Monday, January 16, 2012

They will be remembered in time

From the title header, one may think I am going to write a story about some star players but in fact, it is a bunch of ageing men.

However they are more important than any star players, FAS chairman or even sponsors as they are still around despite the blows they have constantly received for all their endless contributions to grassroot Singapore football.

And they continue to have the fire in their belly to fight on.

Yes, they are the clubs chairman.


Over a decade on since he took over Tampines Rovers and he is still showing how much love has for local football but even he cannot fight father time.

This photo from Pohui facebook (just ignore that man in the middle) showed the ageing face of many of the clubs chairman.

I am not being ageism but that is reason I believed they will be remembered in time because they may well be the last batch of 'fools' to contribute so much to Singapore football yet expect little to, in truth, nothing in return.

For let be honest, football worldwide in general is never profitable to clubs in the best of time let alone Singapore football and the money a few of these guys have contributed would have bought them a thing the average Singaporeans desired.

I am talking about a piece of property as it is no secret that over the years, the likes of Teo, S.Thavaneson or Patrick Ang etc are believed to have spend that much on the clubs they loved.

But what have they got in return?

Backstabbing time and time again by FAS and ignorance from the average fans (or should I call spectators instead of the most sensitive term of gloryhunters) as well as our 'beloved' SPH media if one is honest.

Indeed I will be honest and say if I have the cash, I will never contribute that kind of amount as I do not see any reason why I should for FAS will get the credits while I am struck with the bills.

If I buy a property I will see returns but never for Singapore football if history is a guide.

Just looked at the blows to Geylang United management (as it is not Patrick Ang but the likes of Robert Lim and Seak Poh Leng etc as well) time and time again.

In 1996, S-league inaugural year, many promises were make by FAS top brass but virtually none were kept and as a result Geylang United were left with a debt over a million dollars .

If they had walked away then no one can blamed them but they stayed and worked hard to make their beloved club debt-free again and it was no easy task as Singapore was embroiled in three recessions in a five-year period.

Amidst all that, Geylang were still spending a decent amount to contend with the uniform teams as they finished in the top three in four of the next seven years alongside a league title.

That was no mean feat and in 2003, it seem as the Eagles will embark on the glory days until FAS came calling and Geylang had to release 7 - the most by any clubs then - players to Young Lions.

Again, if Geylang management walked away, who can blamed them as nobody like to develop players and then see them go off (for free somemore)

Talks of national interest mean nothing for the general election last year show one can be pushed in the name of national interest for only that far.

Just a side track, if Singapore public continue to agree to accept the same conditions as in the past decade Singapore economy as a nation can continue to grow at a decent pace but of course, whether the general public get to taste the fruits is another matter.

Same reason; talks of national interest sound hallow if clubs are asked to carry the burden alone while FAS get most of the fruits. 

As example just see the Suzuki Cup wins or SEA Games bronze of the past decade, clubs were an afterthought despite them being asked to contribute players like last year, when Tampines were asked to give up Shahdan Sulaiman even as they were in a title race.

Just think if the Stags had ended up second the other players and staffs will have lose out on bonuses while all the work the management done to build the team are wasted.

All in the name of national interest.

Sorry but PAP, which our FAS president come from, tell us it is not enough just to base on that to incite talented personals to join the government and take a pay cut of over millions.

In that case what more for football where you are not paid a million dollars but rather you have to contribute that instead and do not expect any appreciation from the average fans or media   

You might as well spend it on yourself like what Bill Ng, Hougang United chairman, commented in which he noted he could have got a new Ferrari with the money he invested in the club.

He should have done so in my view as when the current Geylang management time is up, they will received nothing in return from anybody after over two decades of contribution of not just cash but also time and efforts.

Not like Alex Ferguson who was recognised last week by FIFA and Geylang and Balestier management causes are hardly any less important as unlike the Scotman, they did not received a income that allowed them to live a lifestyle above the average guys. (I have to point out again it is the other way around)

That why they are 'fools' and in the current climate in Singapore they may well be the last of their kind for let be honest our government is right to note such people are ever more difficult to find.

