SEA Games: How the Philippines scored an own goal before the start
- Teams have complained about long delays at the airport, being unable to check into hotels
- The organisers have apologised for the shortcomings, and vowed to do better
Organisers said such snags occur in international sporting events because of the number of countries and athletes involved.
But Filipinos weren’t so sure, blaming corruption and inefficiency and expressing their embarrassment. There’s even a Twitter hashtag: #SEAGames2019fail.
Here’s a summary of what went wrong:
HOTEL CHAOS
After a long journey, it’s only fair to expect a comfortable hotel room. Not so for the Cambodian team, who were pictured sleeping on the floor as they waited for their hotel rooms.
“Things are not perfect,” said Cambodia’s head coach Felix Darmas. “We just have to wait a few hours to get picked up. It was not ideal. Eight to nine hours to get into our hotel. But things happen.”
The organising committee blamed travel schedule changes and the hotel’s afternoon check-in time and full occupancy.
Meanwhile, East Timor’s team were transported to the wrong hotel, and had to endure another long wait for transport to their intended accommodation, complicating their training schedule.
“All nations deserve respect. What happened yesterday was not a beautiful image,” said East Timor’s head coach Fabiano Flora.
CRAMPED TRANSPORT
Myanmar athletes complained about delays at the airport, and then the cramped minibus transport they were given. Their planned practice session could not be held on Saturday as a result.
Myanmar’s coach Velizar Popov said they were “not happy with some things” but their focus would be on the football, and not “looking for excuses”.
CNN Philippines reported on Tuesday that a local football team lent 17 buses to assist in transporting teams.
LONG JOURNEYS
Thailand’s football team were also stuck at the airport for a number of hours, and complained about the facilities and meals at their hotel. The team ended up having a practice session on the streets near the hotel instead of spending hours travelling to the training venue, 30km away in Manila’s notorious traffic.
Thai coach Akira Nishino said he wished the organisers could provide “a good environment and good perfect meal” for his players.
INSUFFICIENT HALAL FOOD
Singapore media reported that the country’s chef de mission Juliana Seow told organisers that its football team - the majority of whom are Muslim - were not provided with sufficient portions and variety of halal food at their accommodation at the Century Park Hotel, which is also where the predominantly Muslim Malaysia and Brunei squads are staying.
INCOMPLETE
Indonesian media outlets complained that renovations to Manila’s Rizal Memorial Stadium were not complete in time for the games, asking “why isn’t the stadium fixed?”
Malaysia’s football manager also said the team “would have to manage” as the dressing room at their stadium was still being renovated.
Meanwhile, images of scaffolding on the stadium and an incomplete media centres were shared widely online.
MEDIA MAYHEM
Media representatives did not fare much better than players. As they arrived, the first foreign journalists were left to rifle through a pile of media passes on a table to find their relevant accreditation tags.
Meanwhile, one of the first football games, between Malaysia and Myanmar, did not have a functioning scoreboard, according to reports.
The SEA Games, which run until December 11, will feature 56 sporting events across dozens of venues in and around Manila and other areas. The Philippines has hosted the games three times before, the last time being in 2005.
This article has been updated to reflect comments made by Singapore’s chef de mission to local media.
