September
26, 2004
Cameroon club Planet FC, who are keen
to play in the S-League next season, have come out with the boast to wipe off
opposition in S-League if they given the nod
The reason for the boast is simple:
The standard of competition in the league is low.
Atish Nath Rathore, an Australian partner of the club at the players'
welcome party at Union House, Tanjong Pagar, did not pull any punches when he said the opposition
have got no charisma, no results & have given nothing to the sponsors but they
are different as they will win games & play good football.
Because of this, they are confident
that the sponsors will come in & if they cannot perform, they will just
pack up & leave.
Club president Francis Ngankeu has even told Quah Kim
Song, the Football Association of
He said he told Kim Song that if they
take part, they will beat every team because, in the S-League, the teams play
for only 40 to 60 minutes while their players are prepared to play for 120
minutes
Ngankeu made the comment after observing the
S-League for the past 3 months.
When asked to comment on Planet FC's
boast, Quah said they are entitled to their comments
but with the experience of dealing with foreign teams, they prefer to watch
them play first.
Initially, the club flew to the region
earlier this year with the intention of helping their players look for jobs but
after a spate of impressive results, they were asked to consider taking part in
the S-League.
What S-league clubs say about the boast
"That's what all foreign teams
say when they first come here, isn't it? They always say the same thing and
what happens after that? Planet FC come with good
credentials, but we haven't seen them play yet. So let's see.' - Teo Hock Seng, chairman of newly
crowned league champions Tampines Rovers
"Words are very easy, but the team have to perform. If they wish to gain publicity by
saying this, good luck to them. But we prefer to do our talking on the pitch.' - Steve Darby, Home United coach
"Looks like
we're going to get a Muhammad Ali in the S-League, sounds even bigger than our
own Mouth of the North, oops East, R Vengadasalam. But, seriously, I think they should let
their feet do the talking. If they can really live up to their claim, I'll be
looking forward to seeing them.' - Kok Wai Leong, general manager of