Where bombs once echoed, football now brings hope for Cambodian girls in Singapore for JSSL 7s tournament

SINGAPORE – Students of Oroong School were playing football on the dirt field when the ground suddenly shook as bombs exploded along the Thai-Cambodian border during the conflict between the two nations in 2025.

The shock waves sent the players scurrying in fear, although the Oroong Village, about 120km north-east of Siem Reap, was not in the line of fire.

School principal Srei Pov Rourn recalled: “The students were afraid... while we were playing football, we could hear bombs landing near the school and shaking the ground.

“The parents were also very worried and wanted to keep their children home, so that was difficult for us.”

The harrowing situation has since subsided after the ceasefire in late December, and on April 3, some of those students were revelling in a different experience – playing football at Our Tampines Hub in Singapore, although they lost all four of their matches.

Rourn, along with three students from her school, were among 10 players and seven officials from the Happy Football Cambodia Australia (HFCA) team who took part in the JSSL 7s football tournament from April 2 to 5.

HFCA, a non-governmental organisation, had brought the underprivileged children from different parts of Cambodia for this once-in-a-lifetime trip to Singapore, its second after the team’s participation in 2023.

Its founder Paraic Grogan said that despite cost issues – the trip cost US$16,000 (S$20,580) – the NGO wanted to educate the parents of the poor children and their communities “about the importance of sports, and that through sports they can have positive life-changing experiences”.

The 49-year-old told The Straits Times: “Some of these kids have never left their villages, let alone Cambodia, and we had to get them their passports, which costs US$120 each, and they had to travel hours from their village to Siem Reap to get them.”

Grogan said about the players from Oroong: “Those girls are the only members of their family that have been overseas on an airplane. So when they come back, what that gives to their family and the community is hope.

“We focus only on working with educational NGOs; if you’re not in the school, you can’t join us… so it keeps the girls and boys continuing to go to school.”

An estimated 5,000 youngsters have come through the organisation’s programmes since 2005, with some getting the opportunity to travel to countries such as Mexico, Brazil, Italy and Poland to play.

“For a lot of them, that’s the only flight they ever had,” said the Irish-Australian. “You meet them 10 years later and you ask them, ‘Have you been overseas since?’ They will say ‘No’, so that was the only chance they had to go.”

He founded the NGO after seeing the lack of sports facilities like football pitches in Phnom Penh, with children courting danger by playing on the streets.

“We worked with a school to use their pitch and from there, other NGOs approached us to join our football programmes and in 20 years, we have not charged a single dollar to any child.”

The organisation, with an annual budget of US$120,000 from sponsors and donors, expanded to work with other NGO partners such as the Cambodian Children’s Fund in Phnom Penh and Build Your Future Today (BFT) in Siem Reap.

For Oroong student Hana Kong, the war was an alarming experience, but the travelling too was a scary moment.

The midfielder, 15, said through an interpreter: “I’m happy and excited to have the opportunity to come visit Singapore and see how people live here.

“During the conflict, I was scared when we were playing football because we could hear the explosions, but it was a different kind of fear when I got on an airplane for the first time.

“I’m also the first one in my family to go abroad and I’m really proud to be able to.”

Sokhapich Chanthy, from Phnom Penh, was also grateful for the chance to showcase her ability.

The 16-year-old defender said: “They gave me a lot of opportunities to play football and also have a stint with the Cambodian Under-17 national team, and this was a really great opportunity that I can show my abilities.

“I’m really proud of these girls (from Siem Reap) because they were near the border and couldn’t study or play football due to the war.

“I hope now that we have peace, that they can continue to play their football and improve themselves.”