by Shamir Osman
'Live' telecast in Malaysia and Brunei a tremendous breakthrough, says Lim
SINGAPORE - Regular matchdays, a two-round format and new foreign teams in Malaysia's Harimau Muda and Brunei side DPMM FC, but changes in domestic football, christened S-League version 2.0, have still to set pulses racing.
But in a move that will surely raise the profile of a league going into its 17th year when it kicks off in two days, Today has come to learn that the 2012 season will be broadcast "live" by Malaysian television company Astro in Malaysia as well as Brunei, starting with Harimau Muda's opening game against Gombak United this Thursday.
Speaking to Today, S-League chief executive officer Lim Chin said: "It is a tremendous breakthrough for us that Astro has decided to telecast our games 'live' in Malaysia and Brunei.
"It will help our popularity to grow well beyond our shores to a wider audience."
And Lim expects the spillover effects from this to be felt sooner rather than later.
"This will enable us to reach out to footballers who might want to come and play here, and this might even help us in terms of luring in sponsors, who will get a wider audience across the region," he said.
The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) have already decided on the company that will be in charge of the production of S-League games as well as the cable television company that will broadcast the matches, with that announcement expected to take place tomorrow.
Similar to the LionsXII Malaysian Super League matches, Today understands that S-League games will also be available on free-to-air television, with a weekly magazine show in the pipeline as well.
Lim believes this broadcast arrangement will be a viable testing ground for the ASEAN Super League (ASL) - a competition featuring teams from across the region in a combined league similar to its basketball cousin, the ASEAN Basketball League - that is expected to take shape within the next few years.
"The S-League this year is a smaller scale concept of the ASL, with teams from different countries travelling across the region to play matches. And the fact that broadcasting it regionally is possible, with the promotions and sponsorships that we expect to achieve, augurs well for the ASL, should it materialise," said Lim.
"The broadcaster will be tracking viewership numbers to see just how well the matches are being received, and we will endeavour to keep up production and broadcast standards too."
But if Lim and his team have their way, S-League version 2.0 will continue to see additional revisions, like an All-Star game sometime in June, that Lim hopes will see as much excitement surrounding it as last Sunday's Charity Shield fixture between Tampines Rovers and Home United.
"The Charity Shield went well, and we want to keep things vibrant in a league that will be shorter this year (after the format has been changed from a three-round format to a two-round system). The All-Star game is one idea that has been mooted, but things are still fluid now," said Lim.
The match could feature a team made up of players from clubs hailing from the Eastern side of the island against their counterparts from the West, or even a local All-Star team against an S-League foreign legion side.
But the central idea remains to keep the buzz around the S-League going.
Said Lim: "We're still in the early stages of things and it is still just an idea right now, but I like the idea of bringing everyone together again at the Jalan Besar Stadium."
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