BoLASEPaKO.com - A Blog on Singapore Football

This article is contributed by Mr Chua Kheng Seng who wrote in to share his ideas on how to make the Singapore Premier League (SPL) a vibrant one after he read the blog post which suggested the implementation of a "play-off" system by this blog recently. Here are some of my suggestions that flash through my mind after I read a blog post by BoLASEPaKO•COM on whether a "Play-Off" system can sustain interest in the Singapore Premier League (SPL)? As the current SPL does not have a promotion-relegation system with the rest of the local league pyramid system (i e.: Singapore Football League, Island Wide League), it may be a major stumbling block to its growth because of the absence of this convention method to determine who to play in a league. No promotion/relegation for SPL since Day One LACK OF EXCITEMENT This may result in a lack of excitement for the fans or motivation for players to perform at a certain stage of the campaign because the same teams and players are

I hope everyone already woke up from a bad nightmare for what it was never meant to be in the first place. It was a bitter pill to swallow to see some of our neighbours (see links below under RELATED NEWS at the foot) qualified for the Asian Cup, while we could only lick our wounds and keep thinking about what went wrong. The emotion of Shah Shahiran (20) sums it up Many things were said about the preparation, process, etc. leading to the trip to the Kyrgyz Republic for the qualifiers of the continent's most prestigious tournament (i.e.: the late appointment of Takayuki Nishigaya as the national team coach , short preparation period , etc.) And when things did not go according to the script, it inevitably triggered an outcry, as seen on the platform's Facebook page lately. MOVING FORWARD It does not help the situation anymore if we keep harping on those hotly debated issues when we should be looking forward after the post-mortem period. When Coach Nishigaya insisted the Lions

Rizal is now part of Tanjong Pagar United's coaching panel Rizal Rahman is the reason why I decided to take up football photography. I still remember that day we met for the first time face to face at a fast food outlet near the National Stadium when he asked if I have pictures from his playing days. Which, unfortunately, I had none as I had yet to start taking match photos back then and I could sense the disappointment which I thought was probably a good time to venture into something that was alien to me. The following repurposed content is the feature on the former Balestier Khalsa goalkeeper which was first published on 23rd April 2009 in a Q&A format. Additional details were added to this blog post recently to give an update on the ex-national youth goalkeeper. FROM THE VOID DECKS Like many Singapore boys, Rizal started playing football in void decks of HDB (Housing Development Board) residential blocks. As the primary school where he studied did not have a football team,

Lee (19) exchanges pleasantries with SNL participants Albirex Niigata FC Singapore's star striker Tadanari Lee will be donating all of his goal bonus, which is worth S$200 per goal, to ‘Goals for SportCares’ campaign till the end of the AIA Singapore Premier League 2022 season, according to the club. LEE: BE PART OF THE COMMUNITY “When I came to Singapore in January 2022, I wanted to be part of the community and a way to do this is to give back through what I can do best – sport. So, when I heard about SportCares and how they use football to engage the youth, it really resonated with me." said Lee in the said media advisory. The 37-year-old kicked off his donation drive in the SportCares’ Saturday Night Lights (SNL) event yesterday (23/4) at Clementi Stadium where Lee joined the youth players in their football drills and shared some pointers with them on the field. Lee showing pointers to SNL participants Following the drills, Lee also joined the Muslim participants for iftar

 SGPL - Balestier Khalsa 2-2 Tampines Rovers 260222 Aerial duel at Tigers-Stags game Balestier Khalsa came back from behind to salvage a draw with goals from Shuhei Hoshino and Ensar Brunčević in the second half. The Stags took a two-goal lead in the first half through Boris Kopitović and Taufik Suparno. The match also saw the return of Balestier's head coach Akbar Nawas to the local top flight after five years when he, ironically, stepped down from the Tampines Rovers' hot seat in 2017. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE PICTURES SGPL - Tanjong Pagar United 2-2 Hougang United 060322 Jags' 'keeper Zharfan ensured safety Shodai Nishikawa's 88th minute diving header salvaged a 2-2 for Tanjong Pagar United after they earlier surrendered the lead to Hougang United's two quick goals in 77' & 79'. Khairul Nizam opened the account in the 72nd minute for Jags. Tanjong Pagar United reclaimed the pacesetter role barely one day after their co-tenants Alb

