The Early Years
The Club has its humble beginnings in the grounds of a boys' school formerly located along Coleman Street. Cherubic and full of energy, a group of pupils from amongst the H, I and J classes first got together in 1989, indulging in various physical pursuits such as Pepsi-Cola 1-2-3, basketball played with a tennis ball, chatek, bench wrestling, and a quaint little indoor game which involved the throwing of a fluorescent pink-and-yellow Dunlop tennis ball through the narrow gap made by the classroom wall and the OHP screen. Last but not least, there was the more conventional game of football.
Somewhere in the years 1989 to 1991, a proud tradition was started. Once the school bell was sounded every Friday afternoon, the little lambs would eagerly trot down to a gently sloping green nestled within the cradle of the adjacent Fort Canning Hill. The pristine environs of this historic Eden so full of character was the setting for hours of the most carefree fun in the sun, under the silent, reassuring gaze of the many colonial buildings and tombs, dignified guardians amidst the lush greenery.
Days of yore at Fort Canning Hill; Tim ( left ) is marked out of the game by Bernie. (Due to copyright and privacy issues, we will not be putting up this photo :P)
One is never too young to enjoy life, and even at a tender young age, the little spuds easily appreciated the ambience of a good after-game watering hole. It certainly did not take them long to find their way to a cosy and well-stocked cafeteria hidden in the basement of the Registry of Marriages, barely a minute away from the afternoon sun. The preferred beverages then were mostly isotonic in nature, with 100Plus being a consistent favourite.
It was also around this time that the circle of friends found themselves increasingly spending their spare weekday afternoons at The Carmina, the residence of schoolmate Chan Wylie. Little did they realise that this habit would later prove to have significant bearings on the turn of events as the consolidation of the group's identity steadily gathered momentum.
Growing Up
The year 1992 was a year of transition for the Club which saw the departure of some members of the original corp as the boys progressed on to secondary education. It was fortunate though, that at a point in time which can only be considered an early stage of infancy for the evolution of the Club, the majority of the boys were eventually reunited at yet another all-boys institution in the heartlands of Bishan, thus enabling the boys to stay together even as new friendships are forged. Indeed, many current members of the Club, from the H,I,J and K classes, met each other for the very first time at the start of the year.
With considerable physical distance put between the boys and Fort Canning, it was inevitable that a new venue for footy had to be found. The lads had to look no further than the excellent facilities at their new school, which boasted not only a full-sized soccer pitch but 2 synthetically surfaced "D"s within the running track which provided recess after recess of spirited football. Competition for the right to use the spaces were intense among the various soccer factions within the school, but the committed and enthusiastic sprinting of the designated runners to the "D"s never failed to guarantee a confirmed reservation. Once the reinforcements arrived, even the stubborn high jump mattress plonked unceremoniously in the centre of the "D" proved no obstacle, at times even becoming a celebrated platform for some fancy displays of acrobatic football.
By this time, The Carmina had shown itself to be the breeding ground of an exciting new variation of the game - Carmina Football. Its creation and development was in large part influenced by several distinctive features of the Carmina compound. First, the compact playing area in the form of a car park limited the number of players competing at any one time, hence the multi-team, round robin, mini-league format of the game. A low kerb lined a stretch of one flank of the carpark, closer to one goal than the other. This gave birth to Carmina Football's most distinctive feature - the provision for the ball to be played off the kerb, meaning that players could utilize the kerb to rebound passes and dribbles in the course of the game. To make it a level field, teams would switch sides and stick to strict timings of matches. The suitability of the mailbox veranda for use as a resting area and viewing gallery, the availability of cold water from Wylie's apartment upstairs, as well an extremely well-cooled, fully air-conditioned elevator proved to be major drawing points for the game.
It was not long before the idea of a casual, informal club was mooted, and from this, the birth of Carmina Football Club ( CFC ), the first official assembly of any kind the players could exclusively call their own, and the eventual predecessor of Kallang Alternative. The Club Mascot was a peculiar green and white stuffed toy with the initials "CFC" marked on it, housed in Wylie's study. A CFC fund was also set up, and it was customary for members to spare some loose change each time they gathered to play.
