BoLASEPaKO.com - A Blog on Singapore Football

So long it's not called "pussy cat" I must be probably one of the rare few in Singapore to nickname the Singapore National Under-23 squad as "THE CUBS", whereas most would call them "YOUNG LIONS". For a good reason, I thought "CUBS" should be the appropriate one in this context, even though some opined those national teams in the teenage group should be called that. Simply because "YOUNG LIONS" is a team playing in the Singapore Premier League (SPL) and not a team representing the Republic in international tournaments. To nickname the Singapore National Under-23 as "YOUNG LIONS" would only give a wrong interpretation that the SPL team of the same name is THE ONE representing Singapore in overseas competitions when it is not (even though the bulk of the CUBS were selected from the YOUNG LIONS on many occasions). After all, the function of "YOUNG LIONS" is for developmental purposes in a professional setting. While

We read to widen not constraint our perspective The idea of sharing past occurrences of local football on this platform is to remind us what happened in the past and how those events should inspire us to do better. It is never meant to be a channel to allow certain groups or ideologies to claim superiority over other groups or beliefs. It has not been uncommon to see some lauded and immortalised the achievements of those many decades ago while belittling the efforts of those who did us proud in recent years. These thoughts came to me after I read a book recently in which a former national player lamented efforts by his club mates and himself in a continental tournament meant little significance to many fans who still basking in the glory of a domestic Cup competition which Singapore long associated in the past (need not for me to elaborate which Cup competition). This only tells us the parochial mindset that is etched in the mindset of some fans who still cannot let go of the past. Whi

Saying "No" is an art Even though I blog on Singapore football, it doesn't mean I will cover everything under the said theme. Mainly because being an OMO (One Man Operation) since the start of BoLASEPaKO•COM in 1996, I realised the importance of focusing on certain niches. The niches I referring to can be in any form or topic. Be it, the professional Singapore Premier League, the Singapore National Teams, the amateur/part-time based Singapore Football Leagues the write-ups, the photography, the social media postings, etc. Not having the luxury of a team would mean I have to stay focused on my continuing involvement, on top of having to juggle my day job to avoid a potential burnout. And those who followed me since the early days would know where my niches are, what are the areas I couldn't cover (noticed I used the word "couldn't" instead of the word "don't", since there is a difference between the two). This post is not referring to anyone

The VIPs at the announcement of the match  Nineteenth-time English league champions Liverpool will take on fellow Premier League side Crystal Palace in the Standard Chartered Singapore Trophy 2022. A press conference was held this morning at Gardens by the Bay to announce the match will be played on 15th July at the National Stadium. FIRST MATCH FEATURING EUROPEAN CLUB SIDES SINCE 2019 Organized by TEG Sport in partnership with Standard Chartered, Singapore Tourism Board (STB), and CARRO, the confirmation of this fixture will see the Reds and the Eagles being the first two European top-flight clubs to play in Singapore since 2019. Brendon Bainbridge, Managing Director of TEG Asia “TEG is proud to bring live sporting action to Singapore once again. As the organisers of the Standard Chartered Singapore Trophy 2022, our priority is to provide an exceptional sporting event in an atmosphere with all the elements that make watching live sport an incredible experience for all fans in attenda

If not, we would not have seen what was claimed by many as the best-ever national team that played and won the Malaysia Cup in 1977.  I chanced upon the National Library Newspaper archive site one fine day, and out of curiosity, I decided to search through the site to see if I can find some of the clippings of the heydays of Singapore back in the 1970s. The result was these two clippings... 'Fans petition' in 1976 ( NLB archive ) It was interesting to note back on 16th December 1976, The Straits Times (ST) reported a fans' petition was organized to ask the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) to replace "Uncle" Choo Seng Quee, arguably the best coach we ever had, with Technical Advisor Englishman Trevor Hartley as the national team coach.  "POOR RAPPORT", "OUT-MODED" CLAIMED FANS These disgruntled fans claimed the coaching methods of Choo were "out-moded" and felt there was a "poor rapport" between him and several player