BoLASEPaKO.com - A Blog on Singapore Football

(This entry is formulated with the transcript of the media release by the Football Association of Singapore - FAS) (L-R) FAS President Mr Zainudin Nordin. S.League CEO Mr Lim Chin, Great Eastern Singapore GM Dr Khoo Kah Siang, Great Eastern Singapore Chief Marketing Officer Mr Colin Chan Reaffirm its commitment towards Singapore football since 2009, insurance giants Great Eastern (GE) has agreed to continue its sponsorship of the country sole sporting professional league - the S.League for another two-year. Under the newly-inked agreement, GE will extend this partnership, which is valued at a total $1 million, till 2013. "Football has always been one of the top sports in Singapore and our association with the league has helped to bring the Great Eastern brand closer to the community." said Dr Khoo Kah Siang, General Manager (Singapore), Great Eastern Life in the media statement released. “One key initiative during this new sponsorship term will be an outreach prog

(This entry is formulated based on and partly extracted from the press release issued by and pictures credited to Integrated Marketing Solutions Group [IMSG] - the PR agency for Nike Singapore ) The relationship between Singapore football and Nike break new frontiers with the signing of three players from last year's Singapore YOG squad by the sporting equipment giants. Seen as part of the brand's commitment in supporting local footballing young talent, Nike had signed team captain Jeffrey Lightfoot (pictured above), striker Hanafi Akbar and midfielder Ammirul Emmran. Under the newly-inked deal, Nike will be sponsoring personal training products for these players for the next two years, according to the transcript of the media release obtained by this blog. Furthermore, specific Nike products had been identified for the triumvirate based on their positions and playing styles to enhance their game on the field. "The products that the players will get to wear are the same

(The content of this entry is based on the transcript of the media release issued by SPRG-Singapore, one of the coordinating agencies of this event) In a media release issued by the PR agency coordinating their visit to Singapore, it's confirmed the New York Cosmos contingent that includes footballing legends Pelé and Eric Cantona will be in Singapore as part of their Asian tour that includes a stopover in Hong Kong. Pelé's presence in the contingent is in his capacity as the honorary president of the legendary NASL club, while the former Manchester United skipper Cantona was recently named as the club's Director of Soccer. The visit by the two of most famous football names is made possible by retailing giants Courts, who recently dominates the backpages for their ground-breaking naming rights deal with S.League club, Young Lions (now known as Courts Young Lions), in an upcoming event to launch its partnership with the Cosmos. "I am delighted that our commercial team h

Balestier Khalsa apparently made it a priority to hold on to their key man - Paul Cunningham (pictured above) this season. I think this topic has been discussed for a while yet, up to this stage we only seen a handful of S.League players being used by corporate entities to endorse their products or services. (Picture courtesy of Vanda Sports Group ) With the ground-breaking deal between Courts and Young Lions (pictured above) had ushered in the partnership between the league and their corporate partners to a new level, so should we be start looking for similar opportunities to get these corporate big wigs to utilize what we have in the league - the players to take up some endorsement offers to supplement their income and more importantly to raise their own and the league profile to largely ignorant masses? Just like what Puma did last year when they signed 10 S.League players from clubs to front their "LOVE=FOOTBALL" campaign during the World Cup period. So think about it o

Just came back from the S.League Fanfare held at the *SCAPE at Orchard Road (pictured above). I think it was the first in years that the annual pre-cursor of the League being held in the downtown area with aim to use the music, the carnival atmosphere created to draw the attention of any random passer-by to take a peek what's going on and tell them the new season is going to kick-off in 12th February. However, the general consensus around the place seems to be the fact that it's more of an "in-house gathering" with players, officials and loyal fans mingled around and just like a friend who sums this up by asking:"Why aren't there any publicity of this fanfare on the papers?". To be fair, the media information of this event was issued only a few days ago (on 26th January 2011 which I duly put it up here), but that bags the question why not much publicity push to follow up on the mainstream media?? "There's nothing much to cover" said one of

(The content of this entry are provided by SPRG and Fulford PR , the PR agencies for Courts[Singapore] and Vanda Sports Group respectively) (P.S: The copyright of the images depicted in this blog entry belong to Vanda Sports Group .) (Pictured above) Members of the Courts Young Lions with their new jersey. From left to right – Faritz Hameed; Terry O’Connor, Chief Executive Officer, Courts; Zainudin Nordin, President of Football Association of Singapore and Mayor for Central Singapore District; Ian Mullane, Chief Executive Officer, Vanda Sports Group; Eugene Luo and Afiq Yunos Singapore, 27 January 2011 – In what can only be described as a major development in Singapore football, regional retailing giant Courts announced today that it has signed on to become the official title sponsor of Young Lions Football Club, a team currently featuring in the S.League. With immediate effect, the team will be known as the Courts Young Lions. The landmark sponsorship deal signifies a major shot in

