Instant Reaction: Oman 2-0 SIngapore

Image from FAS website

Which is why there are humps and restrictive strips along a straight road, this must be the logic, eh??

Watch OUT for the Red wave....

I guess some of you missed this Bishan encounter this afternoon (at the time of writing, it was still Saturday evening.).

I don't really blame you for that as no one from the mainstream media was reporting it, so no one was aware of it (except those who got to know this match by word of mouth).

Anyway, cut that crap and straight to the point.

In an odd arrangement, the game was played in three halves with 30 minutes each (man, I didn't know that there is this kind of format!!).

And the result was a much-improved Super Reds defeated the under-strength Home United, THREE goals to one.

MATCH PICTURES

The customary lining up and greetings prior the match...

The coin-toss and handshakes...

The Super Reds bench...

The Home Utd bench...

Peres De Oliveira, back at Bishan Stadium after a spell at Tampines, unleashed his trickery against the Koreans.

Picture of the action taken from the stand.

Caretaker coach (ironically former Protector as well) Jeon Kyeong Joon spent two months to comb for his current crop of players, by scouting around the whole Korea (that is that of below the 38 parallel line).

Jeon also shared with us the difficulties faced by the newly-arrival Koreans, having to acclimatize to a number of issues.

Home Utd's skipper S Subramani shared his thoughts as well

Instead Reaction : Kuwait 0-2 Singapore (admended)

Image courtesy of FAS website

It's just the beginning of the whole process.

As always, let's not too carried away over the win against the Kuwaitis , thus lost our focus.

Keep up the good work... Majulah Singapura... Well done Guys!!

(P.s: Many thanks to Ronin, for pointing out the mistake...)

........ (.....)

Match Day Ritual (Bedok)

It must be a struggle whenever I wanna mentioned something what you can do prior the match, within the stadium vicinity.

You see, the problem arises from the collective town planning in the early days that the authority had "cloned" the "town center" similar to one another.

In this entry, I went to catch Geylang played against Police SA yesterday, and at meantime take a look what Bedok have to offer (nothing much as far as I concerned...Sorry to you, Bedok residents :P).

Click on the "Google Map" for a bigger picture

HOW TO GET THERE...

the bus interchange , well-connected around the island..

..or the MRT (fairly accessible though)

..or you want to opt for this "premium" service - TAXI

WHAT TO SEE...

The hawker center, which is located beside the bus interchange, is always packed with people eager to fill up their stomach. If time allow.. give a try to sample the "Mee Rebus" by this stall named "Inspirasi".

Like any heartlanders' town centre, there are plenty of retail and eating outlets, located and arranged in more or less similar fashion you can find in any other new town.

Geylang United Football Club clubhouse - I think not many (football) clubs in Singapore have such a luxury of having a premises like this (located at the end of the town centre.).

NEAR THE STADIUM

If you are that hungry just right before the start of the game and stadium cuisine are not your forte.. fret not, right across the road there's a coffeeshop - "Mukmin".

See how near it is near to the stadium.

Though, the only problem is there's hardly any "makan" available as the coffeeshop is catered for day crowds.


Nonetheless, here was my bite before I headed to the ground - "Mee Soto"

"the main thing is to get some (match) practices..."

Mum Nature took us for a ride prior this friendly match between Geylang United and Police SA at Bedok.

Luckily, the "Mum" was aware that the sparsely few of us weren't want to make a waste trip, so she blessed the game to proceed on.

As this was a group together for a simple kickabout so arrangement as such: the announcer (where are you, Bernard?), the scoreboard (being switched off), the A-signs and the ball-boys (their presence were sorely missed as the players had to double-up as the ball retriever as well.) were nowhere to be found or functioning.

The Professionals - Geylang United warmed up despite the heavy drizzle.

The amateurs - Police SA, trooped out after the rains stopped

The customary hand-shaking prior the match.

The reason why league fixtures are being staged at night time - see the empty and sunshine-exposed stand?

4-0 was the result of this friendly fixture, which I think it's hard to gauge if the Eagles are ready for their return to the big time.

After all, a professional team up against a bunch of amateurs can't really tell us much about the actual strength and real potential of a team like Geylang.

Not that often you had these "dare-devils" jogging around the tracks while exposed to the danger of stray flying ball movement of a match.

Anyway, like what Geylang's Assistant General Manager (Football Division) Lim Tong Hai said to his friend at the stand, "the main thing is to get some (match) practices..." (Sorry Tong Hai, wasn't meant to eavesdrop but I seating behind you just now)

I am not a marketing man (Part 4)

Initially, I thought the whole idea (of the "gift" idea) was gonna called off until one fine day...

Got this idea when I happened to surf across the net that I came to know the gimmick of getting "iron-on" printing on T-shirt.

"Okay, that settled everything.. thanks" was what I told my supplier..

So this was what I got from my vendor just now...

So this is what the whole thing is about. (in "reverse" before "iron-on")

DONE - rejuvenated a plain white back (rather than have it in front and on an obscure position)...

So there you have it - an "iron-on" logo on an old T-shirt of me.

Save the earth?? or at least hope it does generate a fair bit of publicity from my back..hehehehe

The only concern is how long does this "iron-on" going to stay on the T-shirt??

To be updated...

I am not a marketing man (Part 3)

The whole idea sprung out after I thought what should I do to further enhance the awareness of the eleven year-old site (spreading thoughts and views in blogging shall never be a passive business, eh..) ?