Why is it so? Read on  It was the right decision for me not to snap in the recently concluded AFF Suzuki Cup , which I would like to show my greatest appreciation to Mr Jaron Lee for helping this platform when I felt I was not physically and mentally prepared for that regional marquee tournament. In the meantime, we also noticed the increased presence of "fan-based media" like myself during the abovementioned tournament who also have been actively churning out content for the past one, two years. The emergence of these new players is a welcome sight, and it is also a constant reminder to me that the need to be innovative in order to stay relevant in the field. BEING SELECTIVE NOW I thought with the proliferation of social media tools which are now seen as a "must-have" for many organizations and individuals, information posted on these new media domains can be shared, re-curated by other platforms easily . This is why weeks right after the end of the 2021 Singapore

The outcome of the poll  In a recent poll conducted on the platform's IG story, 89% indicated their wish to see a Singapore Premier League "All-Star" game. There were a few such games that took place during the S.League era in the form of "local" vs "foreign" setting, for example, 1998's "The New Paper Cup" and the "Tiger Beer S-League All-Star Challenge" in 1999. WHITBREAD SCORED THE WINNER IN 1998 "The New Paper Cup", which included the initiative of "Save Jurong Campaign", saw the "Rest of the World" (foreign) beat "S-League Locals" 3-2 after extra time with the winning goal scored by the then outgoing national coach Barry Whitbread, who doubled up as "Rest of the World" player-coach, at the demolished Jurong Stadium in front of more than 5,000 paying fans back in 28th November 1998. FAHMIE VOWED TO SNIP HIS PONYTAIL The following year saw the staging of the "Tiger Beer S

Kyoga Nakamura's deal - a bigger news I can sense that excitement when Tampines Rovers surprised everyone when they dished out an unprecedented contract to bind Kyoga Nakamura for the next five years . After all, a commitment for that duration is something unheard of in local football where it was a common thing to see one or, if lucky, a two-year contract for the players. Furthermore, it came at a time when the economy is not doing well when most of us are worrying about our bread and butter. CONTINUING OF THE HYPE? The surfacing of this development definitely gave us a "wow" reaction, and probably something of a continuation of hype after the heroics of the Lions that melted the hearts of the nation in the recent AFF Suzuki Cup followed by the signing of Izwan Mahbud and M Anumanthan to the big-spending Lion City Sailors (LCS). Not forgetting Albirex Niigata (Singapore) made eyes turn when they roped in former Japanese international Tadanari Lee  ( Lee is famous for s

Izwan Mahbud switched to LCS  🚨 So much hoo-ha today (8/1) on the latest Lion City Sailors' (LCS) recruitment of both Izwan Mahbud and M Anumanthan . 💭 A friend of mine asked me about my thoughts on Izwan's signing for the Sailors, the following are some of my thoughts. 👍 On the positive side, it makes the contest for the number one spot more intense which is good, be it on the club or national team (NT) level. 🔄 I would like to think Coach Kim Do-hoon intends to rotate both Hassan Sunny and Izwan, given the packed calendar LCS be having. Happy headache for Coach Kim (credit: LCS) ⚠️ Having either one of them sit on the bench for too long isn't gonna do any good, given their importance to the NT who have both Asian Cup qualifiers and Suzuki Cup coming up later this year. 🧐 I would think Izwan be staying put at Hougang United where he would have more playing time to allow him to impress whoever is going to be the NT coach. 🐴 In the meantime, there are some quibbles on

Lion City Sailors - 2021 SPL champions (credit: FAS) 😶 It is not unusual to see transfer speculations surfaced right after the season is over, and already we read about newly-minted champions Lion City Sailors (pictured, credited FAS) linked to several high profile foreign players in their bid to assemble a squad capable to put up a decent performance in next season's AFC Champions League (ACL). ❌ Nothing wrong with that, especially we wouldn't want to see a repeat of that woeful Tampines Rovers' ACL campaign that eventually led to a premature end of their SPL title campaign. 💰 And more importantly, we know the financial muscles of the Sailors and some detractors of theirs are worrying they have already begun to turn SPL into a one-horse race.   LCS Coach Kim Do-hoon won the ACL in 2020 (issued by LCS) 🔍The challenge will be in what way the rest of the league can innovate in other means besides money to complete with Sailors, rather than sit at one corner to lick

