Añejo–Purefoods rivalry

The Añejo–Purefoods rivalry is that of two Philippine Basketball Association teams, Añejo Rhum 65ers (currently named Barangay Ginebra Kings) and the Purefoods Hotdogs (currently named B-Meg Llamados) during the late 1980s.

History

When Purefoods Hotdogs bought out the Tanduay franchise in 1988, the team which absorbed 6 of the key Tanduay players already in an instant became the arch rivals of the crowd-favorite and PBA's most popular team, Ginebra San Miguel, in the league's two previous seasons, basketball fans witnessed the next great rivalry after Crispa and Toyota, in Tanduay vs Ginebra, their rivalry lasted two years in 1986-1987 and their matches were oftentimes so intense and fierce, with so much pride at stake for both teams, when Tanduay Rhum disbanded at the end of the 1987 PBA season, the animo Tanduay spirit lives on, as their fans switch their loyalty to the new Purefoods team, adding even more color to the birth of Purefoods-Ginebra rivalry was the offer of Purefoods to El Presidente, Ramon Fernandez in a dual-role of Playing Coach, following the footsteps of former teammate and rival Robert "Sonny" Jaworski.

Highlights

1988 PBA Season

• April 5: When the 14th.PBA season began, fans were already anticipating the Purefoods vs Ginebra game and mark April 5 as the day the two teams finally meet for the first time, with playing coach Ramon Fernandez matching coaching skills with Ginebra counterpart Sonny Jaworski, Hotdogs import was David Thirdkill, while Ginebra import is Jamie Waller, 1st Quarter ended at 26-25 in favor of Purefoods, in the 2nd Quarter, the Ginebras came off with a big burst to lead, 56-43 at halftime, the Hotdogs rallied from a 16-point deficit early in the third and were up, 84-82 after three quarters, Purefoods won the match, 116-110 as Fernandez was voted best player of the ballgame.
• April 24: The rematch as expected, another jampacked capacity crowd on hand, Ginebra this time, dominate the game from start to finish, Quarterscores of 38-24, 65-59 and 103-92 in Ginebra favor, before finally winning, 127-122, playing coach Sonny Jaworski orchestrated spectacular plays, dished off assists and score when needed most that held off repeated rallies by the Hotdogs, as the Ginebra fans cheered the loudest with chants "Ginebra" "Ginebra", their noise at the ULTRA prevailed over the two Purefoods bands sandwiched in between the Ginebra territory at the Gallery section in order to drowned their cheers. Jaworski was voted best player of the game.
• May 22: With Purefoods a win away in their first finals appearance, and Ginebra needing to win in order to arrange a playoff game, their fourth meeting in the Open Conference (2-1 for Ginebra), was an all-important match, the game went into overtime, with Purefoods prevailing 111-109, Jamie Waller missed his last shot that could have force second OT, sorts of debris, from plastic cups rain down the court following Ginebra's loss.
• July 12: First meeting in the All-Filipino between Anejo Rum 65(formerly Ginebra) and Purefoods Hotdogs, now had Alvin Patrimonio on its fold, a behind-the-back pass by Jaworski on Chito Loyzaga, who nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer gave the Rummasters a 61-43 halftime lead, the Hotdogs rallied from an 18-point deficit, winning the ballgame, 114-110.
• August 18: In another classic encounter, Purefoods nip Anejo, 109-106 in the first round of the semifinals to moved closer to another finals appearance, scoring the last seven points with a minute left, Hotdogs trailing 102-106, Al Solis drained a triple to cut Anejo's deficit to a point, 105-106.

1988 All-Filipino Finals

1989 Anejo vs Purefoods Highlights

Notable occurrences

• Game 2 of the 1988 All-Filipino championship series, when Ramon Fernandez was benched by the Purefoods management, in Game 4, Fernandez sat at ringside to watch his teammates lose to Anejo in the finals, some Purefoods fans brought placards to show their support to the former Purefoods playing coach.
• April 4, 1989, Purefoods downed Anejo, 131-115, as the 65ers went to their sixth straight defeat at the bottom of the standings at 1-7. in that particular contest, playing coach Jaworski sneaked in a punch on Jojo Lastimosa in retaliation on a previous play where he got tripped by Lastimosa.
• November 26, 1989, Purefoods fought a gallant stand without import Dexter Shouse, who abandon his team on the playoff game, Anejo won the emotional game by a point over the Hotdogs, 113-112 as fans from both sides got into a fight after the match, it is debated the game remained unfinished since Glen Capacio went to foul Carlos Briggs to stop the clock with 2 seconds left and put him to the free throw line, but the refs didnt blew their whistle.

Head-to-Head meetings

1990s decade

Purefoods and Anejo Rum were still considered rivals in the 90s but their matches did not have the same passion from their fans that it had during the late 1980s, both teams were instead known to be two of the most popular ballclubs in the PBA. In 1997, they play again in the All-Filipino finals with an entirely different lineups.

External links

• MYPBA.com