Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Slick, Efficient Singapore
Spend any length of time in Singapore and you'll soon hear disparaging comments about their neighbours. Led by an insular, state controlled media Liverpool are cool, Wayne Rooney sells newspapers 48 hour old stories from Old Trafford are deemed worthy of regurgitation.
Meanwhile Malaysia is a haven of parang wielding fiends waiting to hack some unsuspecting Singaporean who took a wrong turn off the PLUS. And as for Indonesia. All them bombs and tsunamis, if they don't get you the volcanoes will.
Of course anyone with a degree of critical thinking knows enough to rise beyond the prejudiced drivel peddled as news.
Before any patriotic Singaporeans get on their high horse...the food is good and there is a good bus system. Oh and the airport is a good place to spend a few hours. Unlike Orchard Road. Or Towers.
Anyway..back to the post. Travelling through Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia for football as I do one would expect that Singapore's efficiency would extend to its football. But it doesn't. It's just as cack handed as anywhere else in the region and in many respects, especially if you factor in a certain smug factor felt by many of the population (not all of course), and you have an FA worthy indeed of the region.
Yes, Indonesia is it's own soap opera, Thailand has it's globe trotting, flesh pressing McD and Malaysia will prioritise a pointless friendly by a bored EPL team over Asia's flagship competition but Singapore has is own little quirks and foibles that, while not as sexy as other FAs, certainly add up to one giant WTF moment.
The most recent of course was when the previously unheard from FA head said that the national team should be disbanded.
Now, with the new SLeague season due to begin 7 February we are nowhere near knowing which teams will participate or indeed a fixture list.
Does it matter? Should I even be posting on an annual event?
Put it this way. If the Oxford Street Christmas lights went on on 25th December, if a flight was rearranged at the last minute, if you went to a restaurant with Mabel only to find they had the booking down for a week later how would you feel? What would it say about the organisation abilities of the vendor? And if they did it year after year, how would you react? You and other punters or potential punters?
# posted by Me @ 4:52 PM 
