Monday, June 26, 2017
FAS Dump Management Speak For Football!
In recent years the Football Association of Singapore has seemed less like a body tasked with developing the worlds most popular sport in one of the world’s richest countries and more like Yes Prime Minister writ large. A tragic comedy where doing nothing is the name of the game, cunningly disguised by meaningless business school speak aimed at impressing the gullible.
Sir Humphrey Appleby, the master at using a large number of words to say very little, has been alive and well and running football in Singapore. Well, now his time is over. We have a new Sherrif in town and early indications suggest they have an understanding of football and what could be needed to remedy the near decade of institutional contempt that is the legacy of the last bunch.
We are hearing people talk about 12 teams in the SLeague again. About time too. Nine clubs in a professional league is nonsense. Bring back the likes of Woodlands Wellington, Gombak United and Tanjong Pagar United. End this nonsense of clubs being asked to drop out of the League for the greater good.
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| Admiralty v Summerville, NFL |
It is also good to see people sitting up and taking notice of the National Football League. Ok so it isn’t much more than a social league but there are some well run clubs there who may fancy mixing it with the big boys. Not every club of course but why not offer the opportunity to those who want it by introducing a form.of promotion relegation between the 2 leagues. Mix it up a bit. As it stands clubs could be playing each other 5 times a season.. .do you know how boring that can be?
We are unlikely to see a return to 5 figure attendances that greeted the SLeague when it started, Neglect and satellite TV broadcasting games from around the world 24/7 has seen to that, But there is no reason why we can’t see crowds of 3000 plus on a regular basis
It’s alo good to see outside experts being consulted. God knows we have seen what inside knowledge has done in recent years. Listen to them. Engage stakeholders, not cos it’s a cool phrase but because so many people have a love for the game and want to have a voice. And I don’t mean just the gambling firms. Talk with fan groups like Hougang Hools who started following a highly unfashionable team at a time when others were jumping ship. They stuck by their team, their league. They deserve to be heard.
There won t be any overnight change in Singapore football. Hell there may be none. But at least we are seeing signs that there are people now involved who have an understanding of the game. We have not had that for several years. A positive article about Singapore football? Yeah, perhaps I am clutching at straws but I would love to see an across the board improvement in the way the game is viewed on the island and perhaps a new FAS may start the ball rolling.
# posted by Me @ 4:29 PM 