Singapore football or me do not deserved them for they have been subsidizing Singapore football for ages without any appreciation.

That why I have to say it for the last time, in time to come, they will be remembered as fewer and fewer will do it now (they will be missed especially by FAS as FAS must know they do not have the kind of cash on hand to spend every year)

Friday, January 13, 2012

2012 Charity Shield sponsored by Great Eastern

The 2012 Charity Shield will be known as Great Eastern Charity Shield with the league main sponsor opting to sponsor this event as well.

The match-up will pin last season champions Tampines Rovers against last season Singapore Cup champions Home United.

It will be held at Jalan Besar Stadium on February 5.

Proceeds and donations raised in conjunction with this match will go towards our adopted charity under the Great Eastern ChildrenCare programme which will benefit the less privileged children from MINDS Fernvale Gardens School.”

Great Eastern extend sponsorship

Great Eastern today announced that it will extend its Co-Title Sponsorship of the S.League for a further two years, from 2012 to 2013, valued at a total of S$1 million.

With this renewal, the S.League is assured of providing local football a platform where young, talented and experienced footballers can showcase their skills as well as giving Singaporeans the opportunity to enjoy the Beautiful Game. With a new tournament format and a total of 14 teams competing for top honors this season, the S.League will certainly prove to be an exciting affair for both fans and players.

Commenting on the sponsorship renewal, Dr Khoo Kah Siang, General Manager (Singapore), Great Eastern Life, said: “We are happy to continue our partnership with the S.League which we have been supporting since 2009. Football has always been one of the top sports in Singapore and our association with the league has helped to bring the Great Eastern brand closer to the community.

“At Great Eastern, our focus is to promote Health and Wellness to not only our customers, but to all Singaporeans from all walks of life and of all ages. Hence our sponsorship of sports events such as the S.League and also our annual run for women. Our ‘Life is Great’ tagline is our inspiration. We believe that ‘Life is Great’ when one is healthy and well and our main intent is for everyone to live a healthier, happier and longer life.

“One key initiative during this new sponsorship term will be our working with the Football Association Singapore (FAS) on an outreach programme to schools where we will be using football to promote life skills such as teamwork, perseverance, and character-building to the young, while at the same time championing a healthy lifestyle through sports. We also welcome to our Great Eastern team three ambassadors – Lionel Lewis, Aleksandar Duric and Paul Cunningham – who epitomise the virtues of hard work and dedication. They will help us promote the importance of a healthy lifestyle not only to the football fraternity but also to the community at large, including schools.

“We are also delighted, for the first time, to sponsor the Great Eastern Charity Shield which will be held on 5 February as the curtain-raiser to the 2012 S.League season. Proceeds and donations raised in conjunction with this match will go towards our adopted charity under the Great Eastern ChildrenCare programme which will benefit the less privileged children from MINDS Fernvale Gardens School.”

Newly-appointed S.League CEO Mr. Lim Chin, who was also present at the press conference, mentioned, “I cannot be happier to be sitting here today with our friends of Great Eastern Life Assurance. Some of the Great Eastern management are my old-time football buddies, and it is great to see us coming together again to bring Singapore football to another level. Great Eastern Life Assurance Co Ltd has been a firm supporter of local football and with this sponsorship renewal, they are reaffirming their conviction to continue promoting the beautiful game here in Singapore. With the many initiatives intended to reach out and target the community, I am sure this wonderful partnership between Great Eastern and the S.League will soar to greater heights.”

DPMM are back in the S-league

DPMM are back in the S-league.

The Bruneian club had their stay in the S-league disrupted in 2009 due to a ban by FIFA on any football activates in the state and they were unable to join S-league the next season as well as the ban was not lifted.

