immigrants from New York City’s Chinatown made a trip to Taiwan to play in their first overseas tournament. As the very first NY’s  Chinatown Chinese American team to travel back to Asia for a international friendly, it was a historical moment for Chinatown soccer having beat the ROC National Team 1-0.  For immigrants that found themselves in a new country with little cultural acceptance and a lot of ethnic segregation, this group of young Chinese Athletes bonded through a sport familiar only to foreign soil, as football was slowly being introduced to the American culture with the arrival of immigrants from around the world. This was a triumphant moment to return to familiar faces, family and friends, for they have found a commonality that allowed them to revisit Asia and reconnect with their past.

Rewind 40 years and here I am boarding a flight bond for Taiwan for my first tournament representing the Philippines National team. In many ways I look at my fathers trip to Taiwan as a very significant point in his life and for what it meant to the community of Chinatown and it’s significance to Chinese Football.

After graduating university, I carefully chose to travel to Hong Kong in hopes to play on a football team in the first division. I signed first professional contract with Tai Chung Football Club and played one season in a city my father grew up in. With a dual purpose and a open eye for learning and exploring more than just my football career, I sought out family roots and uncovered more about myself, my heritage and my identity.  My dream was to take the sport I loved and use that as a mode for exploration and a means for discovering my past, present and future.

Shortly after playing in Hong Kong I was informed that I could be eligible for trying out with the Philippines National team. At the time, little has crossed my mind about it, but as support for Filipino football spiked and national recruitment found its way towards me, I had to wonder if this opportunity could be my next step to exploring my Filipino side as I did my Chinese side through the very sport that made me.

With only a Filipino passport in hand and my friendship with Nate Burkey at heart, I arrived in the Philippines unannounced. I showed up for training camp and found my way onto the team. In the back of my mind, as I took this very crucial step of making the team, I knew the real journey can begin. To represent my mothers country in my profession, I was able to embark on a new journey in discovering where I came from and uncover the stories of my past, and how I came to be this Chinese-Filipino-American Footballer from Chinatown.

As we entered the stadium for our first match in the 2011 Long Teng Cup against none other than the Hong Kong Representative team, emotions ran high. To play against former teammate, opponents, and friends from my first Hong Kong season meant a rush of excitement and competitiveness. To know that my father had traveled to Taiwan with other Chinese immigrants that reunited with a cultural past and represented a new era in Chinese accomplishment in a new country meant a surge of pride and triumph. To listen to the Philippines National Anthem for the first time in official competition in a loud stadium the echoed proudly, meant I was able to contribute to the identity of my mothers country and attribute my own identity to her unconditional and supportive upbringing.

I am thankful for my cultural diversity and I will continue to dig deep into my heritage so that I may tell the story of what it means to be the Chinese-Filipino-American born and raised in New York City’s Chinatown that found football and found himself.

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