Why Everybody Loves Chieffy
by Oliver Carlos
I was blessed to see Chieffy Caligdong play and score one of his last goals on Philippine soil. This was sometime in 2018, before the beloved football player migrated to Canada in that same year.
Chieffy was the playing assistant coach of the Green Archers United (GAU) team competing in the Orient Freight Cup. It’s a tournament featuring the farm teams of the Philippine professional football teams. My son Jethro was playing for the Stallion Laguna FC team. The GAU versus Stallion match was played at the DLSZ turf in Alabang.
Honestly, I didn’t notice Chieffy at first. He looks so ordinary. He was calling the shots at the sidelines and I thought he’s just a regular football coach doing his regular duties. Then, towards the end of the game, he put on a green GAU jersey and checked himself into the game. The back of his shirt had a legendary name together with the legendary no.13. Only then did I realize that he was “The” Chieffy Calindong of the Azkals, and I am seeing him play right in front of me.
It didn’t take long for him to score on a goal. It was a howitzer-type of a long shot that almost ripped the net. Everybody on the field and on the stands were stunned with the goal because it happened so fast. After that goal, Chieffy had a couple more attempts that almost went in. In the ten minutes that he played, he was clearly the most dominant player on the field. Chieffy’s team went home happily as the victors of the match.
I approached him after the game to have a picture taken, and he was very approachable and accommodating. He’s very down-to-earth despite his high status as one of the most popular and well-loved Filipino football players in his time.
What makes every Filipino football fan love this guy? His teammates in the Azkals may be equally skilled as he is, and they were bigger, taller and looked like movie actors. But Chieffy looked like an ordinary dude you’ll bump into as you walk the crowded streets of Manila.
Well, that’s exactly what makes him click among the Filipino masses. He’s the regular Filipino guy slugging it out and excelling in the field among players who are bigger, stronger, and highly heralded. A homegrown talent listed as only 5’5” with a small regular Filipino frame, he is the representation of a typical Pinoy.
We Filipinos love underdogs because we see ourselves in them. Whenever the underdog prevails, the Pinoy fans relate themselves to the victor, feeling that they were winners as well. We have this Filipino mentality that if our favorite underdog icon can accomplish things, we who are similar to that athlete can also accomplish well in our own fights and struggles.
This is the reason why David had a greater acclaim than King Saul in the victory celebration after killing Goliath and thousands of Philistines. David was just a little shepherd boy who was so ordinary looking, while Saul was the king of the nation and he was kingly looking as should be. He was a head taller than any other Israelite.
When the victorious Israelite army was welcomed home by the masses, they were greeted with music and dancing. In I Samuel 18:7 (NLV) the women sang:
“Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands!”
Most of the time God uses the underdog to teach us a point. God wanted to show his power. He wanted to demonstrate that at his will, he can make the lowly prevail. If an ordinary fellow like David can perform and notch a kingly herculean achievement, then we who are of the same mold and background can also reach the same heights. We just need to have a heart like David’s. So let us trust God and allow him to work in us.
