13 deemed UNlucky - Annual Review 2009

14 years down the road what had we achieved?

“Below-average moderate” as I am to grade the overall achievement for the league.

Yes, it provides a chance for any budding footballer to earn a livelihood out of kicking a ball around, also ample jobs in coaching and club administration, etc.

Despite the constant proclamation as “one of the top 10 leagues in Asia”, it's not hard to see that there's a lot to be done to overcome some teething issues bugging the league.

 SENSE OF HELPLESSNESS

From time to time, I have been using this blog to share my thoughts and views on the local football scene, I can't help but felt let down that several nagging issues have yet to be resolved.

It's easy to spot a mistake from far, but before we can tackle that problem, how and where are we going to make the first step?

Maybe this feedback from a reader on one of the previous entries sums up the best.

“Well, it is always easy to give 'suggestions' while watching from far (sic). One never know (sic) how these suggestions will turn out until he/she is in the position to implement them."

THE URGENCY OF REBRANDING

Took this picture (abovementioned) at my workplace. Those faded cut-outs are mascots of those founding clubs that formed the S.League, way back in 1996.

As illustrated, the league seriously needs a major re-branding exercise for what is mentioned in the quote below (from a Facebook contact).

"Sleague (sic) is like a "super good quality" mp3 player that no one wants to buy. And if no one wants to buy, this product is a poor product and it's a failure. No matter how you want to explain that this Sleague mp3 player is better than Ipod (sic), if it dun sells, it sucks"

STOP “MAKING BELIEVE” OURSELVES 

If you recall years ago when Tanjung Pelepas, a port in Johor, near Tuas, started out, what was the stance of PSA, our port operators? They don't give a damn!

 

The red plot is where Tanjung Pelepas Port is

But when big boys like Maersk and Evergreen shifted to this new start-up in southwest Johor, PSA realized that something needed to be done to arrest the issue, before more would follow the suit then. A similar situation like this is facing the league now!

 

Noh Alam Shah (above) retracted his statements weeks after his outburst before heading to Arema Malang.

The league authority should stop “make-believe” itself and take a hard look at some of the problems mentioned by Noh Alam Shah prior to his departure to Indonesia.

(P.S: Although there was a U-turn by Alam Shah over his outburst in late October following some “clearing air” session with FAS, I still felt significant damages had been done.)

GET THE BASICS RIGHT, KIDS! 

I was at the H-Two-O futsal challenge. A look at the way most teams played concluded my view that most youngsters still lacked the basic fundamental skills to play the game.

 

No thanks to the "kiasu" mentality that we saw those "kick-and-rush" in futsal courts

As mentioned earlier, the five-a-side version is the best place to hone skills like controlling, passing, etc.

However, those "kiasu" types of football on that day had actually turned me off.

The point is if you cannot get your basics right from the start, how are you going to progress and improve your game?

SELF-EXPOSURE 

Once at a pre-season friendly, I asked a club chairman about his thoughts on engaging the community where his club is based.

"Definitely, we're looking into it (community outreach), but first we got to improve our football before we can take about it," he said.

The point of view of this chairman is that result means everything, and you can't convince fans to come back to the stadium when the football is not up to mark.

 

There's only this much I can do, as mainstream media is still essential to drive awareness at this stage, while "alternate" media remains a complement component (I can't recall who snapped this picture of me, but thanks).

However, at a post-match press conference that I attended many months later, another school of thought surfaced.

"Tell me if football in Indonesia and Malaysia is better than what we offered?" the coach asked. "It's about exposure." he offered that opinion when those in the room disagreed.

"While I was in Indonesia, a friend of mine who is a coach of a club kept receiving calls from reporters asking this and that.

"Because of this (exposure), it helps to make people follow the league since it's in the newspapers every day, and there will be crowds to see the games because people read, want to know and so they follow.

"Players' performance will definitely be lifted since they're playing in front of big crowds!" he concluded.

THE BLAME GAME 

The mass pin-fall after one another since that mass exodus of top players to Indonesia had turned everybody into an expert on local football.

This group of learned intellectuals is more than eager to give their point of view to address the deteriorated football scene in Singapore.