With the ban now lifted, Brunei DPMM has re-joined the S-league

The official signing ceremony was held at the Singapore Sports School on 10 January 2012, witnessed by His Royal Highness, Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah, The Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office, who is in Singapore on an official visit.

DPMM will be the 14th and final team that will compete in the 2012 Great Eastern-YEO’S S.League.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Future of Spore football not worth full time

The Courts Young Lions are looking for an assistant coach but it is not a full-time job.

For me, that man action speak louder than his words (as CYL is still under FAS charge - not the new S-league CEO - so that man cannot push to him)

Over S$2 million for his Malaysia team to hire all those men and all on full-time contract.

Yet not even one full-time assistant coach for the future of spore football for let be honest, CYL will see more U23 players than that Malaysia team ever will.

Afterall who will want to step forward under those types of terms. May as well stay with their current jobs.

No way is he pumping into spore football like he claimed, only his Malaysia team

A step closer toward North Korea

The report is here so you can find out who is the new S-league CEO after SEVEN MONTHS OF SEARCHING

For me, this is the meritocracy system I keep hearing about from our PAP leadership and a panel make up of those party members show what it mean now.

In the end, no matter what, always appoint your own man in charge.

We are fast becoming North Korea now; if not in term of football but certainly system.

In the same period when North Korea appoint a leader because he is somebody son, that government panel, which consist totally of civil servants and a ex-military man, appoint a solider after claiming they were looking for somebdy from private sector.

In Spore, you want to head an organisation. Join the Army as looked at how they are just parachute to head Spore.

PUB - Navy (they got the right man as he flooding Orchard)
SNOC - Army (Look at the infighting before SEA games before it was time even to claim credits)
SSC - Army
Ministers - Army

So much for meritocracy.

Long live the military.

AFC Cup draw

Group F
Tampines Rovers
Song Lam Nghe An (V-league champions)
Kitchee FC ( Hong Kong Division 1 Champions)
Terengganu (MSL runner-up) 

Group H
Home United
Citizen AA (Hong Kong FA Cup champions)
Yangon United (Myanmar National league champions)
AFC Champions League playoff loser

Rest of the action

In other action, Gombak United defeated Woodlands Wellington 4-2, Albirex defeated SAFFC 1-0 and Etoile FC defeated CYL 3-2.

Korean Chang Jo Yoon scored a brace and his fellow countryman Park Kang Jin contributed one as well. Tengku Mushadad scored the last Bulls goal of 2011.

Hyun Jong Woon  and Goh Swee Swee reply for the Rams.
 
In the Swans victory, Bruno Castanheira scored the only goal of the game.

Theo Raymond, Kamel Chaaouane and Kevin Lefranc scored for the Stars in their win with Zulfahmi Arifin and Faris Ramli replying for the Cubs.

Woodlands Wellington
Phang Chin Guan (GK), Fumiya Kobayashi, Duncan Elias, Madhu Mohana, Syed Karim, Jalal, Guntur Djafril (Moon Soon Ho), Sazali Salleh (C), Han Yiguang (Sahhid Jamallil), Hyun Jong Woon, Goh Swee Swee 
Gombak United  
Zaiful Nizam (GK), Jalsee Hatta (C), Jeremy Chiang, Ismail Yunos, Obadin Aikhena, Walid Lounis, Shafuan Sutohmoh (Tengku Mushadad), Park Kang Jin, Fareez Farhan, Chang Jo Yoon (Ruhaizad Ismail), Zulkiffli Hassim (Hamqaamal Shah)
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SAFFC

Hyrulnizam Juma'at (GK), Shaiful Esah (Hafiz Osman), Razaleigh Khalik (C), Bah Mamadou, Daniel Bennett, Zulfadli Zainal Abidin (Mustaqim Manzur), Ivan Jerkovic, Rhysh Roshan Rai (Erwan Gunawan), Taisuke Akiyoshi, Mislav Karoglan, Fazrul Nawaz
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Courts Young Lions
Jasper Chan (GK) (Syazwan Buhari), Irwan Shah (C), Shahir Hamzah, Raihan Rahman, Abdul Hadi, Al-Qaasimy Rahman, Zulfahmi Arifin (Hariss Harun ), Faris Ramli, Nigel Vanu, Fairoz Hasan, Haniff Sadique (Ruzaini Zainal)

Tampines are champions

Tampines Rovers won the 2011 S-league title as they thrashed Balestier Khalsa 5-0 at Tampines Stadium.

