By Bryan Huang
Content Producer
bryanh.sph@gmail.com
IT'S been over 10 years since I first declared my support for Arsenal in a sea of Manchester United and Liverpool supporters.
I've watched several North London derbies in the company of fellow Gooners at various locations, celebrated the joy of vanquishing Manchester United and suffered the agony of defeat to those Tottenham Spuds over at White Hart Lane.
But I'll never have the opportunity to sit in at an actual Arsenal match in my childhood and experience the roar of an entire stadium as the Highbury crowd screams its collective lungs out, mainly because I didn't know of Arsenal in my childhood and Highbury is about to become...flats. That, and London isn't exactly the cheapest of places for a holiday.
WHEN I WAS A WEE LITTLE LAD...
No, the team of my childhood wasn't the Arsenal. It was the Lions, the Singapore national team and in particular, the team of old that I'm sure many of us fondly remember. Because live matches were a novelty, even on television, I used to listen to the live commentary on the radio.
On some occasions, I'd even hide myself under the blanket and imagine that I was at the National Stadium (which, like Highbury, is no longer around).
It may not seem like much now, but to a 10-year-old kid with an active imagination and lots of love for his national football team, it was pretty epic. Games against teams from Kedah, Selangor and Pahang were often the topic of choice on the school bus.
Watching the Lions at Kallang and experiencing our very own Kallang Wave was the reward for doing well in school. Any kid who kicked a football around during Physical Education classes talked about wanting to grow up to become like Fandi Ahmad or Nazri Nasir (and not Wayne Rooney or Leo Messi).
Watching the Lions at Kallang and experiencing our very own Kallang Wave was the reward for doing well in school. Any kid who kicked a football around during Physical Education classes talked about wanting to grow up to become like Fandi Ahmad or Nazri Nasir (and not Wayne Rooney or Leo Messi).
GOODBYE OLD HEROES, HELLO NEW ONES
That love affair ended when Singapore left the Malaysian League after Singapore's 1994 Malaysia Cup win. Two years earlier, the English Premier League as we know it now, had just taken off in England, and its influence slowly but surely, spread around the globe.
No longer were my classmates talking about Fandi and the Lions. They had new heroes - Alan Shearer, Teddy Sheringham and Eric Cantona, to name a few. And it was no longer Singapore versus Malaysia. It was Liverpool versus Manchester United. Blackburn versus Leeds. Arsenal versus Tottenham.
Today, ask any teenager on the streets, and most likely he or she will be able to name at least several of the clubs in the EPL. If asked about Etoile FC, there's a pretty good chance that it'd be identified as the French word for 'star' before being associated with the latest S-League champions.
Many will know of the Lions, but not because of their successes on the pitch a few years back. Rather, they'll be known because of the reports of smoking, partying, getting kicked out of the December Suzuki Cup and their reported $400,000-a-year coach.
Support for the S-League would be even harder to find, with many Singaporeans not even sure which club represents their home district. And while it is the 'top tier' of Singapore football, the fact that the teams have changed numerous times over the seasons and the lack of a promotion/relegation system make the S-League something only punters ever seem to get excited about.
REINVENTING THE LOST PLOT?
In discussion with my colleagues and friends, several suggestions about how to improve Singapore football came up.
Some feel that Singapore, as a smaller country, cannot sustain the 12 teams of the S-League. We simply don't have the fan base to support them.
London, with its estimated population of 7.7 million, has 14 professional teams (remember that this is the birthplace of the Beautiful Game), and only 10 see an average attendance of 10,000 or more. And these are teams like Arsenal, Chelsea, West Ham and Tottenham, with histories dating back a hundred years or more.
A regional super league, an idea that has been floated around before, might be the solution. The best Asean teams competing against each other might bring out national pride usually seen only in international competitions, as well as attract some bigger names (you know...old EPL stars past their prime).
Another suggestion would be to have a promotion/relegation system for the top tier of Singapore football. Promoted teams from a lower division could be given cash bonuses to help them secure some better players, and relegation would offer teams something to fear should they not perform.
While we're at it, isn't it counter-productive to have the Young Lions competing at the league level? I know the idea is to showcase the 'best' young talents, but wouldn't it be better to keep them as an Under-23 team that competes in international competitions, while letting the players develop their individual club careers?
At the end of the day, changes are required from not only the clubs, but the Football Association of Singapore. Advertisers and sponsors, too, need to look at long-term benefits instead of short-term gains.
Communities will need to feel that there is something to look forward to when their district club faces a rival, and the result will have to matter enough to warrant more than a passing glance in the newspaper.
With the establishment of foreign football on our local channels, it may be wise not to seek to fight against the EPL, Serie A and La Liga.
Instead, build up local football as just part of the culture - watch a local match on Friday (instead of so many weekday matches throughout), and then cheer your favourite EPL team over the weekend.
Should a local club get an affiliation with a bigger, well-known European giant, even better.
When the magic of the old Malaysia Cup/League days can be rediscovered, and local football once again captures the minds of imaginative little children, perhaps we can then dare to dream about another goal.
Goal 2022 perhaps?
Update (Jan 18, 2011):
There have been some really good responses from the social media universe regarding what some readers thought were the best days of Singapore football and the current situation with the national squad.
From The Straits Times' Facebook page:
"Late 80s early 90s... those days were the best...!! hear the kallang roar...!! the atmosphere at kallang whereby all of us stomp our foot and doing the wave was beyond words..." - Siti Nor'aini Abdul Samat
"Malaysia Cup is the best time,where you see all S'pore united together and cheering for Singapore!" - Melvin Phua
"The good old days of Singapore football. The days when as a teenager my friends and I would emulate the goals scored by Fandi and Abbas during recess. Then after school still in our stinking uniforms we would all head down to the National stadium to catch our local heroes." - Farhan Rasheed
From The Straits Times' Twitter page:
"Seriously? Sack the entire team? So where do we get the young players to replace the team? Who is going to be the leader of the team? You need some older guys to lead the youngsters, take Manchester United and Arsenal for example, mix of young and old. So if the Lions want to roar again, include some old guys like Duric to lead the team" - @elendparade
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