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Showing posts from January, 2011

The TWO sides of it and depend on where you see...

Just came back from the S.League Fanfare held at the *SCAPE at Orchard Road (pictured above). I think it was the first in years that the annual pre-cursor of the League being held in the downtown area with aim to use the music, the carnival atmosphere created to draw the attention of any random passer-by to take a peek what's going on and tell them the new season is going to kick-off in 12th February. However, the general consensus around the place seems to be the fact that it's more of an "in-house gathering" with players, officials and loyal fans mingled around and just like a friend who sums this up by asking:"Why aren't there any publicity of this fanfare on the papers?". To be fair, the media information of this event was issued only a few days ago (on 26th January 2011 which I duly put it up here), but that bags the question why not much publicity push to follow up on the mainstream media?? "There's nothing much to cover" said one of

[Media Information] Courts Announce Landmark Partnership with Young Lions

(The content of this entry are provided by SPRG and Fulford PR , the PR agencies for Courts[Singapore] and Vanda Sports Group respectively) (P.S: The copyright of the images depicted in this blog entry belong to Vanda Sports Group .) (Pictured above) Members of the Courts Young Lions with their new jersey. From left to right – Faritz Hameed; Terry O’Connor, Chief Executive Officer, Courts; Zainudin Nordin, President of Football Association of Singapore and Mayor for Central Singapore District; Ian Mullane, Chief Executive Officer, Vanda Sports Group; Eugene Luo and Afiq Yunos Singapore, 27 January 2011 – In what can only be described as a major development in Singapore football, regional retailing giant Courts announced today that it has signed on to become the official title sponsor of Young Lions Football Club, a team currently featuring in the S.League. With immediate effect, the team will be known as the Courts Young Lions. The landmark sponsorship deal signifies a major shot in

[Media Information] - S.League Fanfare to kick-off at *SCAPE on 29 January‏

(Media Information from the Football Association of Singapore ) SINGAPORE, 26 January 2011: The annual pre-cursor to the new S.League season is set to kick-off once again at *SCAPE (file picture above) this Saturday, 29 January. All 12 S.League teams, including newcomers Tanjong Pagar United will be out in full force as they vie for the prize of the Most Beautifully-Decorated Booth. The highlight for this year’s event is the Futsal tournament where fan clubs from all 12 teams will take to the court for the coveted title of Futsal kings. Adding to the twist this year, is an invitation to members of media who will get the opportunity to pit their skills against a team comprising celebrity coaches such as former Singapore internationals Robin Chitrakar and Terry Pathmanathan, as well as Guest-of-Honour, Associate Professor, Ho Peng Kee, Senior Minister of State for Law & Home Affairs and Advisor of Football Association of Singapore At the various booths, clubs will be giving away mat

Where the ball feel like "kentang panas" in the first half

Let's not kid ourselves here. We were never looked comfortable with the ball, as compared to the Malaysians in the first half. Midfielder Irfan Fazail (number 7) triggered the scoreboard in the 23rd minute While some fans were hoping the plastic surface of Jalan Besar would give the Cubs some advantages, but it was never the case. With their much dynamic pacing and possession play, it was not surprise to see Harimau Muda chalked up two goals before the interval due to some hesitant defending. Much better second half display by the Cubs with Coach Raddy replaced almost half the squad to show that Lions' fiery that fans were looking for. And it seems to work in rattled the nerve of the Malaysians that coach Raddy (pictured below) remarked in the post match press conference that,"they (Malaysians) were chasing us and trying to attack us on counter-attacks." "Although I felt that my team were 'too hurry' in moving the ball forward in the first half, which we

Short scribe on the Cubs-Harimuda Muda's pre-match presser

Was at the pre-match press conference ahead of tomorrow's friendly match between Singapore's Olympic squad and their Malaysian counterparts. Making their presence were Singapore coach Raddy Avramovic (pictured above, second from left) and his Malaysian counterpart Ong Kim Swee (second from right), as well as Cubs' captain Afiq Yunos (extreme left) and Mohd Affize Faisal (extreme right), the vice-captain of the Harimau Muda. "It's a good opportunity for us to get ourselves prepare before the game against Yemen." said coach Raddy. "It's a chance to allow young players to gain some match exposure against a good team like Malaysia." he added while admitted that the hastily arranged fixture has not allowed him to have many options to select the players he wants. Concurring his counterpart's view, coach Ong (pictured above, while speaking to the media) agreed that result is secondary for the friendly fixture. "It's about gaining the much-n

Korean infusion for Jaguars?

As one of the key areas is to improve the quality of the foreign players playing in the S.League, Tanjong Pagar United are making sure they are not lagging behind in that area despite the short preparation notice given their re-entry to the S.League that was only confirmed middle of this week. According to licensed FIFA player agent Abdul Halim of "Off-Side" Sports Management & Consultant, he had liaised with the Jaguars to bring in two young South Korean players for trial over the weekend. Midfielder Kim Jong Oh (pictured above, aged 22) skippered for his university Yewon University in University Korean League and was accoladed the "University Player of the Year" in 2010. While his fellow compatriot, 22-year old Hyun Jong Woon (pictured above) had been in honing his football skills in Brazil since the age of 13 that included a stint with top Brazilian side, Corinthians, is known to have the ability to make killer passes and excellent at dead ball and freekicks.

