BoLASEPaKO.com - A Blog on Singapore Football

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 cert

Long before Lion City Sailors established themselves as the country's first privately-owned football club, there was at one point more than thirty years ago that one football club haboured a similar ambition to transform themselves into one as well. When the news of Lion City Sailors planning to have their own stadium surfaced in November 2021, I remember reading something similar in the papers back in the 1990s when I managed to retrieve that old news report from the archives recently. BLUEPRINT OF TAMPINES ROVERS "SPORTS CLUB" It was part of the ambitious blueprint of a National Football League ( NFL, now known as Singapore Football League ) Division One club - Tampines Rovers Sports Club ( hereafter to refer as "SC" in this article that is not to be confused with the Singapore Premier League club Tampines Rovers Football Club which later in this post will explain why ), when the news was first broke out by The New Paper back in January 1992 . TNP broke the

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

Mr Lim Teng Sai in his younger days (as credited) The story was shared by former Singapore national defender Mr Lim Teng Sai during the launch of the book "ROAR: Football Legends of Singapore" at the Jalan Besar Stadium (JBS) days ago. The former center-half approached a group of us during the friendly match between Singapore ex-internationals, which featured some of his former teammates, and their Malaysian counterparts, as he would like to peruse the book that documented the football history of Singapore. The friendly match, which was won 2-0 by the hosts, was part of the launch of the book authored and edited by long-time Singapore football supporter Mr A Thiyaga Raju and sports writer Mr Gary Koh respectively. The blogger with Mr Lim at the JBS Elated to see his name being featured in the list of the players in the book, he went on to oblige a fan's request to sign on a few pictures of his taken during his playing days in the 1970s. Pointing towards the direction wh

SGX's Mr Chua I-Min conducts the workshop with LCS players As many said the career lifespan of a professional football player is a short one, therefore it is very important to have sound financial planning just in case any uncertainty could derail anything that is smooth sailing. With that thought in mind, the first-team players from the Lion City Sailors (LCS) attended a financial planning workshop jointly organized by the club and SGX Group. THE WORKSHOP PART OF SGX CARES INITIATIVE The aim of "SGX Cares Financial Literacy Workshop" is to equip professional footballers with fundamental knowledge in managing their personal finances and investments during their football careers and beyond. Mr Chan Kum Kong, Head of Research, SGX Group "Our players are our most important assets – and we want to create the best possible environment for them to fully focus on their work on the pitch while also equipping them for life beyond football," said LCS Sporting Director Mr

If not, we would not have seen what was claimed by many as the best-ever national team that played and won the Malaysia Cup in 1977.  I chanced upon the National Library Newspaper archive site one fine day, and out of curiosity, I decided to search through the site to see if I can find some of the clippings of the heydays of Singapore back in the 1970s. The result was these two clippings... 'Fans petition' in 1976 ( NLB archive ) It was interesting to note back on 16th December 1976, The Straits Times (ST) reported a fans' petition was organized to ask the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) to replace "Uncle" Choo Seng Quee, arguably the best coach we ever had, with Technical Advisor Englishman Trevor Hartley as the national team coach.  "POOR RAPPORT", "OUT-MODED" CLAIMED FANS These disgruntled fans claimed the coaching methods of Choo were "out-moded" and felt there was a "poor rapport" between him and several player

Indonesia (red) and Thailand (blue) are finalists of AFF Suzuki Cup 2020 Final (credit: Jaron Lee) While it may seem like a different concept when he made the suggestion in 1977, but the ongoing AFF Suzuki Cup - a tournament contested by Asean nations should be the brainchild of Indonesian Benny Moelyono. Speaking to The Straits Times during 1978 Pre-World Cup qualifiers, the then Indonesia assistant team manager proposed an "Asean Cup soccer tournament, run along the lines of the UEFA Cup" According to Moelyono, Asean "needs is a meaningful competition," and invitation tournaments like King's Cup (of Thailand), Merdeka Cup (Tournament of Malaysia) were for the "sake of it" which did not arouse national spirit like the Asean tournament he proposed. The idea of "Asean Cup" first mooted in 1977 (credit: NLB archive ) "I'm sure it would be a success. Besides helping Asean countries improve their soccer standards, the tournament would

