Hello Sports Fans,
Today, fans of Singapore Football were dealt a blow when they found out that their national team will be fielding an inexperienced and weakened team at the upcoming Asian Games to be held in Guangzhou, China.
However, the team is not weakened by injuries or the suspension of key players. The Lions will not be at maximum strength because out of the three over-aged players selected for the Under-23 tournament, only one of them, former Home United talisman Shahril Ishak, has been given permission by his club to represent the national team.
This is because the Indonesian Super League (ISL) clubs the other two players play for have refused to release them due to domestic commitments. To add insult to injury, The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) cannot force the clubs to release the players because the Asian Games tournament is not a FIFA sanctioned tournament.
What it means for coach V Sundramoorthy is that he will not be able to call on the services of Fahrudin Mustafiq and Khairul Amri, leaving the team without a midfield anchor and accomplished finisher, two of the most important roles in the modern game. A real pity when the Lions actually had a chance to progress to the knockout stages after they drawn in Group D with Qatar, Kuwait and India, avoiding the top Asian teams of Japan, South Korea and Iran.
This is just the latest setback for Singapore Football every since the ISL introduced a new ruling which made it mandatory for Indonesian clubs to have at least one of their foreign player from an ASEAN nation. Key players such as Noh Alam Shah and Bhaihakki Khaizan have left for greener pastures and have not looked back since, leaving their former clubs with an uphill task to find adequate replacements to please the fans.
But is the ISL really to blame for the talent drain? Noh Alam Shah's final game for Tampines Rovers barely drew 1,000 spectators. Average attendances for this season's S-league is now merely in the hundreds despite the competition for the league title going down to the final round of matches. Etoile Fc, Home United and Tampines Rovers have provided fluent, attacking Football but are still unable to draw the fans.
Compare this with the Indonesian Football culture where stadiums are packed every week and support for the clubs is immense. Players' have their wages doubled, sometimes tripled when they move from Singapore and hear their names being chanted by die hard fans who live and breathe Football.
To put in simply, in Indonesia, the Footballer is respected. The fans give them a reason to don the kit and play their heart out no matter who the competition is. As sports fans you all know the importance of talent in an athlete. But no matter how talented the athlete is, without passion he will never succeed in his chosen sport. And it is the fans who fuel the passion.
So instead of blaming the ISL for ruining the state of local Football, let us learn from them. Singaporeans have more wins in regional competition, proving local footballers have the talent to match, but where is the support? Where is the funding? Where is the passion?
The FAS has to work closely with the clubs to do more than just offer cheap tickets but instead create a sense of belonging between the community and the club. Organisations in the private sector need to lend a helping hand too and look beyond the bottom line when it comes to investing in Football.
It won't be easy to raise the support of the S-league to the level of support witnessed by the ISL. In fact, the road to success will be long and winding. But with patience and effective execution of the Fas' strategic long-term plan, there is hope yet that the S-League will once again regain its position as one of Asia's top ten leagues.
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