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| RIP S.League, Hello Singapore Premier League |
FAS council member S Thavaneson once remarked in last December "they don't rule out the 'possibility' of it ..." after prior official press releases did not mention the term "S.League" but labelled the tournament as "Singapore’s domestic professional league",
Subsequent weeks following those words by the Balestier Khalsa chairman, several social media updates, seen by this blogger, posted by various individuals in the scene suggested the change of name was imminent.
One club even had to retract a Facebook posting which imprinted the name "Singapore Premier League" (SGPL) after it was posted by mistake before the official announcement was made, FAS did not respond when clarification was requested by this blog on that posting.
Nonetheless, an unrelated article by Fox Sports Asia did mention the new name weeks later after the aforementioned blunder.
WORST KEPT SECRET
This worst kept secret of Singapore football was finally unveiled at the eleventh hour by FAS on the 21st of March with a slate of rebranding initiatives to give the stale setup a new look.
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| The launch of SGPL was held at the National Stadium's Bank of Singapore Lounge |
Furthermore, it would definitely take a while before everybody is going to get used to these new terms, since the name "S.League" had been around for more than two decades (like how some still called SAFSA instead of SAFFC in the early days).
TIMING AND INTENTION
At the meantime, the whole rebranding exercise must have “a concept, look, feel and a timeline for implementation” - an opinion expressed by a marketing consultant whom this blogger spoke to.
Speaking on condition of remaining anonymous, he added:"Unless there is a clear goal in mind, I do not suggest a rebranding initiative just because we want to change,
"As it could be more damaging and harder to do another rebranding in future (if the first exercise failed)."
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| Players in various club colours in parade |
"It takes a lot of hard work on such rebranding that the change must have an impact, otherwise it is pointless to have it in the first place." he cautioned.
Rebranding was the final shot at redeeming Singapore soccer. And they blew it with this superficial cosmetic toothless exercise. There are structural and systemic issues that need to be addressed all the way down to club level as part of rebranding. No one is going to come watch your league just cause you have a new logo and name. Some agency must have sold a bullshit story on how this can attract sponsors and audience and these people bought it. This isn't how you do rebranding. Who even rebrands weeks before the start of the season?
ReplyDeleteI would have hantam the league with promotion and relegation and expand the league to 16 teams; together with the rebranding launch.
ReplyDeleteAnd should have gave all the sit out teams one year from the moment of elected to get their act together and enter the league (which is the rebranded one, as part of the new teams) - or they will have to crawl up from islandwide.
Now... its just feels... alittle..... short
Same Management, Same player, Same attitude same, Same character ... sama same same .. probably logo, “slowergan” different.
ReplyDeleteIs just a rebranding, nothing different... fengshui are still the same...
Rebranding must be comprehensive, Time, concepts, strategies, structures, policies ,modernization and a competent force to teamwork innovation into execution. Planning is critical and high Standards of Benchmarks should be followed. My three thematic areas will be Rebranding ,Modernization and stratergic policy direction. Funding and Competent members and Associates must be hired.
ReplyDelete