The S-League by Kevin
Low
On certain sultry nights, within the bowels of modest stadiums, one
can bear witness to football games. Drenched in floodlights, professional
footballers partake in regularly pedestrian games. Straightforward
goals, prosaic passing and non-existent imagination are in order.
This is leavened only by the odd glimpse of class, mostly courtesy
of foreign imports. Welcome to the S-League.
Singaporeans always had an unmistakable relationship with football.
Invented by our former colonial masters, nourished by our passionate
people, ascendant in the Malaysia Cup heyday, striving for excellence
in this millennium - football has engraved itself into the Singaporean
consciousness.
Yet, Singapore has remained a footballing backwater. The national
team can still hold its own in the immediate region, but against
Asian heavyweights like China we do not stand a chance. And make
no mistake, no Asian team has reached the 2nd round of the World
Cup in recent memory let alone win it. Singapore is a middling nation
in a mediocre region of football.
The S-League was conceived in 1995, conceivably to jumpstart Singapore
into an era of success by way of introducing professional football.
With businessman Kwek Leng Joo and football coach Douglas Moore
installed as chairmen and CEO, the S-League took the tentative first
steps towards establishing professional football in the local football
scene. And they have succeeded.
Truth be told, it is not an unmitigated success. Clubs have difficulty
securing sponsorship, a posse of uninspired foreign signings and
the match-fixing incidents. But these are all surmountable obstacles.
There are regular crowds at the various S-League venues because
the standard of football has perceptibly risen and vice versa.
The advent of Score! legalized S-League betting and garnered much
needed cash for the S-League coffers though it really does not raise
interest in the S-League as some quarters claim. Punters are in
it for the money and football betting is just another avenue of
interest for them.
Looking forward, the greatest threat is surely apathy. Singaporeans
gorging on the visual buffet of English Premier League and other
European leagues have perhaps engendered some spectator snobbery.
Cringing and unfairly comparing the middling S-League standards
to that of their European forebears, they got it all wrong. Singaporean
football has just awakened to the demands of excelling in international
football today with the agonized withdrawal from the Malaysia Cup.
Be patient and lend your cheers to the S-League. Otherwise, the
own-goal of apathy could prove to be the fatal blow for the still-fledging
professional league.