“CYBERFRIENDS” : PINOY
COCKERS ON THE NET
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“Once
a cocker, always a cocker” Millions of Filipinos have
migrated and have acquired citizenship in other countries.
Millions have opted to work or have been assigned abroad.
Most of them have learned and adopted the lifestyles and respective
cultures of their new homes, but for a special breed of Filipinos,
one thing remain the same. Those who left as sabungeros, stay
as |
sabungeros. Wherever they may be, they miss
the crowing and the calling of “St. Peter’s birds”,
serving as their natural alarm clock back in the Philippines.
They miss the subtle feeling while gently rubbing their hands over
the smooth feathers of their pambatong tinale back in their birthplaces
in their respective probinsiya. They miss the never-ending stories
of cocking exploits with their childhood friends in their favorite
tambayan sa kanto, as they try to outdo each other on how their
number one feathered-fighter flew, shuffle, cut and was eventually
raised by the sentenciador to be declared the winner. They miss
the biruan and the kantiyawan as they relish their occasional victories
over bottles of San Miguel Beer and adobong talunan. To sum it up,
they miss the company of their peers – kababayang sabungero.
Sabong.com.ph
In mid-1999, sabong.com.ph
(now sabong.net.ph was launched. While, there were already several
websites devoted to cockfighting at that time, sabong.com.ph was
the first one specifically dedicated for Filipino cockers everywhere.
Sabong.com.ph served as a virtual watering-hole where Filipino
cockers can get information on what is going on in the local cocking
scene; acquire new techniques & learn from the more experienced
game fowl breeders; order derby tapes or video compact discs;
post questions on any aspect of cockfighting; look for old cocking
friends; discuss about training, conditioning etc. with other
Pinoy cockers or better yet, chat with other surfers via the website’s
chat rooms.
It did not took long for Filipino cockers from all over the world
to find out about sabong.com.ph and soon enough, the number of
visitors in the sabong website steadily grew to make it what is
undoubtedly the best and most popular cockers’ website on
the world- wide-web.
Filipino cockers based in different countries such as the United
States, England, Switzerland, Sweden, France, Italy, Saudi Arabia,
United Arab Emirates, Iran, Kuwait, Australia, New Zealand etc.
started corresponding with each other through the website’s
bulletin board or thru e-mails and became friends.
CYBERFRIENDS WAS
FORMED
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During
the last quarter of 2000, sabong.com.ph was already registering
record number of visitors and the traffic of correspondence
among regular surfers was already so much that one could hardly
cope up to be able to reply to every e-mail. It was also the
time when the first-ever 10 million-peso derby in the Philippines
was announced by Roligon Mega Cockpit |
in celebration of its 11th anniversary in
January of 2001.
Out of the blue, an idea was proposed by a regular
visitor of sabong.com.ph to form a group for the sole purpose
of competing in the historic derby. Immediately, 27 individuals
enlisted. They called themselves the Cyberfriends.
Instead of coming home to the Philippines for their annual Christmas
vacation that year, members of the group agreed to come in January
of the following year, in time for the derby and to meet each
other personally for the first time. The group mustered a total
of seven entries named Cyberfriends I to VII. Finally, when the
derby came, it turned out as a grand homecoming of sort for the
Cyberfriends complete with their uniforms of orange t-shirts and
caps. Each one has a gift for everyone. During the derby, they
were a fun to watch as they shout, jump, bang their chairs and
exchange high-fives among themselves each time one of their roosters
fight.
They ended with a fairly good score, but, came short of winning
the championship. However, they all got more than their money’s
worth. Their friendship was sealed. In January of 2001, during
their second grand reunion, the Cyberfriends promoted their first
Global Derby at the Roligon Mega Cockpit. It was a great success
with more than 40 entries participating. Last January 29, they
had their third homecoming with their 2nd Global Derby held at
the San Mateo Cockpit in Rizal.
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