BoLASEPaKO.COM - A Blog on Singapore Football

Hasnim Haron in action for Singapore (as credited) With the ball at his feet near the corner flag, the conventional move would have been for Hasnim Haron to pass it to a teammate in a better position to deliver a cross into the box. Nonetheless, the nippy Singapore winger had other ideas. He slightly rolled the ball backwards with the sole of his boot before flicking it up and whacking it into the penalty area during a Liga Semi-Pro (the Malaysian League) match at the old National Stadium. Such unorthodox trickery sent the thousands at Kallang into a state of frenzy. I will never forget the moment I saw that play on a delayed telecast back in 1990. The start of the last decade of the 20th century marked the rise to prominence of a man touted to fill the void vacated by both Fandi Ahmad and V. Sundram moorthy. (L-R) Hasnim and V Sundram moorthy in 1987 ( source ) With the exodus of the aforementioned duo overseas in the 1980s, the island republic was in desperate need of a new football...

I am not sure how the whole phenomenon started, following the announcement of the FAS-FAM MOU in Kuala Lumpur . Seen as a mere exercise to foster better footballing ties between both countries with each side sending a team to take part in each other's domestic league as a "cornerstone" arrangement in this symbolic partnership. HUGE "PR MACHINERY" TO WHIP UP THE "GOOD OL' DAYS" The next thing we saw was a huge "PR machinery" that went ahead on the mainstream media to stir the nostalgic emotions long locked in some of the fans' hearts with a daily dosage of old pictures from "good ol' days" coupled with those "feel good" sentiments from those who endorsed the move to the so-called "rejoining the Malaysia Cup" as "positive move to save our football". One of the "pro-Malaysia Cup" views shared On the other hand, only in the cyberspace where harshest opinions can be seen from the mon...

How things got worse for Singapore football (AI-generated image) [Quora] - WHY HAS THE SINGAPORE NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM BEEN SO ATROCIOUS IN THE LAST FEW YEARS? There were a few opportunities in the past when we could have built on after winning those ASEAN titles . It should have been a natural progression to see us move forward to compete with the rest of Asia rather than remain in stagnancy at the ASEAN level. Unfortunately, the participation of “Lions XII” in the Malaysian League during 2012–2015 seems to accelerate the declining process. Mainly because most of the Singapore national players during that period played for Lions XII. While there were some successes for the team like clinching the Malaysia League title and the Malaysia FA Cup, it came with a heavy price. During that period (2012–2015), most of the national players did not have a chance to play in the AFC tournaments (i.e.: AFC Champions League, AFC Cup ). As such, these players missed the opportunity to play against v...

It was probably one of my earliest vivid memories when as a child watching a player in a light blue jersey dribbling a ball on television at my maternal grandfather's home. As I grew up, it was made clear to me that it could be one of the Singapore national team's matches held at the old National Stadium that had all the eyeballs of many households around the island glued to the screen to cheer the Lions on. The Admiral Blue jersey worn by Samad Allapitchay (left) is one of my earliest memories (Asian Soccer)   Based on my intuition, the moment could be somewhere in 1977 - the year which is still fondly remembered by many as the heyday of Singapore football. Interestingly, this blog posted a few posts related to occurrences that happened during that year which witnessed some of the highs and lows of the local game. So here is a recap of some notable incidents in that year. FANS CALLING FOR UNCLE CHOO TO BE REPLACED  In the weeks leading up to the new calendar year, a petition ...

This souvenir program Alas, how time flies – 1987 was the year this handbook was published by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), and to serve as a guide to Singapore's Malaysia Cup campaign that year. It was given to me by an aunt of mine more than 30 years ago when I was a primary school kid. I remember the idea behind the original blog post before repurposed to this present form was because I was asked by a friend if I got pictures featuring Singapore national team from the yesteryears. A sense of nostalgic sentiment flows as I flipped through the pages and was pretty shocked to see Fandi Ahmad playing against us (only to realize that he was earning a living as a professional footballer turning out for Federal Territory (FT) later Kuala Lumpur FA). The Lions of 1987 The centerfold of the souvenir magazine is the team photo taken at the old National Stadium. Mr Wong Kan Seng's message Former Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng was the then Minister for Community Dev...

Led by English entrepreneur Reg Lambourne , the contingent comprised of English powerhouse Arsenal, Scottish giants Celtic FC, and Yugoslavian titans Red Star Belgrade arrived in Singapore to give local football fans one unforgettable experience in the Metro 20th Anniversary Tournament back in July 1977. I doubt scenes like this would ever happen today when I prowled and read what I gathered from newspapers archives for details on the Metro 20th Anniversary Tournament which took place in July 1977, when three groups of footballers descended together at the old Paya Lebar Airport for the abovementioned quadrangular which was part of the "World of Soccer Cup" friendly tournament played in both Singapore and Australia. "$24-MILLION WORTH OF TALENT" Was how it was labeled by The Straits Times in their report when renowned footballers such as Malcolm "Super Mac" MacDonald, Liam Brady, Danny McGrain, and Vladislav Bogicevic were part of the contingent welcome...

I hope people understand where I am coming from when I say the late N Ganesan , who single-handedly triggered the football fever in the 1970s, was a lawyer when he took over the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) chairmanship from RBI Pates in 1976 after serving as the latter's deputy. N Ganesan (in a white suit) holding the Malaysia Cup ** The only thing that was highlighted was Ganesan played for Singapore Indians in a 1982 Straits Times article which paid a tribute to the brave man to resuscitate the local game during his term in office as FAS chairman (as what it was called then). The reason I stressed this is that it was recently suggested that the top persons in the FA should be people who have played the game at high levels. As the Ganesan example shows, it is not necessarily the case while not discounting the fact there are former players who excelled as able administrators like legendary "Pop" Lim Yong Liang did. Although former players usually have a c...

One of the headlines on the stampede ( NLB archive ) The build-up to the match was intense. After all, it was between the two biggest sides of the tournament that saw them being the first finalists of the competition first known as the HMS Malaya Cup back in 1921. To make the showdown even more mouth-watering was the fact that Selangor, widely known as the Malaysian "second national team" back then with the likes of Mohktar Dahari, Soh Chin Ann, Santokh Singh, etc., had already beaten Singapore twice on a roll in the final to win the coveted Malaysia Cup in previous two years (1975 and 1976). The blogger speaking to Dato' Soh Chin Ann in 2010 (Gale Gan) Instead of making the arch-rivals face each other for the third consecutive time in the ultimate fixture in 1977, the script was changed to see both Singapore and Selangor in the semi-final instead. The young republic, coached by the legendary "Uncle" Choo Seng Quee, topped the South Zone undefeated with eight wi...