Exclusive Interview with Rafael “Nene” Abello

Nene Abello was born into a family of rooster fighters. And despite minimal exposure to rooster fighters as a child while living in Manila, he found himself naturally drawn to breeding them. He is not only one of the most popular breeders in the Philippines, but he is also known in the international arena of cock fighting. He has won many derbies and he continues to this day to dominate the cockpit.

Nene Abello takes pride in the roosters he breeds and sells because many buyers seek his wisdom, mastery and honesty.
Rafael “Nene” Abello has been described by many as a Living legend, a true gentleman, and a world-renowned gamefowl champion. He is a well-respected gamefowl breeder.

We are so delighted for having Nene Abello to be part of this launching issue of Purebred Warrior Magazine. He is indeed a well respected gamefowl breeder and world renowned gamefowl champion, he is such a nice and a wonderful person while talking on the phone for an interview. Here’s below the series of personal questions catered to the true gentleman and the real Icon of Philippines Cockfighting.

MD: Who is Nene Abello?
Nene Abello: When I was very young I’m seeing roosters everywhere and I’ve been liking roosters since when I was five years old, so I’ve been a rooster-man all my life and I think that’s what I can say about me. I am proud to say that I am a ‘Roosterman with a purpose’.

MD: Tell us about your history on how did you start into this sport?
Nene Abello: It all started just like what I said, I like roosters a lot and I had a few of them when I was very young and I couldn’t afford it but it grows eventually because of my passion and dedication.
My hardwork pays me off very well. I involved myself into this sports though I am very young, I get along with the other cockers specially who had a good winning records so I can able to bet my money though its not that much but I do have a good winning percentage and the people bet as well.

MD:Can you tell us more about your farm?
Nene Abello: I have 3 or 4 areas of my farm, one area is in the city, but I’m just bringing my roosters here to fight. And then i have my breeding area where my hens usually getting ready for production and I have my breeding stocks and some holding pens for young stags and probably a cord area for keeping up my brood cocks on the grass. Then I have the range area where it can house about a 4000 range chickens male and female.
I have a lease in the mountain to where i molt and freshen up my roosters to fight and sometimes I got all the brood cocks to molt in the mountain, so when they come down, they look a little bit younger.

MD: Do you think cockfighting will gone at some point?
Nene Abello: No, no, no… here it will never run out. You will find the rich and the poor are equal in the cockpit, they would love to fight against each other with their roosters but not with themselves of course. Most people I think love and support the sports and even more so to the politicians here are much involve and open arms supporting the sports all the way. I guess everyone’s love this sport. Well, if you do have a Filipino friend outside the Philippines and given that he could have an access to a gamebird he probably could have a chicken as a pet! And if there’s two Filipinos with their cockerel you will have a cockfight. And if there’s three of them then you will have a derby.

MD: How many bloodlines you currently breed?
Nene Abello: I have a major breeds where I produced plenty of them, because they are winning the highest percentage of them all whether be in pure or in crossed they are magnificent and that’s why there is a big demands on this types of gamefowl.
I do have other breeds which i crossed to a little less in number. I also have two or three interesting bloodlines always which i have on the side that i never fully integrated in to the yard because as soon as they are showing their real fights or signs, I will breed them down just as to convenient.

MD: How important and systematic you are in terms of recording your gamefowl?
Nene Abello: Recording is very very important, from these you will know exactly the outcome of your bloodlines. If you don’t want to messed it up you really need to have a good and trusted employee to follow and execute the program or the steps of recording. It should always be systematic. This is not an easy task and this is a very much crucial in terms of recording your rooster and the pullets. I am very hands-on to this matter because if there is something’s wrong with your records and the execution are not properly organized you will end up messed and a waste of time.

You will see the rich and the poor people are so equal alike in the cockpit, they both love and support the sports even the politicians here are much involved and supporting the sports all the way.

MD: Advice you could give to young breeders that are just getting started?
Nene Abello: My advise would be a very self serving, I would tell them to buy gamefowl only from a good and reputable source, they need a lot of research on this because from the beginning if they are not so serious about this they are just wasting their time and money. You need to be passionate, dedicated and most of all the hard work is the key to all of this, plus you need to have a loads of patience too.
Once they are decided, they need to start small rather than big because you don’t know what will happen. In order to surpass all the challenges you need to seek advised from the experienced breeders so at least you will have guide or systems to follow.
Do you have any philosophy in life?
Oh yes, I got lots of Philosophy but I don’t know which one is fit for this or I would rather say “A healthy body is a healthy mind”. Being a rooster man all my life you really need to take care of your health, that’s number one!

MD: What do you think of this new magazine?
Nene Abello: The reason why I agreed to this interview its because I want to encourage your magazine… It’s good to have a magazine like this.

Origin Of The Sweaters
Nene Abello’s breeding program is centered around the Yellow-Legged family of chickens, today known as Sweaters.
Back in the 1960s these chickens were fought by Sweater McGuiness. They did so well that notable game breeders of the time, namely Harold Brown, Duke Hulsey and Ray Hoskins acquired this breed to use as brood fowl. Walter Kelso did the same with the aid of Cecil Davies.
Initially, Sweater McGuiness only bred and fought Green-Legged chickens but through his breeding program he was able to make his fowl yellow-legged. But to this day no one knows how he did it.

My Involvement
Nene Abello recounts how he developed his brood of prize-winning fighters:
During the late 1980s, Gene Brown and Carol Nesmith were fighting under Oak Grove and were dominating the major competitions around the US. Their fowl were half Sweater and half Ray Hoskins yellow-legged hatch. When the partnership fell apart I acquired both Sweater families, finding them more suitable for Philippine fighting.
nene&carolThese sweaters were owned by Carol Nesmith derived from lines that came from Harold Brown. Mr. Brown preferred the green-legged side and eventually lost the yellow legged color.
Prior to this I was an associate and friend of Ray Alexander who had a superior of Round Head chickens. I bred these Round Heads with the Sweaters with unbelievable success.
Then realizing that we had to be stronger and longer lasting than the competition I bred a family of Hatch chickens containing some Harold Brown blood. This cross seemed to awaken superior genes which were otherwise dormant.
When my brother and my son were living in the Dallas, Fort Worth area I was a constant visitor of Ray Hoskins. I had acquired some of his Yellow-Legged blood and also put them together and I was getting closer to the original blood that Sweater McGuiness had won with back in the day.
With our breed of Sweater chickens we won in major competitions like the World Slasher International where we were champion in 1995 and 1998; Runner-Up in 1996, as well as the Iloilo Candelaria Derby (one of the most prestigious fights outside of Metro Manila) where we had 7 straight wins in 2002 and 2003.
Our prize-winning game fowls are available for sale throughout the Philippines and Malaysia with inquiries coming from Mexico, Africa and the Middle East.

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Mhar Delaben

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