Fahrudin Mustafic (2), Aleksandar Duric, Ahmad Latiff and Ahmed Fahmie got the goals.

The Stags had retaken the leadership of the S-league table in their last game after they defeated Home United 1-0 and this game, they just had to ensure they took full points to win the S-league title.

And this is what the now three-time S-league champions have done in emphatic fashion.

As for Home United, despite matching Tampines Rovers in term of result on the night and for much of the season, they finished second and no doubt much will be ask of what will happen in their last game if their coach Paul Lee had not been forced to sit on the sideline due to his sending off in an even earlier game against Hougang.

Home goalscorers were Masrezwan Masturi (3), Qiu Li and Shi JiaYi. 

Tampines Rovers 
Yohann Lacroix (GK), Jufri Taha, Benoit Croissant, Seiji Kaneko, Fahrudin Mustafic (Zahid Ahmad), Firdaus Kasman (Jamil Ali), Ahmad Latiff (Ahmed Fahmie), Akihiro Nakamura, Ismadi Mukhtar, Imran Sahib, Aleksandar Duric (C) 

Balestier Khalsa
Joey Sim (GK), Anaz Hadee, Paul Cunningham (C), K Sathiaraj, Vahid Bogucanin (Kenneth Chang), Armanizam Dolah (Shamsurin Abdul Rahman), Ridhwan Osman, K Vikraman, Poh Yi Feng, Andrew Tan (Hilmi Azman), Kim Young Kwang,
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Home United 
Lionel Lewis (GK) (Fajar Sarib), Kenji Arai, Juma'at Jantan, Valery Hiek, Rosman Sulaiman, Shi Jiayi (C), Isa Halim, Firdaus Idros , Masrezwan Masturi (Asraf Rashid), Frederic Mendy, Qiu Li (Nor Azli Yusoff) 

Geylang United
Yazid Yasin (GK) (C), Syed Fadhil, Khayrulhayat Jumat, Hassan Aziz, Kim Jae Hong, Shah Hirul, Syed Thaha, Nurhazwan Norasikin (Hasree Zais), Zul Elhan Fahmi, Rizawan Abdullah (Amy Recha), Hafiz Rahim

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Hougang the only winner out of 3 games

Hougang United was the only team to get a winner out of 3 games as they defeated TPUFC 3-1

Hafiz Nor got the goal for the Jaguars with Hougang Brazilian forward Diego Oliviera getting  a hat-trick to hammer the Jaguars.

Gombak and SAFFC play to a 1-1 draw with Obadin Aikhena scoring for the Bulls while Ivan Jerkovic reply for the Warriors.

In another match, Albirex Niigata (S) and Etoile FC also play to a 1-1 draw with Shotaro Ihata getting the goal for the White Swans while Aly Doumbouya got the goal for the Stars.

Gombak United  
Zaiful Nizam (GK), Jaslee Hatta (C) (Zulkiffli Hassim), Hamqaamal Shah (Ruhaizad Ismail), Jeremy Chiang, Ismail Yunos, Obadin Aikhena, Walid Lounis, Ridwan Jamil (Fareez Farhan), Tengku Mushadad, Park Kang Jin, Chang Jo Yoon 

