Football
The Ateneo varsity football teams have won a total 16 championships, 9 in NCAA and 7 in UAAP. In the NCAA, the seniors and juniors teams have won 6 and 3 titles, respectively. The Blue Booters were the first to win a football championship in the NCAA when they won the title on the maiden season of the NCAA in 1924. They also won their first back-to-back (1953 and 1954) championship in the NCAA. In the UAAP, the seniors (men) won 5 titles while the juniors booters have 2 titles. The Blue Booters were three-peat champions after winning in Seasons 2003-04, 2004–05 and 2005–06, a record that still holds today. The two titles of the Blue Eaglet Booters are back-to-back, Seasons 2008-09 and 2009-10. Football was introduced in the UAAP Juniors Division as a demonstration sport in season 70 (2007–08) and declared a regular sport in season 72 (2009–10). UAAP football Season 75 will start on the first week of December 2012.
Football Championships
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Blue Booters
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Blue Eaglet Booters
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Blue Booters
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Lady Booters |
Blue Eaglet Booters
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The football seniors (men) team in the UAAP did not have much success until the mid-1990s, when they reached the UAAP Finals 4 times in a row, from 1996 to 1999. Months after winning the 1995-1996 Chipper Afable Cup (beating NAVY FC in the finals, 3-0), the Blue Booters won their first ever UAAP title in 1996, by beating arch-rival La Salle in the Finals by 2 goals to 1. Both goals were scored by Vince Santos. In the following two years, they lost in the Finals to the Green Archers, but were able to regain the title in 1999.
The rebirth of the Ateneo men's football team in season 58 (1995–96) under coach Chris Monfort saw the comeback of players Vince Santos (1996 MVP), Blue Avelino and Jet Lacson who all went on leave in the previous season. The returning 1994 team members were Domeka Garamendi, Rely San Agustin (team Captain) and Pat Moran. The team was further boosted by 5 rookies, namely: Monch Espejo (1998-1999 MVP), Mark Ramos, Karlo Laurel, Tojun Malvar and Jonji Castañeda who would become the team captain in 1998.
Castañeda and the other senior members of the team took over the leadership role in the team with the departure of the 1996 seniors (San Agustin, Santos, Garamendi and Lacson). With help from new blood in Paolo Aquino, Paolo Buendia, Carlo Santos and Panky Abijay, they were able to regain the title in 1999.
The 1999 men's team also holds the record for most goals scored in a UAAP game. They scored 41 goals in a 41-0 win over Adamson University. All eleven Ateneo starters scored in this game. Carlos Leus lead the way with 13 goals, Monch Espejo with 9 and Paolo Aquino adding 5.
In season 68 (2005–06), The Blue Booters won their fifth UAAP championship in a dominating fashion. They swept the season, 10-0, on their way to the championship. This is a first in the history of UAAP football and the record still holds for Ateneo.
The Blue Booters hold the record for the longest championship streak in the UAAP. They accomplished this when they won the football title in Season 66 (2003–04), Season 67 (2004–05) and Season 68 (2005–06), a three-peat championship achievement. Not to be outdone, the Blue Eaglet Booters also hold the record for the longest championship streak in the UAAP juniors division. They are back-to-back champions as they won the title in Season 71 (2008–09) and Season 72 (2009–10). The Lady Booters also hold a record, although something that they cannot boast. They have not won a championship in the UAAP and were even the doormat team in Season 74 (2011-12) as they did not win a single game. However, these losing seasons may become a thing of the past. For Season 75 (2012-12), the Lady Booters have three national players in their roster. In the 2012 national University Games, a preseason tournament that is held during the academic semestral break in October that the Lady Booters join annually, they finished as runner-up. The Finals was a tightly fought game which went into a 10-10 silver goal overtime (full 20 minutes). The final score was 1-0 and the winning goal was scored by their opponent only at the last five minutes of overtime.
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Famous quotes containing the word football:
“In this dream that dogs me I am part
Of a silent crowd walking under a wall,
Leaving a football match, perhaps, or a pit,
All moving the same way.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“You can’t be a Real Country unless you have A BEER and an airline—it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a BEER.”
—Frank Zappa (1940–1993)
“People stress the violence. That’s the smallest part of it. Football is brutal only from a distance. In the middle of it there’s a calm, a tranquility. The players accept pain. There’s a sense of order even at the end of a running play with bodies stewn everywhere. When the systems interlock, there’s a satisfaction to the game that can’t be duplicated. There’s a harmony.”
—Don Delillo (b. 1926)