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Anson Road Stadium - The "Wembley of Malaya"

I first came to know the existence of the demolished Anson Road Stadium after I read a line from the veteran journalist Godfrey Robert's book "The Malaysia Cup" published back in 1990. USED TO THINK JBS WAS THE OLDEST Before that, it was always in my opinion that Jalan Besar Stadium was the oldest football stadium in Singapore (even though the old arena used to function as a rugby and hockey venue as well) due to its aged facade, which I noticed when I first visited the ground back in the early 1990s, before the redevelopment program began in December 1999. Big turnouts like this were common at Anson Road Stadium (credit: NLB archive ) Field diagram for listeners tuned in for radio commentary in the old days (credit: NLB archive ).   Recently, when I chanced upon an online article that provides a scribe on the arena, it piqued my interest to find out where exactly this stadium was located in the Tanjong Pagar district. EXHIBITION VENUE TURNED INTO STADIUM Acc...
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Football Legends Return as Soccer 7s Series Brings Past and Present Together

The inaugural Soccer 7s Series came to an end after three days of intense competition. With some players from the 2016 Premier League-winning side in their squad, Leicester City Masters clinched the Masters category by beating COMOS Masters 1-0 with a solitary goal from Martyn Waghorn. SKY BLUES TRIUMPHED IN OPEN CATEGORY In the Open category, Coventry City emerged as the winners after defeating Corinthians of Brazil 2-0. Former Singapore international Gabriel Quak's early brace in the game against Ratchaburi FC helped Singapore Football Club to secure the Plate in this category. Gabriel Quak in action for Singapore FC Hashtag United from England were declared the Shield winners after a 1-0 victory over Shanghai Shenhua. However, the Shanghainese did not walk away empty-handed when their female counterparts beat QPR Hoops to be crowned the women's champions . Throughout the three-day tournament, football fans not only witnessed some fast-paced action played on a smaller pitc...

From Taipei Dome to JBS: How Anime Brought Sports to Life

Barring those years disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, heading to Taiwan has been an annual ritual for me, which I consider my pilgrimage to baseball – another sport which I deeply devoted to. Nothing beats the experience of catching the CTBC Brothers  (中信兄弟) in the Taipei Dome  (臺北大巨蛋) – the latest iconic landmark of the capital city of Taiwan, which took more than three decades to come to fruition. CTBC Brothers' Crayon Shin-chan themed home game at Taipei Dome As a fervent supporter of the "Yellow Troopers" (the nickname of CTBC Brothers), it was yet another thrilling experience, as always, to see them locking horns in their home series against Fubon Guardians. The showdown between them is popularly known as the "Financial Holdings Derby" (since both teams are owned by major Taiwanese financial conglomerates – CTBC Brothers is owned by the CTBC Holding, while Fubon Guardians  (富邦悍將) belong to Fubon Financial Holding Co.). Fans had their pictures taken in fro...

[Event] - JBS to Host "Soccer7sSeries" in July

To mark Singapore’s 60th birthday, and as part of the organisers’ ambition to grow the tournament across international markets, the " Soccer7sSeries " will be held at Jalan Besar Stadium (JBS) this July to fuel that vision. " Soccer7sSeries " will be held at JBS In the press release issued by the organisers, Mr Dom Lane, Chief Executive Officer for the Soccer7sSeries shared the reason for staging the competition. SINGAPORE - A GLOBAL SPORTING DESTINATION “Singapore has truly become a global sporting destination, so we’re delighted to bring the Soccer7sSeries to the country,” said Mr Lane. The tournament will feature high-profile clubs from around the world, with representation from the likes of Vasco Da Gama from Brazil to German giants Borussia Dortmund, English club Coventry City to Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua. Singapore will be represented by Singapore Premier League (SPL) club Geylang International in both Men’s and Women’s Open competitions, with former Sing...

Are Lion City Sailors Making the SPL a "One-Horse Race"?

The 2024/2025 Singapore Premier League (SPL) finally came to an end with the retention of the Singapore Cup by newly-minted SPL champions Lion City Sailors (LCS) on the last day of May. Dutchman Bart Ramselaar netted the only goal in the final of the local premier knockout competition to see the Republic's sole privatised club cap off their memorable campaign in emphatic fashion over their closest rivals, Tampines Rovers, at the Jalan Besar Stadium. LCS first XI in ACLTwo Final at Bishan Stadium The following day saw LCS walking away with a few accolades at the SPL Awards Night with Aleksandar Ranković named "Coach of the Year". A DOMINANT SEASON CAPPED OFF IN STYLE It was an impressive roll of honour for the club that took over the operations of Home United and revamped to its present form in 2020, and has since set a few benchmarks, including the $10 million training facilities at Mattar Road that other SPL clubs can only dream of. So here comes the question – are t...