Not that long ago, I tweet something like this: "Instead of 'sponsor', should we be looking for 'strategic partners' for #sleague and clubs?" And many of those replied said there ain't much different between the two, since both are the so-called financial providers or whatsoever. However, months back while attended the "Soccerex Asia" (pictured above where I met Romario there - see I was behind the legend!!), one of the panellists of one discussion group have this to say (if I remember correctly). "It is about finding the right partner in marketing your product and one can't simply blame everything on English Premiership for the inability for not able to do that." he said. I think the key word here he used was the word "partner" and not merely refer them as "sponsor". Having a brief thought about it from someone who is not trained as a marketing person, I come to this conclusion that to me a "sponsor"

Some time ago, I blogged something about having football carnival to stage at the floating platform . I was at the annual SCC 7s rugby tournament months back, and toying the idea if these two organizations, the Singapore Cricket Club (SCC) and the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), could work together to have something like the rugby carnival, which is considered something of an institution in club sevens rugby in the world. These kids were having a good time practicing "ruck". While the ladies gathered around "shelter tables". While some of the men were found here at the stout stand. It doesn't if you're young or old, man or woman, girls or boys, or whether you know anything about rugby or not - the main thing was everybody was having a good time over that weekend. The SCC 7s is more than just a rugby tournament, it's also place where people of all ages get together to rekindle friendship, making new contacts at this marquee Padang outing. SCC 7s

(Picture) Clay figurines of several top NRL players on display During my recent Down Under trip, I got an opportunity to see how thriving the industry of club merchandise is.  "This is colourful!" I said to the store owner behind the counter, having been overwhelmed by the colours and designs of those clubs' jerseys, balls, etc. displayed inside this shop named "Fan Central - Football Jersey" specialized in such merchandise.  "It's not too good or not too bad." said the boss who is from Sydney when asked how well is this industry doing at this moment.   (Picture) A family of St. George Illawarra Dragons supporters travelled to Gold Coast to catch their team in action against the local side Titans in an NRL clash. He went on to reveal that it's the strong support towards their local sports teams that it's a common sight to see folks around Australia wearing the shirts, apparel of their local sports teams, particularly those of the AFL (A

(Picture) snapped this at "Sakura" YCK stadium I was at Yio Chu Kang the other day for a meal. The dinning place was one of the two restaurants located at both ends of the Yio Chu Kang Stadium. As far as I know beside YCK complex, various sporting complexes (e.g.: Jurong West, Tampines, Choa Chu Kang, etc.) around the island also have such dinning facilities incorporated into these premises. Now, here comes the question - Does any of the S.League clubs thought of working out with these eateries to venture into corporate hospitality on the match days? Just a tweak to the idea I mentioned before by having clubs venture into this business model that has been an important income earner in Europe. As the matter of fact that clubs here do not own the stadium they based, thus it's impossible to have any dinning facility inside the stadium compound unless the SSC (the landlord) give the go-ahead. With some of the grounds having this "ready-made" requirement so why not

Gavin's blog on BBC ("PrtSC" from BBC) The name - Gavin Strachan don't seems to ring a bell to most of us who are more familiar with Rooney, Stevie G, C Ronaldo etc. Neither do I, after all, Gavin described himself as a "journeyman" footballer plying his trade in the lower tier of the English football for years. But here's a player who planned well for his career after the game by studying journalism during his spare time and therefore the BBC blog which he maintaining is what he making use of what he learned. Inside this blog, Gavin shared with us his insight as a lower tier football player far from the glamorous lifestyle of that of those Premiership millionaires. So one thing came to my mind instantly - how many of our local footballers tried doing this before? None? I do came across some so-called "star columnist" appeared on the papers occasionally but none of this like what Gavin is doing as these column mainly dealt with match preview,

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"). And which is why I'm now linking that issue to something I want to highlight below. The above article appeared weeks ago on "TODAY" and it tells us a story of the Quah family - widely considered as the "first family" of local football. It was a well-written article that gave us an insight of 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