MANILA, Philippines - The Azkals� home match against Kuwait slated July 28 at 7 p.m. could just well be the start of regular night football matches at the Rizal Memorial Stadium, which has been revitalized as a football site.
�One of the things we are looking at is the possibility of setting up a night football league at Rizal Memorial Stadium,� commissioner Jolly Gomez of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) said during a recent inspection of the 70-plus-year-old facility.
�I think you�ll get more interest if games are played after work. We�ll try to explore this with La Salle coach Hans Smit and the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) and see what we can do,� Gomez added.
Site of some of Phl football�s most memorable scenes of yesteryears, the historic Rizal has undergone facelift to make it fit for major football events, such as the well-attended Azkals-Sri Lanka second leg in the 2014 Fifa World Cup Asian qualifiers first round action over the weekend.
Rizal�s pitch renovated by De La Salle University in an agreement with PSC in 2009-10, while the PFF made some refurbishing of its facilities recently, installing individual seats, renovating the bathrooms and dressing rooms, and fixing the lighting system, for the Azkals-Brave Reds afternoon encounter.
With Rizal�s lights ready, the PFF has also tapped the venue for the return leg of the Phl-Kuwait second round series, setting it night.
PFF president Nonong Araneta welcomed the idea. �Night games, being relatively cooler than daytime games, could help draw more people to football. But we also have to consider costing since we�ll be using lights for those games.�
philstar
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