AGES ago after watching a Spice Girl’s video on a music channel, David Beckham realized he was smitten with one of the members: “The posh one. The one with the bob. The one with the legs.”
“That evening, in that claustrophobic hotel room, it dawned on me for the first time,” said the English footballer in his 438-page autobiography published in 2004. “Posh Spice was fantastic and I had to find a way to be with her.”
So he did, and wrote Victoria in the latter part of 1996: “Dear Posh Spice. You don’t know me but I have this very strong feeling that, if we could meet somehow, I think we’d get on really well. I don’t know what your schedule’s like, but you can find me at Old Trafford every other Saturday.”
Old Trafford didn’t happen, but the two celebrities did get introduced “a month or so later” in London when the Red Devils played against Chelsea. Of course, you know the rest of the story.
Incidentally at around that time, a nine-year-old boy with a British dad and Filipino mom had just begun his career with Chelsea. Did the boy’s and the football superstar’s paths cross? I have no idea. Was Becks one of his heroes? Perhaps I should ask. And would it even make sense to find similarities as to what the two have achieved on the football stage? That would be a stretch.
But on matters extending beyond the pitch, these things I have observed: that this
boy, now a 23-year-old Philippine footballer named Philip Younghusband, carries the same demeanor as the man they call Golden Balls, and that they have the same approach to women.
The last observation, of course, is what fires up the imagination of the public that’s perennially addicted to the sensational.
When, hours after winning against Mongolia 2-0 and scoring, Phil invited actress Angel Locsin to a Valentine’s date via Twitter, the media and social networking sites went nuts.
“Hi Angel! This Phil. How are you? I was just wondering if you are free for
Valentine’s day?” went Phil’s tweet invite, which the actress promptly, and politely, declined without shutting the door.
Well, some would rather have Phil dating journalist Ginger Conejero, but what was most striking about Phil’s tweet was its candor. And on hindsight, it carries the same amorous force as Beckham’s letter to Ms. Victoria Adams, with one substantial difference: Phil’s invitation was declared before the public. It was a gutsy move that would forever change how the fans would relate to him and the rest of the Azkals, and vice versa.
It was no surprise then that the first controversy Phil would get embroiled in should come from the same medium. And not surprisingly, it was triggered by another actress, who tweeted without thinking: “si phil may indie film... Akala ko ba football player sya??? :( lahat na lang artista na :( sad... masama. Sana lang mag focus muna silang lahat sa football. Para sa pinas kasi yun. #justsayin’ after na lang ng tourny mag artista.”
As public figures, both of them are “fair game,” and so are “considered as a reasonable target for criticism.”
But what goes on inside Panganiban’s head is none of my concern, but how Phil deals with such a provocation is. And he has done so splendidly by saying on TV: “Everyone’s entitled to their opinions. I can assure Angelica right now we are concentrating on playing against Mongolia. I just heard she said that maybe we should concentrate on playing, and she’s right, she’s correct.”
He clarified that the indie film she was talking about was shot several months ago to promote football, and he merely played a cameo role.
While Ms. Panganiban wailed like a petulant child on TV about this fan who picked a fight with her on Twitter, Mr. Younghusband displayed composure and rational conduct that British football commentators would refer to as “class.”
It’s the same kind of class that Beckham carried with him whenever faced with a career-threatening controversy. I’d say there’s gravitas—that “quality of substance or depth of personality”—in Phil’s demeanor before the public, and at such a young age.
It is a quality that Phil ought to possess and nurture, because apart from being an Azkal, he has a not-so-secret life as an ambassador of Philippine football.
I’m sure Ms. Locsin wouldn’t mind that.
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on March 10, 2011.
/via Sunstar (Noel S. Villaflor, 3/10/2011)
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