Officially - Jaguars are back and Cubs for SEA Games Final in 2011

(Pictured above L-R) FAS Sec-Gen Winston Lee, FAS president Mayor Zainudin and Jaguars GM Francis Lee hold the Jaguars' jersey. RETURN OF THE JAGUARS Only from the mouth of Mayor Zainudin Nordin, the president of the Football Association of Singapore that it's finally confirmed the returning of Tanjong Pagar United back to the S.League family after weeks of speculation in the local football fraternity. PLAN FOR THE FUTURE Also at the same media briefing session, the mayor shared with the members of the media the progress and the upcoming programs for the local football, which was recently thrust to the limelight following the shock disbandment of the Lions after a poor Suzuki Cup outing last month. With the disbandment of the Lions, it was told youth players will be the cornerstone of the national team rebuilding process and Mayor Zainudin had set the target for the national U23 squad to make it to the final of this year's SEA Games football competition to be held at Palemb

Let's divorce S.LEAGUE from FAS!

Having seen in the past few weeks of all kinds of solutions, remedy put up by various concerned parties on whichever means to lift the local game from the slumps. With much due respect, most of which we heard, read and seen are mere "recycled" suggestions that always brought to attention in any kind of mis-happenings. I think we been hearing stuff like "go back to basic", " start from the beginning", if that's the kind I would like to make this suggest - SEPARATE the S.LEAGUE from FAS. With two operate separately as individual to another, just like in the old days until the two organizations were merged to streamline the operations of running the game in Singapore with the league being operated as a business unit under the umbrella of the FAS. However, time had proven that it has not been the case for large part of the time to improve the game's standard in Singapore. Such arrangement is not uncommon as it is in the case of Japan, where J

Subject to public scrutiny...

Getting ready before the recording with host, Yi Qian (pictured above middle) It never came to my mind that I would appear in front of camera screen, let alone being part of the discussion panel group to talk about the recent disbanding of the Lions. But there I was with my fellow blogger Arief , "Super Fan" Daniel Lau and Han Keong, the sports editor of "mypaper" at the "Razor TV" studio for the recording on Wednesday evening. (Pictured above L-R) The rookie panelists - Daniel, Arief and myself Being someone slow in react when being prompted a question, the host, Yi Qian, gladly acceded to my request to the last person to voice my opinion after the rest did theirs. I'm relieved that everything went smoothly, as Yi Qian told us to be as if we were having a chit-chatting session and complimented us with our efforts. I am glad to have this opportunity to voice my opinion on the recent saga on a platform like this of an interactive medi

Missed Opportunity AGAIN....

Having read what my fellow blogger Arief blogged earlier on in his blog , I received this press release from "Football Management International & Trebol Sport International" that reads We are pleased to announce that Bangkok Glass has signed our player, Sylvain Idangar on a 2-year contract for an undisclosed fee for the Thai Premier League season 2011. He was accompanied by our FIFA licensed agent & Operations Director, Marco Guimaraes during the press conference to announce Bangkok Glass' players for the new season. Sylvain was one of the 19 foreign players who attended the FAS centralised foreign player trials in November last year. This release came just a few days later after "The New Paper" came up with a story that titled "Centralised trials not working out?" (pictured below) Inside the story, it was revealed that out of the nineteen players who attended the trial only Korean Lim Young Woo, who signed with Balestier Khalsa last week

"You want to TALK but make SURE you got your FACT RIGHT!"

It just got everyone talking after the disbanding of the national football team by the President of the FAS (pictured below). Frankly, it's something doesn't surprise me at all when such circumstance taken place that got everyone jumps onto the ship to give their opinions. Nothing new and fresh suggestions as most experts like us would finger pointing at all those perceived "guilty lots" (you all know who they are). However, amid all these stories, features and opinions that got everyone talking about this saga, that really caught my attention and in what would be the BIGGEST embarrassment (pictured below) among those relevant stories I came across. If one is sharp enough, one would know where the mistake is and a key lesson here is not to go and write something about when everybody is talking about and make disastrous error out of it... (P.S: This entry is not meant to embarrass anyone here, but it's important to convey the message and story to the

Prove me wrong if you get the nod

The revealing of the identity of the possible 12th S.League team being Tanjong Pagar United had set the buzz not least as Kallangroar.com (as pictured below when a poster claimed the Jaguars are being the "12th" team) And with confirmation of such possibility by the two Mediacorp media outlets - Channelnewsasia and TODAY (screen-grab below). Channelnewsasia broke the news on late Wednesday night . "TODAY" published the story TODAY . So it therefore more or less set the path of the possible return after sitting out for six years for the club that traces its roots back in 1975 with the formation of Tiong Bahru CSC under the guidance of Mr Richard Woon. But being someone who always believe is having solid foundation laid before hand before the admission (readmission in the case of Tanjong Pagar) of any team in the S.League, I have a few questions to ask here. What are they doing for the past six years since "sit out" as Tanjong Pagar Utd? Given the scenario

[Media Information] FAS amends constitution to be registered as a charity

(Media Information from The Football Association of Singapore) SINGAPORE, 04 January 2011: The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) held an Extraordinary General Meeting yesterday evening to approve the amendments to the FAS constitution in order to meet the charity registration requirements set in place by the Singapore Sports Council (SSC). SSC had informed all National Sports Associations (NSAs) in 2009 that in order to qualify for SSC funding beginning with the Annual NSA Grant Exercise FY2011, charity registration was a pre-requisite for all NSAs and this is in keeping with the principles of ensuring that public funds disbursed to all NSAs through SSC were accounted for. The proposed amendments to the FAS constitution were approved unanimously. CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION OF SINGAPORE 04 January 2011