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History of the 2003 season
Before the season started, a badly kept secret was finally revealed as the S-league committee called a press conference and announced the arrival of a foreign club - Sinchi - to the S-league.
It had been on the card throughout last season since the league committee announced that they were toying with the idea of asking foreign clubs to participate in the domestic league.
A Case study conducted in 2002 found that the S-league had too many local clubs (twelve local S-league clubs) and it was overcrowding the market in
Reducing the number of local clubs appeared to be the solution decided by the S-league committee and for Strategic Business Unit (SBU) - the ideal number of local S-league clubs was eight.
With that in mind, SBU suggested to Balestier Central and Clementi Khalsa to merge themselves into a single entity. Balestier Central was a club with great managerial experience as they had been a member of the
Negotiations were carried out and once it was over, the two clubs - Balestier Central and Clementi Khalsa - were gone like the wind into the history books with a new club Balestier Khalsa emerging from it.
It looked to be a dream beginning for the new club, Balestier Khalsa, which took the nickname Tigers, as it raised $1.5 million in sponsorship, the largest amount ever by a local club.
There was rejoice all over and a new dawn looked beckoning for the new Tigers.
In a few months though, the mood would have totally change as once their season started, their performances on the field never justify the decision to merge the two clubs involved. Their debut season was a nightmare and it never went anything like the wishes of their chairman Balbeer Singh Mangat who had bravely predicted a top half finish.
Another club enduring a tough time in the S-league for the last few seasons was Gombak United with the debts of the club continuing to climb despite steps taken to control it.
It had by now reached the enormous figure of $1 million and at this point, their main backer, John Yap, finally decided to take a break from football management. Without his backing, it was a black hole that club could not hope to fill up.
It was impossible for the club to continue and a deal was struck with the SBU that the club be allowed to sit out of the 2003 S-league season. While Gombak United involvement with S-league was over for the time being, they continued their involvement in youth development and U23 Prime league with financial support given.
With that, two clubs were out of the picture for the S-league for the 2003 season.
Sinchi was one of the team replacing the defunct clubs but there was the need for another team to make up number twelve. The new club was Young Lions Under-23.
The aims of forming the club were to recruit Under-23 players from the remaining ten local S-league clubs; either from their Prime league or those from their reserves in preparing for the Under-23 SEA Games.
The idea was that the team playing in the S-league would go on to play in the Under-23 SEA Games. It was not to turn out this way when at the end of the season; many other Under-23 players from the clubs were drafted into the final squad to compete into the SEA Games.
The reason was the Cubs had players on their books who rarely get the chance to shine or, up to that point, had only been exposed to the lower grade Prime League and the team was not ready to make the step up to play in the S-league without the aid of more experienced players.
With that much changes in the S-league, it was fairly surprising the S-league could squeezed more into it as they decided to try a P.K system for the 2003 season.
It meant that after 90 minutes, if the game was still a draw, the teams will have a P.K shootout to decide the award of another extra point. The P.K shootout loser would still get the usually one point awarded for a draw.
Whether it was beneficial was fiercely debated as weaker team chosen the easy option of playing for a draw in the hope of getting another point through the P.K shootout.
Among all these erupted a controversy that saw Effendi Zainal (Geylang United), Noor Ali (Geylang United) and Ali Imran Lomri (Balestier Khalsa) all questioned by the CPIB.
They were found to have either provided information or bet on the outcome of a match. Ali Imran Lomri (unaware) was found to have provided information while Effendi Zainal and Noor Ali bet on the result. While it was not illegal to do that, they had no doubt broken the S-league code of conduct and all three were suspended from the league.
With changes in the S-league finished, it is time to turn the eye on the Big Three preparation for the upcoming season.
Home United, after their disaster 2002 season, had gone on a massive rebuilding plan to turn them back into a force in the S-league.
Shopping was completed by December 2002 and it brought in five new players - Fahmie Abdullah (Clementi Khalsa), J Surachai (Gombak United), Sutee Suksomkit (Tanjong Pagar United), A Siva Kumar (Woodlands
At Geylang United, Jang Jung left his post of coach when the Eagles management decided not to renew his contract claiming they wanted to merge the manager and coach roles together thus needed a more experienced person who could handed the dual role well.
It was therefore a shock when the job was given to Australian Scott O'Donell; for he had never managed a club before and was better known as a TV presenter.
