BoLASEPaKO.COM - A Blog on Singapore Football

The biography of "Uncle" Choo Seng Quee I was thrilled when I first came across the Facebook group posting by Reynold Godwin Pereira on his plan to write a book about Choo Seng Quee, the late legendary Singapore football coach whose name still awes everyone by merely mentioning his moniker "Uncle Choo". After all, we are talking about an individual who, through his no-nonsense, tough disciplinary methods, uplifted game standards not just in Singapore, but also in Malaysia and Indonesia. PRESERVE UNCLE CHOO MEMORIES BEFORE THEY'RE GONE A biography like this one came just at the right time to inform the current young generation of the great things the man did before all those memories would fade away after the passing of one generation. With "Uncle Choo" passing away in 1983, Pereira had to rely on the accounts shared with him by those who knew him, including players who trained under him and became national players like Quah Kim Song , etc. The book aut...

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 ...

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...

🙏 Thanks for joining in the FB live streaming on 18th February . 🔗 When we talk about Singapore Football , we can't run away without mentioning Malaysia Cup because of the long association with it. "The Malaysia Cup" was published in 1991 🏆 After all, Singapore was the first winner of this competition in 1921 and the team with the second-highest winning percentage in this tournament. 📖 And the same time, I shared some rare photos and old publications like a book on Malaysia Cup authored by Mr Godfrey Robert , a few copies of "Singapore Soccer", etc. 👴 Based on the June 1976 edition of "Singapore Soccer" monthly, I am confident to say legendary coach "Uncle" Choo Seng Quee would rather win the Pre-World Cup qualifier final against Hong Kong than win the Malaysia Cup in 1977. A copy of "Singapore Soccer" Monthly 🏢 Copies of "Singapore Soccer" monthly and book authored by Mr Robert can be found at National Library...

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...

Nowadays, there is nothing wrong when we think of any player who doesn't perform in the modern game by labelled him being “unprofessional”. However, it was a different thing back in the old days, when the word "professional" was TABOO. Simply because players in those days were strictly amateur (as featured in the movie " Kallang Roar ") and any form of engagement with monetary reward was strictly prohibited. I was told by a former national player from that era how he was implicated when a boot manufacturer used his name without his knowledge in an advertisement that almost jeopardized his place in the national team. AFC's Teoh claimed Quah Kim Song "is a professional" in 1977 (NLB archives) Another player from that era almost saw his place in the national team gone when he was alleged to break the code of conduct as an amateur by an official of the game's continental governing body months before the South East Asia (SEA) Games. ...

Instead of clamouring for those good old days, I always believe one shall never dwell on things that were already long gone. Yet, the irony is we still need those past glories to inspire the newer generations to push the boundaries to do better than their predecessors. Mat Noh embraced Uncle Choo after beat Malaysia 1-0 (New Nation) PRE-WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS (ASIA ZONE GROUP ONE) IN SINGAPORE It was a time when Singapore, the host, were ranked outsiders in this tournament which featured regional powerhouses like Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia as well. How would one expect the Lions to do well against a technically superior Malaysia team who still boasted the likes of “Spiderman” R Arumugam, “Towkay” Soh Chin Aun, Santokh Singh, Wong Choon Wah, James Wong, etc. in the absence of the legendary Mokhtar Dahari who was injured? Yet a hotly-disputed penalty which was converted by Mat Noh (who was tasked by coach "Uncle" Choo Seng Quee to train on penal...

"Singapore-Selangor" was a crowd-puller ** The unique football rivalry between Singapore and Selangor can only be appreciated by those who have lived through that era. This rivalry is unique in the sense that it is not caused by different social classes (as in Argentina's elite-based River Plate and working-class linked Boca Juniors) or close-town rivalries like AC Milan and Inter. Instead, it was likened to the rivalry between Manchester United and Liverpool. Despite languishing in the lower tier of the Malaysian League back in 1993, both Singapore and Selangor entertained a packed National Stadium in a second-division clash. To this day, some of us are still savouring those nostalgic moments of the swinging 1970s when the likes of Quah Kim Song, Samad Allapitchay, and Dollah Kassim were up against some of the best players in Asia those days, namely Mokhtar Dahari, Soh Chin Aun, and Santokh Singh who were playing for both Malaysia and Selangor. "SINGAPORE VS MALAYSI...

It's nice to see "H-TWO-O" roped in the likes of Noh Alam Shah, Lionel Lewis, Ridhuan Muhamud, Hariss Harun etc. to promote this brand of istonic drink (as depicted in those promotional posters below spotted at City Hall MRT station). Ridhuan Mahamud showing his skill Noh Alam Shah (foreground), Lionel Lewis (in biking gear and cycling) and Hariss Harun At least, we get a chance to see local footballers gaining some much-needed publicity other than during those "prominent" matches (i.e., "AFF Championship"). The recent TODAY article that paid tribute to the late Quah Kim Beng The article above was published weeks ago in TODAY and tells the story of the Quah family, widely regarded as the "first family" of local football. It was a well-written piece that provided insight into the footballing brothers of the Quah family (Kim Beng, Kim Choon, Kim Siah, Kim Swee, Kim Lye, and Kim Song), who were household names in their prime. Sadly, this is no l...