Point of View – Looked back at 2005 season
The
tenth year of the S-league came and went and once again issues popped up that
caught this author eye.
The
first topic to pop up was the salary cap after a different issue arises. Across
the Causeway FAM, after the disappointment over the poor quality of foreigners,
issued a guideline for teams and questions were raised in the Republic if such
guidelines should also be implemented but FAS insisted the clubs should have
the final say in employment of foreigners as FAS trust the clubs judgments.
But
there lie the crux of the question as the salary cap affected the clubs in much
wider area and yet the clubs have no say in what range they feel are acceptable
and they can only accept what the top brass decided.
Clearly
this cannot be correct as FAS - over an interview in S-league.com - insist the clubs have
developed well over the last 10 years in tough conditions and are now more
capable of managing themselves in a professional environment.
The
yardstick must then be the salary cap as the clubs that wished to develop more
rapidly are now trapped by the constraint of the salary cap - that have been
set low to ensure the survival of weaker clubs - and voices have been raised
why the stronger clubs that wished to take the next step towards the next level
cannot do so.
As a
tool, the salary cap have ensure the survival of the league against the worst
effects of the Bonsom ruling and recession in it early
years but now it has the opposite effect for it is denying clubs the right to
move towards the next level which will further cement the league and clubs
survival
For
such an important issue, there is no denying it must involved
the stakeholders and that included the clubs as well as the league.
Next up
is the exposure of young players and by that it means the non-recruitment of
Young Lions players from clubs participating in
Some
may have seen me bitching about this before but this is an important issue that
cannot be ignored for the second year in row, the local teams fought their way
into quarter-final and along the way 16 tough matches was played against the
champions of Hong Kong, Malaysia, Maldives, Lebanon and Jordan.
Yet few
of our brightest U23 players saw any action and the simple reason was that the
Young Lions had recruited them and this is crazy for FAS had always stated they
wanted young players to have more exposure at the international stage. Adding
to that is the by now lame excuse that our players do not adapt well in West
Asia, as a result of the rare chance to play competitive football in that part
of the region.
Now a
solution that can help rectify those problems is presented at the doorstep by
AFC Cup and our U23 brightest players still do not see any actions in it thanks
to a policy that can be more flexible.
Every
year FAS refused to take into accounts such considerations is a waste of the
golden opportunity to improve the Republic brightest young footballers as it is
unbelievable the loss of a few youngsters in the rank of the Young Lions would
caused the destruction of the team as the pool for local footballers cannot be
that small.
While
on the Young Lions, this author wished to express his constant belief (and
fears) that playing in Malaysia domestic scene is a step in the wrong direction
for history have shown how badly a turn FAS took the Republic in the 1990s when
the bank was emptied to fund a recruitment of players capable of winning the
Malaysia Cup.
The
Republic did won the Cup but the price was the total dismantle of youth
policies and the total disregard of the future once the team start aging and
that was the case when Tiger Cup was launched 2 years down the road and the
aging team could not battle it way into the semi-final.
No
football association in the world would have done what FAS for no matter how
highly it regarded the Malaysia Cup, as a football association its main job is
to safeguard the Republic future but they failed miserably as FAS ran the
Republic National Team as a club on a day to day basis so the main priority was
to get results and win trophies.
The
most important factor though was the total neglect of international stage with
a myth developed by the media and public that doing well in Malaysia football
was equal to achieving success at international level to the point foreigners,
who could never played in international competition for Singapore, was make a
mainstay in the Republic team.
It had
a blinding effect for when the wheel started to turn against the Republic in
the early 1990s in the ASEAN stage, nobody bothered about it as success was
found in Malaysia so like the frog in the well we knew nothing about the danger
posed with the return of Vietnam and Myanmar and the fact they treated the
international stage as their playground and not the domestic scene of a fellow
ASEAN country.
If
returning to Malaysia mean the retreat of Singapore back to Malaysia domestic
scene then FAS would have much to answer as the Republic had never achieved as
much success in the international stage with 2 Tiger Cup victories.
Not
leaving the international stage, the focus is switch to S-league and AFC Cup.
