PHILIPPINE NCAA
-HISTORY
The National Collegiate Athletic
Association (NCAA) is an athletics association of eight colleges and
universities in the Philippines. Established in 1924, the NCAA is the
oldest athletic association in the country. The Philippine NCAA is not
connected to the NCAA of the United States.
The Policy Board and the Management
Committee handles the affairs of the league. The Board and the
Committee are composed of representatives of the eight member schools,
and determine the acceptance and suspension of member schools, game
reversals and replays, and other official actions. During the nearly
yearlong season from June to March, each school participates in 11
sports; each sport is conducted in two divisions: the Juniors for male
high-school students, and the Seniors for college students. There are
male and female Seniors divisions for some events. The Juniors and
Seniors divisions each award a General Championship trophy at the end
of the academic year to the school which had the best performance in
all sports, based on the total amount of points scored in a
Championship tally.
With
basketball as the principal sport, rivalries have developed within
schools. Rivalries have led to withdrawal from the league of some
members as some games escalated into full-blown brawls. The NCAA took
measures to prevent major brawls, such as the segregation of arenas
into supporters of different schools. With the withdrawal of members
schools came the admission of new members into the league. As of Season
82, the league is contemplating an expansion into Division II athletics.
The NCAA sponsors eleven sports, which are divided into two divisions:
the Juniors division for high school students and the Seniors division
for college students. There are male and female Seniors divisions for
some events.
Each member college or university has an affiliated high school that
competes in the Juniors division. For example, San Beda College's
affiliated high school is its campus at Taytay, Rizal, while Letran
College's high school is found within its college campus at Intramuros.
While these two high schools are integrated within their colleges, De
La Salle-College of Saint Benilde is not directly connected with its
high school affiliate, La Salle Green Hills (LSGH), except that they
are both administered by the Lasallian Brothers. As a result, LSGH
labels "St. Benilde" instead of "La Salle" on their jerseys.
The NCAA sponsors the following sports for Juniors and Seniors:
basketball, chess, swimming, football, taekwondo, tennis, and track and
field. Volleyball, table tennis, and beach volleyball are hosted on the
Juniors and Seniors level as well as on both a men's and women's level.
Cheerleading is a demonstrational event and is not used in the
tabulating of each school's final score, and determination of the
season's General Champion.
The General Champion for the each division in an academic year is
determined by a points system similar to the one used in Formula One,
where the school with the highest accumulated score from all events in
a division wins the General Championship. A championship in an event
entitles a school with 30 points, the second placer 20, up to eighth
place, with one point. For an example, see the tabulation of points for
Season 81.
The decision of the Board of Directors to file papers of incorporation
with the then Bureau of Commerce in 1930 led to protests from the
University of the Philippines, which was the only public institution
among member schools, saying that it would lead to commercialization.
National University and the University of Santo Tomas sided with the
University of the Philippines on the matter. This led into the
formation, via an Article of Agreement, of a triangular meet among NU,
UP and UST, with the Board of Control's condition that NCAA events
should take precedence. The league established came to be known as the
"Big Three," and on 1932, the Article of Agreement was renewed.
In 1936, the University of the Philippines and University of Santo
Tomas withdrew permanently in the NCAA and continued with their own
league, while Far Eastern University (FEU) withdrew on its own. Six
schools remained in the league and became known as the "old-timer six"
– Ateneo de Manila, Colegio de San Juan de Letran, De La Salle College,
José Rizal College, Mapúa Institute of Technology and San
Beda College. Also in 1936, league games were transferred to the
newly-completed Rizal Memorial Coliseum, owing to its accessibility
among the schools, for most schools were in Manila.
In 1938, Far Eastern University, National University, the University of
the Philippines and the University of Santo Tomas formed the University
Athletic Association of the Philippines, a rival intercollegiate league.
The NCAA experienced a golden age during the postwar years. The Loyola
Center at the Ateneo campus became the new home of the league. Due to
the home court advantage of the Ateneo, Blue Eagles games were held on
the old Rizal Memorial.
Early years
The NCAA was founded in 1924 on the initiative of Dr. Regino R. Ylanan,
a physical education professor of the University of the Philippines
(UP). The original members were the Ateneo de Manila, De La Salle
College, Institute of Accounts, National University (NU), San Beda
College (SBC), the University of Manila, the University of the
Philippines, and the University of Santo Tomas (UST).