A picture of a goalkeeper (as credited) Just a quick thought of what I saw at the Lion City Sailors - Balestier Khalsa game that had the Sailors walked away with a victory and the Singapore Premier League (SGPL) title. Sadly, in this game, we witnessed some poor goalkeeping that gifted the newly-minted champions those decisive goals which could have been avoided if better reading and judgment were there in the first place. Like one veteran coach who once told me "'keeper's territory is six-yard and outside that area would be the defenders" and with that belief, it bemused me what was going through the mind of the 'keeper whose poor judgment eventually led to Gabriel Quak netted LCS' fourth goal and helped to uncork the champagne for celebration. Lion City Sailors - 2021 SGPL champions (credit: FAS) Furthermore, the lack of commanding presence in his six-yard led to the second goal scored by Sailors in the first half and he seems to have the audacity to ask

1) I never utilize the "story" function available on Instagram until June last year when I posted my first "story" in June 2020. As I used to think why should I bother to post something which only lasts for 24 hours. It was only after I posted my first poll in November 2021 and realized how useful it is to solicit feedback and understand the ground's sentiments on various issues on local football. Like this poll, I conducted to find the fans' preferred mode to watch their AIA Singapore Premier League matches. A marginal majority preferred at the stadium 2) This recent poll was meant to be a tongue-in-cheek attempt to gauge how was the response seemed to be one-sided, and Shopee did reply after I tagged them in this story. I never expect Shopee would reply after I posted this 3) On a serious note, this poll was conducted right after the draw of the AFF Suzuki Cup which is scheduled to take place in Singapore at the end of the year. And seems like many are

 Lions Training 010921  Coach Yoshida led by example in the Lions' training  National Coach Tatsuma Yoshida called up 22 locally-based players for a series of training sessions during the FIFA international window. The training sessions saw the newcomers in the likes of Song Ui-young of Lion City Sailors and Hougang United's Afiq Noor. The sessions also saw the return of skipper Hariss Harun alongside Faritz Hameed, Jacob Mahler and Geylang International's Amy Recha whose last call-up was back in July 2016. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE PICTURES SGPL - Tampines Rovers 2-1 Young Lions 180921 Balancing act by Baihakki Khaizan Tampines Rovers had to work their socks off till the end to ensure they finally snapped their six-game winless streak by beating a resilient Young Lions 2-1 last evening (18/9) at Our Tampines Hub. Zehrudin Mehmedović gave the Stags the lead before half-time that was cancelled out by the spot-kick from Young Lions' skipper Jacob Mahler in

39th FAS Annual Congress (picture credit: FAS) The following are some of the key points mentioned in the 39th Football Association of Singapore (FAS) Annual Congress . A) From the 2022 Singapore Premier League (SPL) season onwards, the fielding of one Under-23 (U23) player instead of three in the starting lineup. B) No limit on the number of U23 players registered in each SPL squad. C) Young elite leagues to resume in the 2022 season (subject to prevailing circumstances). D) FAS will "put in a strong and determined bid to host" AFF Suzuki Cup . I thought the biggest takeaways would be points (A) and (C) , especially for the former that head coaches would not find themselves in a constrained situation and give more flexibility to field their ideal XI. The move to revive the youth elite leagues is a good one and hopefully, we can see a conduit in place to allow proper progression than having a fast-tracking mode that saw more teenage players in a top-tier league in this s

It used to cost $5 for more than a decade Years ago, before an S.League game between SAFFC and Etoile FC at Jalan Besar Stadium, I met someone I know just outside the ground, along King George Avenue, and had this brief conversation (as below). Acquaintance: "Do you have a free ticket?" as he was aware of my involvement in the scene. Me: "Nope, I don't have it" Acquaintance: "Cannot be, last time my who worked as a photographer, always have free tickets to matches" Me: "Time changes as different people are calling the shots now." A scene like this is not uncommon, but it is already becoming an annoying problem which I attributed to the liberal policy of giving complimentary entry that led to this kind of problem. A League Cup match played at Jalan Besar Stadium Perhaps, in the first place, such goodwill was to gather more awareness by offering free admission to fans to certain games. But the dangerous part of this giveaway has developed into