BoLASEPaKO.COM - A Blog on Singapore Football

"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...

Aide Iskandar lifted the AFF championship trophy ( as credited ) I initially planned to post this blog entry immediately after the Lions' successful run in the ASEAN Football Championship. However, I decided to wait and gauge the reactions before proceeding. MEDIA CELEBRATES, BUT CRITICS REMAIN While the media and fans are celebrating the national team’s triumph in retaining their regional supremacy, there remains a group of sceptics who dismiss this as a significant achievement. “They just got lucky. Look at the midfield - they couldn’t handle the Thais,” remarked one critic I overheard. Another chimed in, “Is this the standard of football we’re paying $4,000 for?” And, of course, the perennial comment surfaced: “They’re not as good as the players from the past national teams.” If the first two criticisms hold some weight for certain people, fair enough. However, I do have thoughts on the last statement. Just a few days before the second leg of the semi-final between Malaysia and ...

A random chit-chat in a taxi "So why are you heading there (to the stadium)?" asked the friendly taxi driver, as he began this conversation to kick start the journey after I boarded a cab on my way to Choa Chu Kang Stadium the other day (as I was rushing for time).  "I'm there for a game" I replied "Ah... I see, the last time, l was there for one of the election rallies, hahaha" joked the cabbie. "So, is there a match going on?" asked this cabbie. "Yes, there is, it's between SAF and Balestier." l said. "Oh OK.. you see, I used to watch a few games at the beginning, with my son, who was young at that time " as we drove along BKE after exiting from PIE (if I didn't mix up the names of the expressways) "Back then, the crowd was passionate as there was no gambling (the legalized betting) involved but nowadays it seems that there are more punters than real fans at the stadium" commented the taxi driver.  Agre...