Immediately, doubts were raised on the wisdom of the Eagles management decision but the former defender would soon proved all critics wrong with his team performances in the 2003 S-league season.
As for the champions, SAFFC, they committed the grave mistake of refusing to make a final decision on Thai midfielder Therdsak Chaiman.
Thai club BEC Tero Sasana had already made it clear they will not allow him back on loan to SAFFC as they wanted to retain him for the ACL group stage, which the Thai club was involved in, but the Warriors just refused to give up on the matter. Not that it mattered to BEC Tero Sasana as they refused to budge.
Time finally ran out for the Warriors as they could not wait any longer and they hastily recruited Ante Hrgovic.
It was a bad decision and not unexpected when one make a decision in haste as Ante Hrgovic was out injury even before he had the chance to impress. Even when he was back on the field, his lacked of sharpness showed and he was out of SAFFC during the mid-season transfer window.
The delay by the lacked of a decision on Chaiman cost the Western based club the chance to search for a better foreigner.
Finally, the focus turned to the Stags and Rams, two of the teams that can be considered having an outside chance for the title before the S-league begun.
Tampines Rovers, having finally won a trophy last season, retained the core of their team and further strengthen it with players like striker Noh Alam Shah, midfielder Azhar Salleh and defender R Sasikumar recruited.
The Stags now have a squad looking capable of matching the Big Three of the S-league.
For Woodlands Wellington with, 2002 coach of the year, M Karathu and a decent team with first team players like Goh Tat Chuan, Basri Halis, Zulkarnaen Zainal, Rudy Khairon, Simon Clark, Itimi Dickson, John Wilkinson and Agu Casmir, the team looked capable of a challenge.
What cost both though were the lacked of depth in their squad as outside their first eleven players, they did not have the necessary squad players who could step up and be counted.
The season began and the early pace setters were Home United and Woodlands
The first series of the league ended with them neck in neck with one another and it was impossible to tear them apart. Goals were not a problem with both having the strongest attack with Protectors having Indra Sahdan and Egmar Goncalves with Peres De Oliveira playing behind them while the Rams had Itimi Dickson and Agu Casmir with John Wilkinson behind them.
Therefore, expectations were high when on June 14 the top two teams of the S-league, at that time, clashed at the Woodlands Stadium.
A packed capacity of 5000 fans filled up the Woodlands Stadium and a classic match was played out with the Protectors coming out on top with a 5-3 victory over the Rams.
Egmar Gonclaves was in great form for the match with a hat-trick with the other two Protectors goals coming from J Surachai and Peres De Oliveira.
Egmar’s hat-trick goals were typically of all other Gonclaves goals with great services provided by J Surachai and Billy Bone. Twice, J Surachai split the Rams fragile defence with great passes to Gonclaves who could not missed when put through one on one with the keeper. For Billy Bone service, it was a brilliant cross whipped in from the Protectors right and the
While the Rams have suffered the demoralising defeat at their home ground, they were still expected to challenge but the truth cannot be further from it as they faded away when injuries and suspension took the toll on the team.
While the intriguing battle between the Protectors and Rams in the first series was still ongoing, the poor form of the Warriors surprised many onlookers.
As one of the acknowledged Big Three of the S-league and with a budget far superior to all - except maybe Protectors - they had failed to spark at all in 2003.
In the opening two matches, they lost to Home United (1-2) and Jurong (2-3) and never got their season off the ground. By the end of the first series, the Warriors had barely won over half of their games with just six win in eleven matches. They were well off the pace now.
Not helping matters were that the Warriors needed to play in the ASEAN Club Championship in
If the Warriors coaching staffs had hoped the regional competition could get their mind off their poor domestic form, it was the complete reversal as it worsen their problems for it only highlighted their lacked of firepower with SAFFC knocked out of the competition without a single victory.
The club was clearly missing the Therdsak Chaiman and Mirko Grabovac strikeforce of last season.
Meanwhile, the remaining Big Three, Geylang United, also had a striking problem as a result of Noor Ali ban and it left lone striker Aleksandar Duric having to gamely battle alone upfront without any support.
It took the arrival of Brendan Santalab in the mid-season transfer window to solve that.
His strike partnership with Aleksandar Duric was an instant hit with the two Australians hitting the goal trail with a combined 55 S-league goals for the season.