People of my generation might have heard of him but were too young to realize who he was when he was playing. Let alone those millennials or Generation Z who might think "Mat Noh" is just a random name of someone around them. It is something we cannot pinpoint at anyone if many young people these days have not heard the names of Mat Noh and his contemporaries who wowed this island republic in the 1970s. The 1977 Singapore National Team is still revered by many to this day Simply because many former players have stayed out of the media limelight after they hung up their boots that it is no surprise, some might not realize who are they if they happened to stand in front or next to a former national player. SAD THAT ONLY REALIZED WHO THEY WERE WHEN THEY GONE It is a sad thing that whenever former star players like Mat Noh pass on, we only get to read articles in the newspapers and discussions on social media reminiscing the achievements they had in their heydays, other than th

I believe those in their fifties and above would know who Mat Noh (Mohd Noh bin Hussain) was. Nicknamed "Allan Clarke" of local football, the good-looking striker was a heartthrob to many ladies fans and wowed many with his dazzling skills on the field during his heydays in the 1970s when starring for the national team in their Malaysia Cup exploits that ignited the "Kallang Roar" era. Mat Noh passed away at the age of 67 But how many who were born in the 1980s actually know him or his contemporaries and those who were born in the late 1970s might be too young to know who they were until they read about them in newspapers, etc.? And because of such ignorance, it led to one unsavoury incident that triggered one uproar that a late former national player was not properly accoladed on the night when he should at the closing ceremony of the old National Stadium (I shall not dwell on this incident, just go and Google it, as it still left a bitter taste on my tongue whenev

A book not to be missed  Good day to all,  I would like to recommend you this book - the autobiography of Mr. Quah Kim Song, the former national striker in the 1970s.⠀ For those who know the background of Mr. Quah, I think I shan't dwell on that part, and for those who don't know who Mr. Quah was, please head to the nearest library to loan and read it. If anyone wants to know more about the history of the local football and those swinging days of the 1970s aka the "Kallang Roar" era, this is the book to read. But there is one chapter in which Mr. Quah detailed his NSF days and it is something noteworthy as it explained how he juggled his fledgling football career with his citizenry obligations. Do have a read of that chapter, since there is now an ongoing discussion about sportsmen serving their NS and see how the SAFSA can be revived to help in this cause.  That is the short update of the day. Till then, stay safe and healthy and don't gather in numbers ❌ Thank y

The late Mr. Lee Kuan Yew (as credited) Good day to all, I saw these words from the late Mr. Lee Kuan Yew from the source which I credited on the bottom of the shared picture. Perhaps, it may be the case for other aspects of Singaporeans but not necessarily when we come to talk about local football. I think we all know too well that there are some individuals around who always like to compare the past with the present and some to the extent of belittling the efforts of the present generation while gratifying the greatness of those in the past. In fact, this syndrome of comparing is nothing new and certainly did not occur only in recent years which I believe since the first day a football was kicked on the shores of Singapore, it already started. Just check out this blog post which I did in 2019 - "We Will Thank Raddy 20 Years Later, Instead Of Now ..." which there are few examples to show how deeply the syndrome of comparing is entrenched in local football. While it is good

In a poll conducted on this platform's IG Story months ago, I asked if anyone is aware there was once an organization representing the players. The outcome of the result revealed a majority are not aware of this when there was once an organization meant for this purpose. Rahim Omar (pictured, as credited) It was during one of those random searches online for materials, it came to my attention of a meeting that gathered a group of disgruntled footballers in the early 1960s that piqued my interest to learn more about this short-lived organization. On 15th August 1962, a pro-tem committee was formed with renowned footballer Rahim Omar named as chairman of this committee. According to The Straits Times report that was published on the following day, the main objective of the group was to "seek better treatment for the players, who had in the past been duped by false promises". Among those who attended the inaugural meeting were Quah Kim Beng, Umar Rahmat, Ivan Vass, etc. wi