Lamenting, bemoaning, etc. are part of what I call it a "BLAME GAME".

"The media did not do their part in publicizing the local game, they hardly make an effort to generate interest on local football than focus more attention on EPL"

"The constant rescheduling of fixtures has been making it so hard for the league to cultivate a pool of loyal fans and media to follow."

(Above-mentioned quotes are summarized by various thoughts, and feedback, and not from individuals.) 

To be honest, the league authority did come up with some initiatives to entice fans to come to the game on its flagship “Friday Night Football" program, but the response had been lukewarm since many people, for those who bother, would rather catch the game in their own comfort zone or they aren't aware due to scant media coverage.

 

Behind the scene - "Friday Night Football"

Probably, because the idea of catching live games at the stadium is never a novel idea among the locals. At the end of the day, it's not hard at all to pinpoint a problem but can anyone come up with a feasible solution fast enough? Such pointing here and there resulted in a situation that nobody wants to take the responsibility to kick-start the much-needed changes to the way the game is run in this country.

• The clubs - It seems that since last year after I penned something on fostering a greater sense of belongings in last year's review, things seem to remain largely "status quo" based on the fact that cheering the teams at the games remain the duty of those punters (cursing and swearing in their case) and those of the "official" fans club. I should stop ranting on this issue as I felt what I suggested is adequate from my point of view and therefore, I rest my case on this issue.
• The fans - should stop moaning about the low standard of play and lack of atmosphere at the grounds. You guys have the role to play in hyping up the atmosphere at the ground by not just quietly sitting down at games like attending an orchestral performance.

While I have nothing against them, I honestly hope those so-called "official" supporters can make an effort to engage with others at the stadium, and not just limit themselves to one reclusive corner (I constantly shook my head whenever I witnessed that pathetic scene when we played against China and Thailand).

• The media - Now, get out of your comfort zone and rang those potential newsmakers and get them to open their mouth to say something. For quite a while, I have not been touching on the media aspect of the local game, as I felt it's a "using-an-egg-to-hit-the-wall" kind of effort for me to chide these folks. 

Although, I must say that at times I was rather disappointed that, for some reason, TODAY - the main source of local football news provided mainly previews but fewer match reports as compared to previous years.

• The league authority - we appreciate the difficulties you guys encountered when running the league, but the constant altering of league fixtures is not a healthy thing to do. 

FAS is housed inside Jalan Besar Stadium (who doesn't know that).

I was once told IF such a thing happened in Europe, clubs have the right to bring the issue to UEFA and disqualify the competition due to irregularities.

Another grouse raised was the late release of fixtures of the recently concluded season, due to the late announcement of the 12th team (DPMM).

We know some changes in the fixture are unavoidable, but too much altering will damage the credibility of the league authority, too, for being unprofessional with clubs not able to their season ahead properly.

CONCLUSION

And since the league authority had outlined the blueprint to improve the game in Singapore in a time when everybody's giving up, let's hope it's something that is sustainable (we would not want to see another "laughing stock" such as the "GOAL 2010" project).

 

I was there at the launch of the "Goal 2010" project

The point is blueprint or project, whatever it is, is simply just a guide to follow, whether the success of it depends on everybody who counted themselves as part of the football community - ARE YOU REALLY INVOLVED?.

It's always easy to point out the shortcomings of the whole setup, but at the end of the day are some of the suggestions made by some concerned individuals or groups feasible? If not, I really fear for the day that the league will become a routine chore year in and out just for the sake of it.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

Last but not least, I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who have been providing a platform to allow this blog to involve in events I never thought I would.

 

• SPRG (The North Queensland Fury's tour and Sony Ericsson Challenge)

• YEO's (The "H-Two-O Ultimate Challenge")

• SAFFC and FAS (The Asian Champions League, The AFC Cup, and The Asian Cup Qualifier)

Those "wonderful guys" of Soccerpro for another product review opportunity (Adidas Samba Millenium). And, most importantly - YOU - the readers for your kind attention, feedback, comments, etc. without which I doubt this blog would have survived this long to voice my concern and thoughts on the game we love so much.