‘If it’s easy, it’s not worth doing’: Incoming FAS general secretary Chew Chun-Liang on new role

SINGAPORE – Ever since news broke that he is going to be the next Football Association of Singapore (FAS) general secretary, friends have called Chew Chun-Liang a brave man for taking the hot seat.

But after playing in the Lim Kia Tong Cup – an event to honour the late FAS president – at the association’s Jalan Besar headquarters on Sept 15, he told The Straits Times with a disarming smile: “If it’s easy, it’s not worth doing.”

Running Singapore football will certainly not be a cakewalk. It is the sport that receives the most funding and attention in the nation. But, for the past decade, there have been few encouraging results from national teams at all levels.

The Lions, who made it to the Asean Football Federation Championship semi-finals just once after lifting the trophy in 2012, are now world No. 161 and have slipped to sixth in South-east Asia.

But drawing on his experiences as a navy colonel, a deputy chief at the Agency for Integrated Care where he is currently serving notice, and Lion City Sailors chief executive officer, the 48-year-old is confident he is up to the task of realising the executive committee’s goals.

Chew, who will succeed the outgoing Yazeen Buhari in November, said: “In the navy, we have to complete missions and look after the people and the ship.

“In healthcare, it is about pushing out certain programmes that will benefit the system and the senior citizens. With the Sailors, it was about setting up a new privatised club, and with the investment put in, how do we deliver results? It will be similar at FAS, it is going to be a big challenge, but I am ready to take it up.

“My passion is serving. I served the navy, the seniors, and now I’ll be serving Singapore football.”

Despite the lack of success in recent years, Chew is optimistic about the future, pointing to several areas of opportunities and growth.

In youth development, he cited the Unleash the Roar! national project and the establishment of the Singapore Youth League. He noted that there are now 17 scholarship holders training in Europe and the United States, while around 3,000 schoolkids are playing competitive football.

He said: “We see many entities – private and government – coming together, while the support from parents is amazing. The teenagers of today will be representing Singapore in 10 years, and their development is where we need to focus on.”

Chew also felt that the Singapore Premier League (SPL) has professionalised “quite a bit” with an improvement in the standard of football, quality of imports and the use of sports science and analytics. There is also an increase in interest in women’s football, as more young girls pick up the sport, with some also playing abroad.

But he is under no illusions about the challenges he will face, which include how to get the stakeholders to buy into FAS’ vision and move in the same direction.

He said: “While everyone has good intentions to do good for local football, sometimes we are not quite aligned. Building greater trust among the football fraternity and our stakeholders is really important.

“It’s not easy because clubs have goals they want to achieve, as would other youth development set-ups. It’s going to be challenging, and sometimes there has to be sub-optimising at some organisations or areas for the greater optimisation for the entire system.”

Just like how he was sweating from his Lim Kia Tong Cup run-out, Chew is ready to get stuck in.

He shared that one of the first things on his to-do list would be to meet the FAS heads of department to understand what they are doing and put in place a plan with clear goals and milestones of how to achieve them, as well as identify areas to improve or stop.

Local football officials such as Geylang International adviser Ben Teng and BG Tampines Rovers chairman Desmond Ong have praised Chew’s “sincerity and ability to get things done” and for being “very professional and highly competent”. Chew intends to continue his consultative approach with the football fraternity, with a healthy dose of boldness and firmness.

He said: “Sometimes there can be disagreements, and that’s okay. We can at least have a discussion, understand each other’s point of view and move on. Hopefully, as things develop, we will find alignment.

“With calculated risk and assessment, we must be bold to try new things. We can’t do the same things and expect different results. But when mistakes are made, acknowledge it and make it better. If there are areas that are not good enough, fix it. When things don’t go well, learn from it and make sure you don’t commit the same mistake.”

In the longer term, Chew wants to further professionalise the SPL, establish proper development pathways for aspiring footballers and help more local footballers play overseas.

He still vividly remembers watching his first match at the National Stadium, where Singapore beat Terengganu 1-0 before 45,000 fans in the Semi-Pro League in 1991, thanks to Craig Foster’s late penalty. As someone who had been gripped by the Malaysia Cup fever as the Lions captured the nation’s imagination, Chew hopes his plans will help the national teams become competitive not just in South-east Asia but also Asia.

“So that we can bring pride and rally the nation through football,” he added.