1950s
The 1950s will be
known in the annals of history as one of the best decade of the NCAA.
The start of the decade was the glory year of the fabled Letran Murder
Inc. Eventually, it will be the Ateneo de Manila Blue Eagles and San
Beda Red Lions who would be locking horns during the fabled era.
The decade produced
legedary collegiate players like Carlos Loyzaga (San Beda), Lauro "the
Fox" Mumar (Letran), and Frankie Rabat (Ateneo) among others.
The 1950s was also
known as the decade of the Crispulo Zamora Cup. The Crispulo Zamora Cup
was the trophy to be awarded by the NCAA for the first team to get
three championship crowns.
The Letran Knights
started with their 1950 campaign bannering their legendary Murder Inc.
However , they lost steam when San Beda and Ateneo traded championships
thereafter. San Beda won the crown in 1951 and the 1952 season. Ateneo
stopped San Beda in 1953 and secured the 1954 championship. The 1955
season was the deciding year for the Crispulo Zamora Cup which San Beda
eventually won.
In the post Zamora Cup
era, La Salle made their own statement by winning the crown in 1956.
Still, Ateneo was undaunted and secured the 1957 and 1958 trophy. A
third straight post-Zamora crown was only foiled by San Beda in 1959
ending the legendary decade of the 50s.
1960s to 1980s
NCAA basketball
champions formed the core of the Filipino team sent to international
competitions during 1960 and 1961 in Japan. The opening of the Araneta
Coliseum, the largest indoor arena in the Philippines, prompted the
league to transfer the championship round there.
By the 1960s, the
league experienced problems such as eligibility of players and
interscholastic hooliganism. This led to disagreements among member
schools, and as a result the 1962–63 season was suspended, and the
following two seasons were held in a loose conference format, where the
home and away system was used. San Sebastian College - Recoletos joined
the league in 1969.
After the riotous
games of the late 1970s, several of the founding members left the
league. The Ateneo de Manila University left the league in 1978 due to
violence, which also marred a championship series with San Beda, while
La Salle left after a riotous game with Letran in 1980. Ateneo de
Manila was accepted in the UAAP in 1978, while La Salle had to wait for
six years to become a UAAP member. San Beda left the league in 1983,
reasoning that the college will focus on school-based sports activities
like intramurals.
With the withdrawal of
Ateneo de Manila, league games returned to the old Rizal Memorial and
to the PhilSports Arena, since the Loyola Center was now the location
of the UAAP tournament. Also with the withdrawal of the three founding
members, most daily publications tagged the NCAA as "an ironic journey
from sports to violence."
As the league was reduced to four members, membership was actively
pursued. Perpetual Help College of Rizal was accepted as members in
1984. A year later, Trinity College of Quezon City became a full
member. However, Trinity was not able to meet league requirements and
was dropped from the league in 1986, the same year San Beda returned.
Measures were taken to prevent major brawls from starting such as
patrolling the behavior of the crowd by the respective faculties of the
member schools, were implemented as part of the remedy to ensure the
security during the NCAA games.
The addition of Philippine Christian University and De La Salle-College
of Saint Benilde in the late 1990s resulted in the current lineup of
members the NCAA now has.
A major breakthrough occurred when the league, upon the initiative of
host school San Beda, made a move that switched the television coverage
of NCAA games from MCI group to ABS-CBN on March 18, 2002. Previously,
only the Final Four and the Championship games were televised, but with
the five-year contract inked with ABS-CBN, a majority of the basketball
games will be aired, giving the league bigger exposure to fans,
students and alumni. ABS-CBN would later air the games on its
international affiliate, The Filipino Channel, making the games
viewable to alumni and fans abroad.
Future expansion
The NCAA has set its plan of expansion. Division II, as it will be
called, will be composed of newly admitted schools. The league has
already visited and issued invitations to schools such as Arellano
University, Emilio Aguinaldo College and the Lyceum of the Philippines
University.
In 1998, the affiliated schools in the CALABARZON region and southern
Metro Manila established NCAA South, an offshoot of the league.
The schools of NCAA South do not compete with the schools in the main
league.
The return of a Mapúa Juniors team, which took a leave of
absence beginning at the 2005-2006 season, would return at the
2007-2008 season, as the newly built Malayan High School would be fully
operational. Malayan High School would represent the Mapúa
Institute of Technology, which is due to be renamed as Malayan Colleges
by 2010. However, the return of the Mapúa juniors team on 2007
was held off.
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