BoLASEPaKO.com - A Blog on Singapore Football

We may not see the return of the International Champions Cup Singapore (ICCSG) tournament due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic but it is worthwhile to look back on some happenings that took place in the past when foreign teams came to our shores to play a few friendly matches. The arrival of those marquee names in the world football to this dot of the globe in recent years has always been a crowd-puller that not only drawn local fans from their couches from Jurong to Tampines and Woodlands to Bedok by making their way down to Kallang, the ICCSG, as it is commonly known as, has also been a lure for the regional supporters of those European clubs as well like how the Indonesian fans of Inter made their presence felt in their match against Chelsea in the 2017 edition. Advertisement for Anchor Soccer Festival' 74 ( NLB archive ) The trend of such visits by these foreign sides did not start during the 1970s when there were tournaments like the Anchor Soccer Festival in 1974 (so

(This entry is formulated based on the media release issued by Lion City Sailors Football Club, all media materials used in this post belong to LCSFC, unless stated) Lion City Sailors Football Club (LCSFC) has announced the latest step in its commitment to enhancing Singapore’s football ecosystem, with the launch of a S$1 million scholarship programme - Elite Development Programme (EDP) , designed to nurture the careers of the country’s most talented young footballers in a media statement issued by the only privately-owned club of the Singapore Premier League (SGPL). Grooming the next generation of footballers is one of the aims of EDP KEY FEATURES OF EDP ● The S$1 million four-year EDP is the centrepiece of the LCS Football Academy, the club’s new hub for youth football development, and aims to give Singapore’s top young talent a pathway to fulfil their potential. ● LCS Football Academy will be helmed by Academy Technical Director Luka Lalic, who joins from renow

Cable telegram was costly in the past that only keywords were used to relay the message and hoping the recipients would understand the content. Nonetheless, misunderstandings would occur at times if the recipients failed to decipher the intention of the sender like this plan, as shown in the below clipping from The Straits Times (ST) , to send two Singaporean players to Leeds United in 1950. The news that caused a great sensation among local fans ( NLB archive )   The receiver of that cable message was the legendary "Uncle" Choo Seng Quee from AJR Hooper from Leeds on the possibility of having Leong Hoi Meng and Foo Hee Jong attend a trial at Leeds United. Hooper served in the British Army during the post-war years and found himself involved in the local football scene as a referee on top of his military commitments. It was during that period he discovered a number of local players like Chinese Athletic Association's Leong and Foo who showed the potential to p

SGPL - Tanjong Pagar Utd 1-1 Lion City Sailors 060320 Referee: "No, you listen to me!"  A gutsy performance by Tanjong Pagar United saw them marked their return to top-tier of local football with a 1-1 draw with Lion City Sailors, one of Singapore Premier League title favourites on 6/3 at Jurong East in front of 2,700 fans. The Jaguars took the lead in the 26th minute with a strike from Brazilian Yann Motta before it was cancelled out by Aussie striker Andy Pengelly in the 44th minute. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE MATCH PICTURES SGPL - Balestier Khalsa 2-2 Hougang United 180320 Stipe Plazibat (second from left) sandwiched in between this aerial duel  Skipper Zaiful Nizam's parried the ball out of play just before full-time to ensure Balestier Khalsa hang on to another 2-2 draw at home, this time against Hougang United at Bishan Stadium.⠀ ⠀ Tigers' Sime Zuzul triggered the scoreboard in the 37th minute with a close-range effort before i

It's regrettable that recently on two separate occasions some prominent local social media icons used the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak as a theme of their humour to mock at the expense of local football. Subsequently, the postings from these social media icons had removed following feedback from local football supporters who registered their opinions on them. The first thing that came to my mind was how much do these social media icons know about local football to use it as a subject to poke fun with? FIRST POSTING Apparently, one appeared to be zilch when the name "S League" was used in the posting using an old picture from an S.League match courtesy of one local news outlet. If the aforementioned posting was referring to the local professional football league, the person may not be aware that the league had rebranded and inaugurated as "Singapore Premier League" (SGPL) in 2018 by President Halimah Yacob at the National Stadium (two seasons already).