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Fans waiting patiently for their turn

Not very often we would have an S.League club do something like this before the start of any season, but it is an encouraging sign. Judging from the turnout at the “Meet and Greet” session organized by Home United at the Bishan Stadium this evening which, at the same time, allowed supporters to catch a glimpse of the players' training session.

Prior to the start of the first autograph session, both players and backroom staff were individually introduced to the crowds before it was adjourned to the open training session that was concluded with a match between “Team A” and “Team B” with the former scored a 4-1 victory over the latter.

By then, eager fans were already formed along the stairways of the main stand for the second autograph session with new signings like Faris Ramli, Khairul Nizam, Irfan Fandi with skipper Juma'at Jantan at the first of the row on the limited edition posters that went on sale in conjunction with the event to mark the club's return to their spiritual home after a year of hiatus.

Juma'at Jantan signing on the bag

“Actually, it started off at the end of last year when we gathered good response from our social media marketing campaign that we decided to have this meet-and-greet session,” said Mr Ayyub Kay, the club's Head of Community Outreach on such initiative.

MAINTAIN THE CONSISTENCY

“Coupled the fact that we had made some good signings (at the close season) and we thought this is a good chance like this to allow the players to interact with the fans who also get an opportunity to own merchandise like the posters we are selling today which they could share with their friends or family about us and S.League on whole.

"Please sign here, thanks"

Irfan Fandi poses with a fan

“We are happy with the turnout today with lines forming to get autograph from the players by these supporters whom we felt are genuinely exciting for the upcoming season but at the end of the day, it's all about consistent engagement with the community we are working with,” he added.

Echoing the same sentiments was Daniel Lau, a long-time Home United supporter and local resident in Bishan.

“Now that they (Home United) are back at home in Bishan, I hope the club will double the intensity in reaching out to the residents here even though I thought they did a good job like the Chinese New Year's house-to-house visit in Yishun (where the Protectors were based last year).” said the undergraduate who caught his first S.League action at the Bishan Stadium when he was a primary school student.

GAUGE AGAINST THE THAIS

Following the interactive session, the team will embark on a training tour on coming Monday (25th of January) to Thailand where they are scheduled for three matches which included an outing against Army United for whom Singapore international Hassan Sunny is playing for.

Coach Philippe Aw signs on the limited edition poster

Said Coach Philippe Aw of the upcoming tour: “The three matches will be a good test for us to see where we stand and we will have a different objective for each game, for example, we would like to see how our attacking are up against the Thai sides'.

“Given the young and dynamic squad we have this season, I hope this trip will allow the team to gel together without any distraction to shape our team spirit.”

(P.S: All these snaps were taken using my mobile.)