The school's boarding programme provided another avenue through which the boys' constant hunger for football could be appeased, if only temporarily. Members of the Club who chose to board found themselves spending more time together than ever before, and apart from minor distractions such as bridge, a considerable portion of those moments were spent kicking about on the field or on the new basketball courts. Another popular pastime in between lessons while waiting for teachers was coin soccer on the tables of the circular study areas outside the classrooms, or crushed paper ball soccer in the same location, a confiscation-proof alternative to playing with a proper ball.
Somehow in the final years of their secondary education, the lads found themselves increasingly attracted to playing on grass, boots, studs et al. By chance, the boys had came across an open field adjacent to Kallang Leisure Park, right next to a softball ground, and near the spiritual home of Singapore's Malaysia Cup campaigns at the National Stadium. The came, and they played. Though hardly a decent pitch, the boys made do like they had always done, and the close proximity to the Leisure Park Burger King outlet did not hurt either.
Kallang Alternative
4 glorious years of secondary education flew past in a flash, and the boys soon found themselves in junior college. This time, however, unlike the situation 4 years ago, the team stuck together even though they did not always end up in the same college, although that did not prevent new friends from joining the fray. The family expanded without losing any of the original members.
In addition to the girls and their skirts which some of the boys had been so cruelly deprived in their prior 7 - 10 years of education, interest in the traditional 11-a-side game played on grass grew, and eventually some members of the CFC toyed with the exciting idea of a more formal establishment, complete with an official roster of appointments, and of course, flashy jerseys. They would play 11-a-side matches with whoever came along, have training sessions to prepare for those matches, and of course, have lots of serious fun.
The possibilities seemed infinite, even more so when seen through the curious and imaginative eyes of the youngsters, so when the time came for a name for this new outfit, Kallang was the first word that came to mind. The name possessed a distinctively local flavour, was discreetly fashionable in its non-relation to anything to do with the official school bureaucracy, and most importantly, Kallang was where we played. The accompanying term "Alternative" was the brainchild of Nicholas Khoo and Raphael Ng, whose inspiration that fateful day on the MRT was the NBA's Utah Jazz. Rapidly emerging as the "in" genre of popular music and culture then, and with subtle connotations of rebelliousness, independence, and a devil-may-care attitude, razor-sharp "Alternative" also provided an interesting phonical contrast to the laid-back sound of "Kallang". Slowly but surely, Kallang Alternative, at least in name, was slowly adopted as the worthy successor to CFC.
The acquisition of the team jerseys itself has an unforgettable story behind it. It was the March holidays of 1996 and a small group comprising Reuben Chow, Terry Seah Lan Kia, Eugene Soo and Master Raphael Ng himself were at the then Burger King Outlet in Peninsula Plaza ( another frequent haunt of the boys back in the Fort Canning days ). In a rare moment of decisiveness and determination, they decided to head straight to Queensway Shopping Centre, the mecca of sporting goods, there and then. The selection of the jerseys in fact do not feature much in the episode, but when they decided to head back to Peninsula Plaza, the question as to which bus to take ( No. 51 or 61 ) presented itself. In the ensuing debate, it was Master Raphael Ng's thunderous voice, honed from his daily oratories from the podium in secondary school, that resonated the loudest. Bus No. 61 turned out to be the astute choice. Unfortunately the same could not be said about the side of the road the bus-stop was on, and it was much later that the Master and his 3 disciples discovered they were halfway on their own Journey to the West.
In the same month, on the 24th of March 1996, the club played its first match in their blue and yellow club jerseys against Nicholas' church team. Goals from Wylie, captain Ho Kum Luen (2) and Reuben sealed a 4-1 victory at Tanah Merah under the watchful eyes of manager Raphael and coach Terry. Subsequently, training sessions were held and conducted by coach Terry with total adherence to a bible of soccer training known as the Mi4 Ji2 on loan from the Marine Parade Library. A strict code of discipline was enforced, with absentees required to hand in official medical certificates or formal letters of explanation to justify their absence.
Kallang Alternative has never looked back since, and its players have grown and matured from strength to strength. With such rich tradition behind them and a burning ambition, there is no doubt the Club will continue to soar to greater heights in the many years of friendship and camaraderie to come.