Some of the already implemented ways like:-

• The conventional way of link exchanging with other similar blogs/ websites.
• Included the site banner in my profile signature on various forums.

...been doing quite okay and did more or less increased the traffic.

So came the "gift" idea.

For a start, I pondering a few options like:-

• The wristband
• The mobilephone tag (incorporated a screen wiper)
• Keychains
• Epoxy stickers (those u saw on some desktops)

While the cost of making those above-mentioned aren't cheap, but also how much publicity can those stuff generate?

Of course, I can't charge them at a "premium rate" to recover my costs. Also, sourcing for companies that going to make these stuff was a challenge as well.

Still, I decided to try out two options here.

Wristband
Did check with two "lobangs" that make the wristband.

"It would cost quite a bit to make something like the NIKE (LIVESTRONG) band (pictured above), as you need to make a mould for that... minimum quatity is 10,000!!" said the first supplier.

The second supplier offered a cheaper alternative (pictured above) but the wordings (using "silk-screening" process to print the text on the band) would tend to fade off after a certain period (then what's the point of doing it?).

Anyway, idea quashed after the craze over the band had faded enormously since Lance Armstrong started the trend.

Epoxy sticker

(P.S: Vik, just "tumpang" your sticker here..man :P)

The sms exchange went like this:-

• Me,"u make epoxy stiker? How much u charging n minimum quatity?"
• Supplier,"who r u and which company?"
• Me,"I'm not representing any company, jus an individual (non-obligatory) enquiry"

Having "said" that, there's no follow-up from the supplier, I guess he wasn't really that keen on small timer (pretty stuck-up, eh?).

Nonetheless, I managed to come up with a cheaper alternative to kick-start the publicity blitz.

To be continued ...

Drug ABUSE...

A spur of moment had me decided to pen this entry, after reading the conviction of disgraced Marion Jones for drug usage and other criminal charges.

While, here in Singapore and particular this region on whole, we seems to emphasis more effort to tackle "that thing". The question here is - Are we putting in as much effort on curbing illegal drug usage, if any?

No, no, no... I'm not implying that there's such practice is rampant in local football but the point is we ought to be alert as well in this drug abuse issue.

Thank Goodness, we never had such a major embarrassment (on drug abuse) since the inception of professional football except those due to carelessness and "timely discover of it."

One such carelessness case involved a player's (as he's still an active player, I would not reveal who he is) over dosage of an herbal concoction without knowing its dreaded consequence.

And the meantime, a European player was denied from playing here after the timely revelation of his past drug usage history.

Therefore, I will like to stress the same level of importance in dealing illegal drug usage as well as dealing "that thing".

Are our players here being educated on this issue and the consequences of doing so?

Having seen some high profiled cases surfaced in the States and Europe, we can't let our guards down on this scourge that crippled sports like athletic, cycling, baseball and etc.

Especially, the fact that a professional athlete's career lifespan is short and some crooks might decided to take this short-cut to cheat, prolong and enhance their livelihood.

I certainly hope so...

"That thing" again loh....

Recently, someone asked about what I mean by "that thing".

If you guys (see below) read today's copy of "联合早报"(Lianhe Zaobao), "TODAY", "my paper 我报" (not sure if "The Straits Times" or "TNP" carried that news), you all should know what is "that thing" I referring to (as I promised myself not to mention "that thing" on cyberspace anymore).

While the public have the every right to know anything regarding "that thing", however with the opening of the new season less than two months away and the national team about to embark their World Cup qualifiers, it is indeed a smack on the face.

All efforts to build on the recent success of national team to attract fans back to the grounds hit a snag, following the breaking of the news.

No doubt, questions will be asked again if any part of "that thing" really happened during the past months.

If proven guilty… it’s really KNN (for those of you who know Hokkien, sure you know what it means)…

"联合早报" Lianhe Zaobao (frontpage headline) - from which I came to know the news

"TODAY" (Page 2)

The revamped "我报mypaper" (brief run-through)

Book Review: Malaysia Cup 1987

Only recently, when a friend asked if I have any old photo that featured any of the old national team jerseys that I dig out this old souvenir handout (pictured above), which was given to me by my aunt 20 years ago...

Alas, how time passes - 1987 was the year this handbook, which served as a guide to Singapore's Malaysia Cup campaign that year, was published.

A sense of nostalgic sentiment flows as I flipped through the pages and was pretty shocked to see Fandi Ahmad playing against us (only to realize that he was earning a living as a professional years later).

The Lions of 1987

DPM Wong Kan Seng was the Minister for Community Development, who appoints the FAS president (the only NSA president to be appointed in this manner)

Former MP for Changi - Mr Teo Chong Tee was the FAS president

D Tokijan was one of my favourite players

One of the best 'keepers in the region - David Lee (now with SAFFC)

Manap Hamat was a steady and calm defender for Balestier Central in the debut S.League season before "that thing" destroyed his career.

Abdul Malek was one-time the first choice for the national team - current fate - UNKNOWN

S Anthonysamy suffered a freak accident during a warm-up match in 1997 and is wheel-chaired bound since

Salim Moin - former Gombak United coach is with the NFA now.

Hasnim Haron (left) and V Sundramoorthy in their rookie days.

Hasnim eventually became the first local player to have a boot endorsement deal, while Sundram left for Switzerland after the 1987 season.

Abdullah Noor was the "super-sub" before Steven Tan

The late Borhan Abu Samah known as the "Russian Tank"