FAS saga: Who's who on Game Changers & Team LKT
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FAS presidential hopefuls Bill Ng from Team Game Changers (left) and Lim Kia Tong from Team LKT.
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SINGAPORE - In less than 48 hours, the 44 affiliates of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) will vote in the historic FAS election this Saturday (April 29) to choose the new leaders of the country's most popular sport.
There are two camps running for the nine-member slates, which comprises the post of president, deputy president, four vice-presidents and three council member slots. Another six council member positions are up for grabs.
The Straits Times looks at both teams and their manifestos plus the four independent candidates.
TEAM GAME CHANGERS
PRESIDENT
- Bill Ng, chairman of Hougang United and Tiong Bahru FC. He is founder of private equity firm Financial Frontiers
DEPUTY PRESIDENT
- Lau Kok Keng, lawyer and former vice-president of Geylang International
VICE-PRESIDENTS
- Annabel Pennefather, lawyer and Singapore National Olympic Council vice-president
- Krishna Ramachandra, lawyer and chairman of Tampines Rovers
- Dr Teoh Chin Sim, Team Singapore chief medical officer at the 2015 SEA Games
- Zaki Ma'arof, director of Yama Medical Supplies and president of National Football League (NFL) Division 2 club Kaki Bukit SC
COUNCIL MEMBERS (SLATE)
- Harman Ali, co-founder and head coach of the Global Football Academy and president of NFL Division 2 club GFA Victoria
- Samad Allapitchay, former national captain
- Christopher Wong, pilot and vice-chairman of Tampines Rovers
INDIVIDUAL COUNCIL MEMBERS
- Lai Boon Teck, former Fifa referee
- Shahri Rahim, former national goalkeeper and president of NFL Division 2 club South Avenue
- Jeffrey Sim, treasurer of Hougang United
- Adrian Quek, executive manager of a sports management company and former Geylang International general manager
Manifesto:
Listed seven key areas it believes Singapore football needs change. They are administration, technical, facilities, talent scouting, commercial activities, player care and competitions.
One major focus is to expand the S-League from its current line-up of nine clubs, of which two are foreign, to a bigger structure with 12 to 14 teams. This will also include a promotion and relegation format with the second-tier NFL.
TEAM LKT
PRESIDENT
- Lim Kia Tong, lawyer, Fifa disciplinary committee deputy chairman and former FAS vice-president
DEPUTY PRESIDENT
- Bernard Tan, ST Engineering's chief marketing officer
VICE-PRESIDENTS
- Edwin Tong, lawyer and Marine Parade GRC MP
- S. Thavaneson, Balestier Khalsa chairman
- Teo Hock Seng, Komoco Motors group managing director
Razali Saad, former national captain
COUNCIL MEMBERS (SLATE)
- Dinesh Nair, FAS medical committee chairman
- Forrest Li, founder of online gaming portal Garena
- Darwin Jalileam, manager of the NFL Division 1 club Eunos Crescent FC
INDIVIDUAL COUNCIL MEMBERS
- Lim Tong Hai, former national captain and ITE senior lecturer
- Sharda Parvin, Tanjong Pagar United women's player
- Michael Foo, People's Association director for community sports
- Rizal Rasudin, chairman of NFL Division 2 club Admiralty CSC
- Kelvin Teo, chief executive of Sembcorp's Urban Development business
- Yakob Hashim, coach of NFL Division 1 club Yishun Sentek Mariners
Manifesto:
Create change, bring about inclusiveness, and operate with integrity through 10 key points. These are a transparent FAS, more football facilities, enhance pool of coaches, referees, administrators and volunteers, harness sports science, collaborate with private and public academies and work with more schools, increase the number of Centres of Excellence from three to a league of at least 15, double the participation of girls playing football and to send a women's team to the SEA Games within five years, create a centralised booking system for social teams to arrange matches with each other, review the S-League and establish high performance targets for the various national teams over the next five to 10 years.
Also set a target of the Lions to regularly qualify for the third round of the World Cup qualifiers, the Asian Cup finals and to consistently win the AFF Championship while the Under-23s and cerebral palsy teams are expected to win the SEA Games and Asean Para Games respectively.
INDEPENDENTS
COUNCIL MEMBERS
- Edward Liu, chairman of Tanjong Pagar United
- Kumar Appavoo, businessman who stood as a candidate for Radin Mas SMC at the 2015 General Election
- James Lim, former People's Association deputy director
- Sebastian Tan, Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority deputy director
