Thursday, November 12, 2009

The Reason Why

Later this week, the Singapore national football team will play Thailand in Singapore. There is an article in the Strait Times today that wondered whether Singapore (the home team) will become the away team as Thai fans may outnumber Singapore fans at the match.

The article then went into the regular monologue about how successful the current Singapore team is and that fans should come and support the team. The reason the Strait Times believe for the lack of support is due to Singapore fans remembering the glory days of the Malaysia Cup. Now, I’m not saying that has nothing to do with the lack of support by Singapore fans but it’s not the main reason why Singapore fans are keeping away from the match.

The main reason Singapore fans feel nothing for the current Singapore national football team is because half the team are from overseas! To be fair, the Strait Times did say the current team a “hybrid” team, but that’s the main reason why Singapore fans are keeping away. If you remember, when Singapore first left the Malaysia Cup, fans kept on supporting the team, fans still packed the National Stadium, and the Kallang Roar was still in full cry.

However it would be very strange to cry for the Singapore team now when half the team are not from Singapore right? Now before anyone say stuff like France winning the World Cup with Zidane who is also not fully French, I remind you that Zizou went to France at a very young age and he was a product of the French youth system. All the foreign players in the Singapore team were given PR status when they were in their late teens, in their 20s, or even in their early 30s. It’s hardly the same to compare the two.

As for the match between Thailand and Singapore; I hope not but I for one will not be surprise if Thai fans outnumber Singapore fans on matchday.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Our national team is like what S'pore is, too many foreigners (mercenaries) which S'poreans simply cannot connect to. The end result is loss of spectators and nobody gives a damn whether they win or lose. The days of M'sia Cup, Dollah Kassim, Quah Kim Song, yr regular S'pore guys playing for the country is long gone, you can never bring it back.

Anonymous said...

Let's keep it at kampong football (soccer is for the English). This way there'll be more Singaporean spirit and taste, don't you think so?

Anonymous said...

since 1/3 of our country is of foreigners, it is not surprised to see them supporting their team when they come to singapore, something like the "fifth column"

b said...

Zinedine Zidane was born in Marseilles. How does that make him 'not fully French'?

rapha said...

The sight of black players in the french world cup team inspired our planners to get foreigners in our national team. They thought these black players were foreigners in france. They made the assumption that France was a white man's country. Well, the assumption was wrong because there are colored people all over europe these days and they identify with their adoptive country in Europe. Many of them were also born in France and other European countries.

Foreigners in the Singapore soccer team or in the Table Tennis team however are selected, given PR or citizenship with the intention of representing Singapore. There is no real bond between these foreigners and the local Singaporean fan cuz its hard to seen them as part of us.

Ghost said...

Zinedine Zidane’s parents are from Algeria I believe

Anonymous said...

Can anyone remember the famous world cup 2010 target for Singapore by one of the ministers?
Interesting how the press has swept it under the carpet.

Ghost said...

And rightfully so. That target was a joke that no one really took seriously.