Former Singapore athletes, residents celebrate Farrer Park’s sporting heritage

SINGAPORE – Long before the swanky, state-of-the-art Singapore Sports Hub was built in Kallang, Farrer Park was the hub of sport.

From the 1940s to the 1980s, Farrer Park was where many of Singapore’s sporting heroes worked tirelessly to become better and faster runners, jumpers, footballers and swimmers.

Facilities there included an athletics centre, boxing gym, swimming complex, football pitches, and tennis and squash courts.

Even as most of the facilities have made way for redevelopment works, Farrer Park continues to hold special memories for former athletes like Ms Theresa Goh, a para-swimmer who won a bronze at the 2016 Paralympic Games.

Ms Goh was among several Singapore athletes from the past and present who attended a sports carnival on Jan 4 at the multi-purpose hall at Block 14 Farrer Park.

Others included former national footballers Baihakki Khaizan, Lim Tong Hai, Steven Tan and Terry Pathmanathan, as well as para-swimmer Toh Wei Soong – many of whom have happy memories of training and competing in Farrer Park early on in their careers.

Farrer Park was Ms Goh’s “second home” after she began training there in 2004 with swimming legend Ang Peng Siong, who began running APS Swim School at the swimming complex the same year.

The 37-year-old said: “The friends I made here, the memories I made, I can never forget them.

“We would spend almost the whole day here, arrive at 6am for training and then head off to school or work and be back here at 3pm for a gym session. We would then have dinner in the area and end the night there.

“I remember all the sessions, the hard ones, the easy ones. It all started for me here at Farrer Park.”

The sports carnival, which was organised by the Moulmein-Cairnhill Grassroots Organisations and supported by Sport Singapore and the Moulmein-Cairnhill Community Sports Network, was held to celebrate the rich sporting heritage of Farrer Park.

About 100 residents and volunteers attended the event, which also featured the launch of sports-themed wall murals at four blocks in the Farrer Park area.

They also took part in various sports such as pickleball and table tennis, and “kampung games” like pick-up sticks, snakes and ladders, and chapteh.

In 2022, the Housing Board, Sport Singapore and the Urban Redevelopment Authority announced that the 10ha site in Farrer Park would be redeveloped into a public housing estate with about 1,600 flats.

The three agencies said at that time that the flats were slated to be launched for sale in the next three years, and that about 20 per cent of the site would be set aside as open spaces for sports and recreational uses.

The former boxing gym building, which housed the training ground of the then Singapore Amateur Boxing Association, would be retained and converted into a multi-purpose community sporting space.

Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth Alvin Tan said in an interview that the new sporting facilities in Farrer Park will include a multi-sports complex, gym, pool and football field.

“It’s going to really bring back memories of Farrer Park... These sporting facilities will complement the new (Build-To-Order flats) and the existing neighbourhood around Farrer Park, and it will just give a lot more opportunities for residents to get active, enjoy the sports that we grew up and loved, and also to remember the rich sporting heritage.”

Former national footballer Baihakki told The Straits Times that training in Farrer Park gave him the confidence to pursue a professional football career.

Welcoming the new developments, the 40-year-old said: “It’s always nice to preserve our history, our sports heritage.

“This was the starting point for me and a lot of other athletes and I hope the new facilities in the years to come can be a launch pad for other aspiring athletes too.”