LOVE OF FOOTBALL. Yanti Barsales (right) in action for the Philippine Airfare Legends team in the 40-and above category during the 4ID Diamond Cup Football Festival at Camp Evangelista in Cagayan de Oro City on Feb. 12, 2023. At his current age, Barsales still professes his love for football. (PNA photo by Jack Biantan)
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Former Philippine Air Force (PAF) booter Yanti Barsales has shrugged off a traumatic experience during a national championship game more than three decades ago to become a legend.
The 50-year-old striker was recently here to lead the PAF Legends team to the 40-above title in the 2nd 4th Infantry Division (ID) Diamond Cup Football Festival at Camp Evangelista.
He was among the more than 30 footballers and officials of the PAF Football Club who showed up for the festival upon the invitation of the 4ID officials.
At 50, Yanti, as he is fondly called by many, is still reliable in front of the goal as he led the PAF to the title in the 40-Above category of the Diamond Cup.
There was a time Yanti was leading the PAF football team during the ’90s when the Philippine Azkals were not yet in the thoughts of local football fans.
On Feb. 12, the soft-spoken Ilonggo was at Camp Evangelista, to tell on the controversy that hit him some 34 years ago at the Paglaum Stadium in Bacolod City.
In 1989, then-15-year-old Yanti was accused of cheating his age in the national championship of the Coke Go-For-Goal in that city.
He was then the star striker of the highly favored Barotac Nuevo team of Iloilo during the national finals of the Coke Go-For-Goal.
Yanti was in the category for boys born in 1973 and above.
Young age
But Yanti then was not an ordinary boy. He was all muscled, highly skillful, and fully fit.
He came from a poor family and he was used to hard work when he was a kid growing up in Magpet town, North Cotabato province.
Yanti discovered football rather late when his family moved to Iloilo province.
He was in high school while studying at the Iloilo State College of Fisheries (ISCF) in Tiwi, Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo when he started playing the game.
It was also during those first two years while studying at the ISCF that he added more muscles working in the fishponds while studying.
Those muscles and his ability to strike the football like an adult shocked the players and the coaches in Bacolod.
During that time, spectators would also not believe that the 15-year-old boy could run that fast and kick so hard.
Facing obstacles
Thereafter, controversy struck Yanti as a coach from a rival team wrote a letter of protest alleging that the boy was overage.
Without any proof, the protest was entertained by the organizers, breaking the hearts and morale of the Barotac boys, especially Yanti.
Yanti was then called by the organizers to face an inquiry that found no evidence that he was overaged.
“I was completely shocked. I was young and in face of those people I was devastated.” Yanti revealed this in an interview right after a match during the Diamond Cup Football Festival.
Yanti said after that incident, he did not get discouraged and resumed his football career.
He vindicated himself a few years later when he led Iloilo to the U19 Adidas Cup title and then won the most valuable player award.
National team
Yanti then became a member of the Philippine National Football team from 1992 until 2001.
He also enlisted with the PAF where he played for 28 years until his retirement in 2022.
Yanti’s most memorable stint with the national team was in 2001 against Syria when he scored their lone goal in a 1-7 loss.
The men’s national team was not known as the Alkalis yet during that time. Support for them was limited and the tournaments they participated in were few.
Yanti today
At present, Yanti lives with his wife, Gemma Araneta Barsales, and his children Mariel, Marvin, Marvic, and Marian at the DECA Homes in Clark, Angeles City, Pampanga province.
Mariel is also with the PAF, while Marvin is applying also to be with the PAF. His other two children are still in school.
Yanti, at age 50, has availed of the optional retirement program of the PAF after having been in service for 28 years.
He has retired as a serviceman but continues to help with the PAF football program in Clark. (PNA)
