NO JOKING
FILIPINOS’ early
participation in
Australian sport has not
been fully documented,
I don’t think. To my
limited knowledge,
the earliest record of
Filipino sportsmen
competing in Australia
was documented in
a thesis written by
James Cook University
academic Ann R
Tapp in Townsville,
Queensland.
Ms Tapp wrote about
the arrival in Sydney of
three Filipino professional
boxers, Dencio ‘Olongapo
Kid’ Cabanela, Francisco
Flores, and Macario Villon
on February 6, 1921.
Cabanela came
as a triple Oriental
boxing champion in
the bantamweight,
featherweight and
lightweight divisions.
But after capturing the
hearts of Australian boxing
aficinionados for the next
five months, the Filipino
died in a Melbourne ring on
July 5, 1921.
The 1956 Olympic
Games in Melbourne
saw Filipinos compete
in basketball and other
sports including boxing and
swimming. But what comes
to mind is the charismatic
Felicisimo Ampon, the
diminutive Filipino tennis
player who thrilled the
world of amateur tennis
in his familiar long white
trousers and shirt.
The Philippines’
basketball team at the
Melbourne Olympics
was led Carlos ‘The Big
Difference’ Loyzaga, who
returned to Sydney in 1984
as a migrant and became
the official ‘tactician’ of
the National Basketball
League’s Sydney Kings in
1988. He went back to live
in Manila in 2012.
What remains
significant has been the
participation in Australia
of Filipino boxers, who
haven’t stopped coming to
Sydney, Melbourne and
Brisbane to campaign in
the lighter divisions and
winning national and
Pacific titles.
In the late 1960s,
Filipino migrants
reportedly started
organising basketball
games at different school
gyms in Sydney. Loosely
organised, many of these
games were interrupted by
brawls, and in some cases
police had to be called in to
stop the melee.
The Filipino community
became better organised
in the 1980s, following the
formation of the Philippine
Australian Sports
Club which conducted
tournaments for basketball,
softball, tennis, golf, and
chess.
Independent sports
clubs further sprouted
over the years to cater
for the growing number
of players. Today, many
more Filipino-Australians
are participating not only
in Filipino communityorganised tournaments
but also in the mainstream
arena.
Australia has now
produced FilipinoAustarlian elite players
like Craig Wing, who has
represented Australia in
rugby league; Jason Day,
who has been ranked
among the top five in world
golf; Jesse Diestro, sikaran
martial artist who won the
Over 35s International
Sports Karate world
championship; and Bevan
Calvert, who captains the
Australian handball team.
Yes indeed, we are
feeling the Filipino
presence in Australian
sport.
updates on the PGA website.
“It takes a long time before it gets updated,” Mrs Day
told ABC Radio. “It gets a little bit anxious. I was so excited. I was so proud of him. It
has been a long time coming
for him. It’s a culmination of
all his hard work.”
Indeed, it was a long,
long way from Jason’s
childhood in Beaudesert, Queensland, when his
bread-winner father Alvin died. It was dad
who bought a used
golf club to set young
Jason on the road to
sports history.
“We were poor,”
Day said.
And it was Colin
Swatton who took over mentorship of Jason, and has been
caddie to the new PGA champion ever since.
When Day sank his last
putt on the 18th at Whistling
Straits and was overcome
with tears, it was Swatton who
first embraced him.
Then little son Dash ran
to his dad on the green. Day
grabbed and the lifted the boy
like a trophy as his wife Ellie
joined them.
It was an unforgettable
moment, shared by Australians and Filipinos all over the
world.
Editorial:
IN THIS CORNER
JAIME KELLY PIMENTEL
Editor
PinOzInPlay
Making a difference
'For the last time, I said be careful!'
Feature: GOLF
A really
great
Day
JASON Day was once
quoted as saying
he’d “take down
Tiger”, his golfing
idol Tiger Woods.
Day accomplished
it emphatically
at the 97th PGA
Championship in
the Whistling Straits
course at Kohler,
Wisconsin USA on
Sunday, August 16,
2015.
By JAIME K PIMENTEL
Not only did he leave Tiger in his wake, behind at
number 148 on the leaderboard, but he also surpassed
Tiger’s record lowest score in
the majors of 19 under par by
finishing 20 under at 268.
Even world number-one
Jordan Spieth, who mounted
a coura geous chase in the final holes, could only muster
enough magic to land in second place, three shots behind
Day, at 271.
In her report for the New
York Times, Karen Crouse
wrote: “After a 314-yard
drive on the par-5 16th hole at
Whistling Straits, Jason Day
had a decision to make.
“Ahead by three strokes
in his bid to win his
first major championship, Day could
lay up with his
next shot, which
was the smart but
conservative move, or go for
the green as if he had nothing
to lose.
“Day did not deliberate
for long. In the previous two
majors, he had held at least a
share of the 54-hole lead and
had failed to win. Six times
since 2013, he had posted top10 finishes at golf’s four biggest annual events.
“He was going to win the
97th PGA Championship or
go down swinging from his
heels.
“Using his 4-iron, Day hit
a towering draw that landed
on the fringe of the green.daystraits01
“He made a birdie to
get to 20 under par, and that
was where he finished, closing with a five-under 67 to
beat Jordan Spieth by three
strokes.”
Tiger Woods later posted
on Twitter: “Game over, very
happy for Jason. Great dude
and well deserved.”
Two-time US Open
champion Greg Norman
wrote on Instagram: “Con-
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E-mail: [email protected]
02
PinOzInPlay
gratulations to my fellow
Queenslander and Australian
(Jason Day) and his beautiful family Ellie and Dash for
joining the elite club being a
major winner.”
Jason’s mother Dening Day, who was at work in
Queensland, missed watching her son’s final holes of the
championship but followed
DAY: SOME STROKES TO GLORY
1993
enrolled in a golf club at age 6
2004
won Callaway World Junior (Boys 15-17)
2006
turned pro after winning ‘Green Jacket’
at NEC Master of Amateurs
2007
won his first Nationwide Tour
2010
won HP Byron Nelson, the youngest
Australian to win a PGA Tour event
2011
second at US Open, enters World Top
Ten
2014
won his first World Golf title, WGXAccenture Match Play Championship
2015
scores winning streak at The Barclays
and BMW championship; won PGA
championship
Jump when you turn 50
WHEN a
member of my
family turns
50, he or she is
obliged to jump off a plane in a
parachute. It’s a family sport of
skydiving, you might say. And
the obligation is sacred.
By JAIME K PIMENTEL
So when offspring No 4, Martin
‘Kelly’, turned 50 on March 11, 2015, he
jumped. But, being the good family man
that he is, Kelly insisted that his faithful
wife Jane jump for her life, too.
After a series of meticulous preparations on the ground, up they went over
the blue yonder in the southern skies of
Sydney.
Kelly, not necessarily the braver of
the couple, jumped first. With his train-
er strapped at
Kelly’s back, of
course. Jane followed with her
trainer, possibly to watch over her husband’s descent.
skydive kellyjanePlummeting down
at 120km an hour, Kelly couldn’t resist
a selfie. Just look at the smile he forced
just show us later that he wasn’t scared.
Welcoming him back to earth were
his brothers Ben, Mike, Marcelino and
Simon as sister Sunshine. “Your’re
next,” he happily announced to Marcelino, offspring No 5, who turns 50 next
year.
And so it goes. Three more offspring
to turn 50.
Maybe bungee-jumping at 60?
Filipino presence in Australian sport