It is
about giving the S-league teams as high a possibility to win the AFC Cup so
rescheduling game in the week for the 2 clubs in Asia is a must and not just
moving them back by a few days like this year for Asia is a huge continent and
playing in places like Hong Kong already is much further than most European
teams travel and these clubs are already complaining of tiredness with their
bigger squad.
The
rest period for local clubs therefore must be reasonable and it is not the case
this year for both teams - Tampines Rovers and Home
United – with fewer than 20 first teamers had the games
coming in thick and fast and under such tough conditions against tough
oppositions, the chances of winning the AFC Cup are greatly discounted.
After
all, the 2 finalists - Al Ittihad and Al Ain - in
the AFC Champion League received such help from their respective league in
their quest and the AFC Cup is important to the continued development of club
football in the Republic with the promise of higher standard of international
football in the AFC Champion League.
After
much ranting on Asia, a return to the domestic scene and there was delight FAS
was taking great care in choosing the new entries for next season S-league for
who can forget the Sinchi debacle (over the last 3
years) and the ‘soft belly’ shown by the Seahorses management.
Indeed
at the time of writing, the rumors on the choice of Gombak
United and Afrique FC seem logical as well as putting
the stop on the buyout of the Seahorses by the Dolphins.
The
Dolphins, before their pullout of the S-league, had always endured financial
problems and no evidence suggest that the circumstances have changed over the 2
years they were out so joining forces with the soft belly of the Seahorses is
hardly going to bring joy to S-league or Hougang.
On the
subject of the returning Bulls, it seems Gombak
United will not return to ex-Home Stadium, Gombak
Stadium but will move to the soon-to-complete
On
first glance, it looked a great deal for the Bulls but now the branding work
done at Gombak
is gone and everything is set to over again so the concept of belonging
which the S-league has preached since the start of the league is at stake.
Just
looked at Yishun stadium, the stadium is set to
welcome a new team – likely to be Afrique FC – after
seeing the departure of Young Lions and it is difficult to see continued
efforts to lure the neighborhoods to the team with the consistent changing in
home team.
With
the entry of new teams, one always hoped they continued the efforts to embrace
the internet world as several of the clubs are doing for it is remarkable at
the end of the current season, 8 of the clubs have website and all are running
up-to-date.
In
years gone by, even if a club started a site the chances are that by midway in
the season the site would no longer be operating and any hope it would function
again would be a pipe dream.
Therefore
this season marked a change that is acceptable as a good start.
After
that, come the old topic of Super Clubs for the conditions for such a scenario
seem more promising now with clubs more willing to invest in order to make the
next grade and the salary cap finally raised for the first in 8 years.
Out of
the Big 5 as least 4 are in prime condition to see it happening.
However
not all will make the grade but if out of the Big 5, 2 to 3 clubs make it, the
football in the Republic will surely rise to new height as the benefits are
unimaginable as one looked at the Super Clubs overseas for it is these clubs
which bring in the high end of the development, financial and football
benefits.
Looked
no further than 2004 AFC Cup finalist Al-Wahda, as a
Super Club in it own country, Syria, it brought in the funds and crowds and
many grow up dreaming of playing for it and while still a long away from
happening in Singapore, it will only develop if big clubs developed into Super
clubs thus the continued discussion of such a topic.
One of
the piece to the Super club puzzle is the financial worthwhile and a sizeable
part will always be formed by the prize money on offer and this year saw the
rewarding of 9 of 10 placing in the league but the portion for prize money is
still at the low end as a increase to S$150000 for the league champion is
barely appealing enough with a poor-run Sinchi
receiving S$120000 in seed money.
That is
certainly why 6 clubs rejected the seed and prize package for next season and
wishes to take a look at the financial books.
The
problems are certainly not small and it stand in the way of clubs developing to
the next level as well as FAS high hope of turning S-league into ASEAN top
league in 5 years and then towards Asia top 10.
It is
especially tough when those higher up spared no effort in whacking you and
these words that demanded FAS wake up and focus on the S-league are not my
mouth but from AFC President Mohamed Bin Hammam, who launched Vision Asia in September 2002, and at
time one wonder if Singapore will miss that boat thank to FAS.
It is a topic that deserved much thinking and the look at other
part of Asia so it need it own Point of View as it will certainly be a an
important topic.
With that, one has about covered the affairs going on in