Argentinian Fan Asks for Filipino Gilas Pilipinas Jersey: Trades Ginobili for Alapag
Gilas Pilipinas truly made every Pinoy proud.
Though our stint in the FIBA 2014 World Cup has ended and we just managed to get one win, it doesn’t make any Pinoy less proud of what the team has accomplished. That win is the epitome of what Gilas Pilipinas has achieved, but how they played in the entire league allowed as to be placed on the  map of the global basketball world. We got noticed in a sport where the country’s heart is.
We met Erwin del Valle online, a Pinoy working in Europe who watched the Gilas Pilipinas games live. Yes, “live”.
He shared with us his gleeful experience watching Gilas Pilipinas play in Seville, Spain.
He wrote on Facebook about his experience after the Senegal game where an Argentinian kid approached him and asked if they can exchange jerseys, del Valle’s Alapag jersey and the kid’s Ginobili jersey.
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He did exchange jerseys with the kid.
He noted, “You should have seen the glitter in the eyes and wide smile when I said yes.”
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(The Argentinian kid on the left and our kababayan, Erwin, on the right flaunting the jerseys that they have exchanged.)Â
He added, “…the thought of this kid playing in Argentina in a Pilipinas jersey and telling his friends about Jimmy and Gilas just has more value.”Â
He also told us that it was fairly common to experience getting appreciative peace signs and have nice chats with fans from other nations, “may it be walking around for dinner, shopping, or sightseeing the various landmarks of Seville…”, due to the great sportsmanship and exciting games played by Gilas Pilipinas. “I’m fairly sure a lot of those small talks wouldn’t have happened if the games were lopsided. But to everyone’s delight, all were memorable”, he said.
If you have followed Gilas Pilipinas on FIBA World Cup on TV, you have probably caught a glimpse of him standing proud in his Igorot costume on the game against Greece.
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And he dressed as Andres Bonifacio when Gilas Pilipinas played against Puerto Rico.
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He suggested, “We need a national chant/cheer. Against Argentina lang kami natalo kasi gamit nila yung FIFA world cup cheer/chant nila. ‘Gilas’ at ‘Defense’ lang cheer namin. A friend suggested nga kumanta na lang kami ng bahay kubo.” (Rough translation: We need a national chant/cheer. When cheering, we lost against Argentina because they used their FIFA World Cup cheer/chant. A friend even suggested that we sing “Bahay Kubo”)
I agree. I hope we can come up with a national chant so we can cheer strongly in unison.
Thanks Erwin! Again, congratulations Gilas Pilipinas!
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Argentinian Fan Asks for Filipino Gilas Pilipinas Jersey: Trades Ginobili for Alapag