SAFFC
Hyrulnizam Juma'at (GK), Razaleigh Khalik (C), Bah Mamadou, Daniel Bennett, Noh Rahman, Zulfadli Zainal Abidin, Ivan Jerkovic, Rhysh Roshan Rai (Mustaqim Manzur), Taisuke Akiyoshi, Mislav Karoglan, Fazrul Nawaz (Indra Sahdan)
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TPUFC 
Fa Ng Jia  (GK), Kim Seong Kyu (C), Arisman Arman, Delwinder Singh, Kim Jong Oh, Cyril Bagnost, Takaya Kawanabe, Azlan Alipah, Nurizam Azman (Israel Tan), Gary Loo (Shamil Sharif), Hafiz Nor

Hougang United
Ridzuan Hasan(GK) (C), Lau Meng Meng (Faizal Amir), Syaqir Sulaiman (Eddie Chang), Shahril Alias, Ratna Suffian, Azhar Sairudin, Fazli Jaffar (Fathi Yunus), Noor Ali (C), Aqhari Abdullah, Diego Oliviera, Mamadou Diallo  

Tampines take giant step towards title

Tampines Rovers have taken a giant step towards winning the 2011 S-league as they defeated a weary-looking Home United at Tampines Stadium.

With the Protectors playing in the Singapore Cup Final just 3 days earlier, the Stags had a big advantage of of a well-rest squad and the Stags took full advantage of it.

In a match played on field that I cannot called a pitch, it was a match of few chances as both sides were unable to create much with the state of the field.

In the end, it was a moment of inspiration from Ahmad Latiff who notched the winner.

The Stags now go one point ahead of Home United with one game left 

Tampines Rovers
Yohann Lacroix (GK), Jufri Taha, Benoit Croissant, Seiji Kaneko, Fahrudin Mustafic, Firdaus Kasman (Jamil Ali (Shukor Zailan)), Ahmad Latiff, Akihiro Nakamura, Ismadi Mukhtar, Imran Sahib, Aleksandar Duric (C) 

Home United 
Lionel Lewis (GK), Kenji Arai, Juma'at Jantan, Valery Hiek, Rosman Sulaiman, Shi Jiayi (C), Isa Halim, Firdaus Idros (Qiu Li), Masrezwan Masturi (Yasir Hanapi), Frederic Mendy, Sherif El-Masri (Sufian Anuar)

Home are Singapore Cup champions

RHB Singapore Cup 2011
Final
Home United 1-0 Albirex Niigata (S)

Home United 
Lionel Lewis (GK), Kenji Arai, Juma'at Jantan, Valery Hiek, Rosman Sulaiman, Shi Jiayi (C), Isa Halim, Firdaus Idros (Qiu Li), Masrezwan Masturi (Yasir Hanapi), Frederic Mendy (Sufian Anuar), Sherif El-Masri

Home United won their fifth Singapore Cup and their first in 6 years as they defeated Albirex Niigata (S) 1-0 in the Final.

French forward Frederic Mendy got the winner in extra-time although the Protectors should have won it at the death in full time as they had the ball in the net.

But refereeLeow Thiam Hoe ruled there was a foul by Mendy before he netted the goal.

There was no denying the Frenchman who finally netted again in extra-time and this time the referee can find no reason to cancel it out.   

In the third/fourth place match, Etoile FC defeated Hougang United 3-0 to clinch third position for the second season in a row..

Ironically last season against Young Lions, Etoile FC also won by the same scoreline of 3-0.

It was Anthony Moulin who scored a brace with Stephane N'cho adding in one goal in between.

This time it wasKamel Chaaouane, Franklin Anzite and Theo Raymondwho got the goals.

Hougang United
Fadhil Salim (GK), Lau Meng Meng, Shahril Alias, Eddie Chang, Azhar Sairudin (Aqhari Abdullah), Jordan Webb (Sobrie Mazelan), Faizal Amir, Basit Hamid (Ratna Suffian), Carlos Delgado, Mamadou Diallo, Noor Ali (C)

SEA Games XXVI results (Group Stage)

Singapore U23 0-0 Malaysia U23
Singapore U23 2-1 Cambodia U23
Singapore U23 0-2 Indonesia U23
Singapore U23 2-0 Thailand U23