Forum: Not just FAS that’s to be blamed for state of Singapore football

It’s been another series of bad results on the soccer field, and here we go again with fans screaming at the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) (FAS chief apologises, pledges tough questions, May 13).

The fact is, we are a small nation with limited talent. We seem to do better in individual sports than in team ones. Perhaps it is easier to train a smaller cohort or to attract one or two players from elsewhere to join us than to do the same with 20.

Several years ago, I was invited by a senior FAS official to share my experience running a city-wide soccer league for more than 200 schools in Jakarta. I also shared how Australia developed its school-based leagues around a common soccer philosophy and curriculum. But the responses to my suggestions such as running non-competitive leagues for the young outside the short competitive tournaments run by schools today were discouraging. Today’s FAS is clearly struggling with yesterday’s apathy. 

Shouldn’t we ask what made some raise the nation’s hopes with lofty targets to qualify for the World Cup, as it now seems that priorities have been set elsewhere?

It is good that the Ministry of Defence is prepared to allow more national athletes to disrupt their full-time national service to train for international competitions. But shouldn’t we ask if we as a nation can collectively agree that training and playing a sport for Singapore can be considered as a form of national service?

Space is what soccer needs, and space is what we do not have. But space is not the only missing element here.

In a country like Brazil, soccer is deeply ingrained in its culture, and Brazilians grow up playing the sport in streets, parks and beaches from a young age, fostering a strong passion and love for the game, hence creating a larger pool of talent.

But in Singapore, we have become a nation so focused on academics that our children have no time to play.

And the results? Brazil is great in soccer, but lingers near the bottom in academic assessments like the Pisa rankings for students’ performance in mathematics, science and reading. Singapore is consistently among the top in the world in these rankings, but we are bad at soccer. Something must give.

Who is to be blamed for the state of Singapore football?

We all are. The sooner we realise this, the less we will scream at one body.

Jaspal Singh Sidhu