The University Athletic Association of the Philippines has approved a new rule of making players who transferred from one UAAP high school team to a rival UAAP team sit out for 2 years before playing in his new team. The rule was rumored to be triggered by the apparent interest of two-time UAAP Juniors MVP Jerie Pingoy of FEU to play for the 6-peat seeking Ateneo de Manila University.
The UAAP created the new rule to protect the treasured basketball programs of many of its member schools. Hello protectionism and goodbye choice! What is next? The PBA only allowing teams to draft players from their D-league affiliates? The rivalries in the college-level is now so stiff that players as early as 13 should decide what college should they play for. Wow. It's amazing.
It is now like UAAP is making players sign an unwritten contract that makes players as properties of schools. Maybe next year, they will allow schools to trade rights of certain players in exchange for other players. This is the problem with the Philippine school system. The college game is so unregulated that we do not know what are these players are getting in exchange for their services. The UAAP is in away bigger than the PBA as teams could sign as many as 30 players in a given year. The rivalries are more heated and the team owners and sponsors rival that of PBA team owners. SM has team in the UAAP. So does the MVP group. There were even talks that there are betting in UAAP games. It is understandable the schools will protect their interests and their prized possessions.
The rich schools can recruit as many student-athletes as they can afford. There are players languishing in Team B's who could have starred in other UAAP schools like UP. Why can't UAAP limit the number of players that schools can protect? It's like in the NFL, teams cannot franchise all of its free agents. The new rule now also applies to lesser known players who aren't even in the college plans of their UAAP schools. Not all schools can wait for 2 years and not all players can sit for 2 years and continue to develop.
I guess the NCAA is so happy with the new rule and they could probably see an influx of UAAP Jr. talents to their ranks in the coming years. Call it karma as the UAAP has been poaching the talents of many NCAA schools (especially San Beda) for years. If I have a son who can be the next Michael Jordan, I will probably enroll him in an NCAA or a CESAFI school so that when the time comes, he will have many options and not be hindered by the Jerie Pingoy rule. ;)
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