BoLASEPaKO.COM - A Blog on Singapore Football

1950 Malaya Cup Winners - Singapore Without slight exaggeration, my eyeballs were literally popped out when I saw a black-and-white picture that came after a text message from a friend. "Bro, you might be keen on this iconic picture from 1950" texted my friend, who attached a post-match shot of the Singapore team who just won the Malaya Cup that year. I replied: "Goodness me, it was the first Malaya Cup win for us after the War." , after taking note of the handwritten description on the reverse side of the picture. "1950 Malaya Cup Final ... Singapore beat Penang 2-0" were part of the description hand written on the reverse side of the picture, which I believe was detached from an old photo album based on the visible black mark on the top right corner of it. The first XI of the 1950 Malaya Cup winning team As mentioned, the 1950 victory was the first triumph for the then British crown colony following the resuming of this popular competition after the Wo...

The 10,000-seater stadium in TPID (credit: Playmaker SG ) The groundbreaking of the Toa Payoh Integrated Development (TPID) earlier today (5/1) at the former site of the Toa Payoh Sports Centre should bring some smiles to football fans in this country. One of the key features of the new development, which is scheduled to be completed in 2030, is a 10,000-seater stadium that should answer the prayers of those who long to see another football-centric arena besides those at Jalan Besar Stadium (JBS) and Jurong East Stadium (JE). AT LEAST THREE ATTEMPTS IN LAST 30 YEARS Based on what I gathered, there were, at least, three attempts to have such arena for that sole purpose in the last thirty-odd years. Tampines Rovers SC's blueprint in 1992 (NLB Archive) The first plan I came across was mooted by Tampines Rovers Sports Club (not to be confused with the Singapore Premier League club of the same name) in a TNP (The New Paper) article back in January 1992 . Another plan for "one...

 #ACLTwo - Lion City Sailors 2-3 Persib Bandung 071124 Persib Bandung staged a stunning comeback Lion City Sailors paid dearly for not keeping up the intensity after taking a two-nil lead at interval and found themselves sunk into the ocean by a resilient PERSIB Bandung side at JBS. CLICK HERE TO SEE PICTURES ➤ LION CITY SAILORS VS PERSIB BANDUNG International Friendly - Singapore 2-3 Chinese Taipei 181123 Singapore (blue) suffered a defeat in the hands of Chinese Taipei The Singapore national team paid the price for their lack of bite till the very late and succumbed to their third defeat to Chinese Taipei since 2017. CLICK HERE TO SEE PICTURES ➤ SINGAPORE VS CHINESE TAIPEI #ACLTwo - Lion City Sailors 5-2 Port FC 051224 Hat-trick hero Song Ui-Young celebrates with Maxime Lestienne A 5-2 win which included a hat-trick from Song Ui-young helped Lion City Sailors to beat Port FC 5-2 at JBS to finish top of Group F of the AFC Champions League Two. Both teams qualified for the next pha...

Moore - A fatherly figure to the 1994 Lions (as credited) When he assumed the role of Technical Director of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) in January 1994, little did Douglas Moore know things would take a different turn in weeks to come. Arrived in the island republic on the recommendation of the late Peter Velappan, the then secretary of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) , the former New Zealand FA's Director of Coaching was told he would assist Ken Worden , the then newly-appointed Singapore national team coach, when necessary, on top of his scope which included overseeing various national age-group squads, conducting coaching clinics, etc. However, merely days before Singapore were set to start their Malaysian Premier League (Liga Perdana) campaign against Kelantan, Worden dropped a bombshell by tendering his resignation, citing 'personal reasons' . Shortly after, the Preston-born Australian was named head coach of the 'auld enemy,' Selangor...

I was thrilled to receive my copy of " Roy of the Rovers " which I bought online recently (image below). A browse through the pages of this hard copy that compiled the best of its 1970s collection brought back some of my childhood memories when I first came across this comic strip during my primary school days. A hardcopy of "Roy of The Rovers" Like how boys these days are glued to their handhelds, many in the yesteryears were looking forward to the latest development of the exploits of the main character " Roy Race " and " Melchester Rovers " the fictional football team managed by him. Those first few copies I read were found in my school library, and since then it has been a futile effort to grab hold of them despite years of scavenging among those discarded collections or any secondhand book stores I can think of. Honestly speaking, hardcovers like the one shown are not that cheap, but a chance to savour that bit of childhood memory is pricele...