I was flabbergasted when I realised how many sectors the organisers are going to open up for the Singapore national team's upcoming friendly matches against Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Solomon Islands at the National Stadium (check out yourself at the SISTIC site).
Worth the effort for having games here? |
Gven such a small fraction to be opened up, it would be a challenging task to create the kind of atmosphere most accustomed to an international friendly, especially the spot where some of the most passionate supporters usually congregate is not one of those to-be-opened sectors.
HAVING A WHITE ELEPHANT IN THE HOUSE
Based on the seating plan, only a few sectors surrounding the "players' tunnel" are open for sale, and mind you those limited slots are located at the lower tier of the 55,000-seat facility.While there is a desire to see more of the Lions' matches to be staged at the National Stadium, the limited seats available for sale will make the place look like a white elephant.
If given a choice, a smaller capacity Bishan Stadium would be my preferred choice, as it would probably create a much better atmosphere and more importantly - the surface is natural grass.
After all, Bishan Stadium staged a few international friendlies (for example the teamsheet above was from the match between Singapore and Cambodia back in November 2016) in recent years when the National Stadium was not available.
And we simply cannot stage the games at the National Stadium there just for the sake of it.
After all, Bishan Stadium staged a few international friendlies (for example the teamsheet above was from the match between Singapore and Cambodia back in November 2016) in recent years when the National Stadium was not available.
And we simply cannot stage the games at the National Stadium there just for the sake of it.
- 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎'𝒔 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒍 -
It's our National Stadium after all so it's right that we should aim to play most (if not all) of our games there. We also should be getting our players accustomed to playing on real grass instead of the turf at Jalan Besar - injuries are one reason, the other being that I don't think any other of our regional rivals plays on artificial turf.
ReplyDeleteI think the more we use the National Stadium, the less of a white elephant it will be. No point spending so much money on it, only to not use it.
I haven't been to Bishan Stadium in years, but my memories are of a very poorly maintained pitch. Have things improved?
Definitely, and with the ticket price, it will be an achievement if the attendance is 10k, instead of playing infront of an empty stadium, they could have fill ed up JBS
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