Parliament: MCCY urges Football Association of Singapore to hold election of office bearers soon

The Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth has urged FAS to quickly hold its election of office bearers soon. ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG

SINGAPORE - In a speech delivered in Parliament on Thursday (March 9), Parliamentary Secretary for Culture, Community and Youth Baey Yam Keng urged the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) to hold its election of office bearers soon.

As the football fraternity waits with bated breath on the announcement of the election date, Mr Baey pointed out: "FAS has been under the guidance of a provisional council since Nov 16, 2016, after the term of (the) last council expired. Until the new leadership team is elected, the direction of FAS remains uncertain.

"We urge the FAS to conduct the election soon."

The sport also came under fire from Nominated MP Ganesh Rajaram, who called for the association to elect strong leaders to drag it out of its current rut.

He said: "In October last year, we sank to our lowest ever world ranking of 171. Currently, we are at 164 and things don't look like they are going to get better any time soon. The S-League is dying a slow and painful death. Where did it all go wrong?"

He added: "I would like to suggest the reasons for this sad state of affairs - a lack of leadership and a lack of passion.

"To me, there is a dearth of strong passionate personalities like (former FAS presidents) the late (N.) Ganesan and Mr Mah (Bow Tan) in local football.

"My hope is that real leaders with real passion and no hidden agendas step forward and get the game back to where it should be."

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