Their goals worked wonder for the club as its mount a late charge up the table and while the Eagles could never seriously challenge the Protectors, who were too far ahead of them, they managed to finish second in the S-league and progress to the
The Eagles dispatched the Tigers 1-0 at Toa Poyah in the quarter-final and in the semi-final, at Woodlands, the fast fading Rams went down 1-2.
For the Protectors, apart from the S-league, they were also having it their own way in the
In the quarter-final, the Protectors dispatched the
Even with the
They continued to run away with the championship and they finally won the title with five matches to spare. It was a great turnaround for the Protectors under Englishman Steve Darby with the Protectors breaking the Warriors record point tally of last season as well matching the number of goals scored.
With the S-league title secured, the newly-crown S-league champion could go into the
The final was to be played at the Jalan Besar Stadium for the first time but it was not to be any different from any final with the high stakes involved.
For the Protectors, a League and Cup Double await while for the Eagles, their first silverware of the season.
With that much at stakes, it produced an epic match as Geylang United fought hard to stop Home United League and Cup Double march.
Despite the Eagles best efforts, the Protectors were a class apart and won 2-1 with goals from Thai winger Sutee Suksomkit and
Indra goal had shown his striker instinct as he almost had no time to think on how to react. With the score tied at 1-1, the Protectors were out for the kill and in a mad scramble; the loose ball fell to Indra who was on the edge of the box with Eagles defenders closing in on him. The
After a five years lag with no club having won the Double, Home United had a clean sweep of all the trophies available.
The Protectors were the worthy Double Champion in a mediocre season for the rest of the clubs in the league.
The established order is still in place with the Protectors being the king of the league and Cup this season.
2003 was the third straight year the Big Three claimed the top three positions as their domain and this year, a gap have even developed between them and the rest of the league with the Warriors, who was having a terrible season, still strong enough to finish ten points clear of fourth-placed Stags.
It must now be asked if either Stags or Rams; the two strongest clubs outside the Big Three can challenge the established order of the Big Three or it would be the way things are set for the foreseeable future
2003 S-league Table
| Teams | W | P.K | D | L | GF | GA | Points |
| Home United | 26 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 104 | 42 | 85 |
| Geylang United | 21 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 75 | 30 | 71 |
| SAFFC | 20 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 68 | 37 | 69 |
| Tampines Rovers | 17 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 63 | 40 | 59 |
| Woodlands | 14 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 65 | 47 | 58 |
| Jurong | 12 | 7 | 1 | 13 | 35 | 34 | 51 |
| Sinchi | 11 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 46 | 48 | 50 |
| Sengkang Marines | 7 | 8 | 1 | 17 | 32 | 66 | 38 |
| Sembawang Rangers | 6 | 5 | 7 | 15 | 37 | 56 | 35 |
| Tanjong Pagar United | 8 | 2 | 0 | 23 | 36 | 78 | 28 |
| Balestier Khlasa | 5 | 2 | 6 | 20 | 37 | 76 | 25 |
| Young Lions | 6 | 1 | 5 | 21 | 33 | 77 | 25 |
Top Scorers (S-League & Singapore Cup)
| Goals | Player | Club |
| 37 | Peres De Oliveira | Home United |
| 32 | Aleksandar Duric | Geylang United |
| 29 | Egmar Gonclaves | Home United |
| 26 | Indra Sahdah | Home United |
| 24 | Chang Hui | Sinchi |
| Stage | Home Team | | | Away Team |
| Group | Sembawang Rangers | 0 | 2 | Home United |
| Group | Home United | 10 | 0 | Woodlands |
| Quarter-Final | Home United | 3 | 0 | Tampines Rovers |
| Semi-final | Home United | 5 | 1 | Jurong |
| Stage | Home Team | | | Away Team |
| Group | Geylang United | 2 | 1 | SAFFC |
| Group | Jurong | 3(2) | 3(4) | Geylang United |
| Quarter-final | Geylang United | 1 | 0 | Balestier Khalsa |
| Semi-final | Woodlands | 2 | 3 | Geylang United |
2003 Singapore Cup Final
| Home United | 2-1 | Geylang United |
| Sutee Suksomkit (14'I | | - Brendon Santalab (63') |
| Home United | ||
| Geylang United | ||
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