ST Sports Podcast Special: Is it worth saving Farrer Park's sporting soul?

From left: Podcast host Ernest Luis, Yip Pin Xiu, Ang Peng Siong and Theresa Goh discuss saving Farrer Park's sporting soul. ST PHOTO: ERNEST LUIS
The palm trees around Farrer Park Swimming Complex have been around since it opened in 1957. Here, local swim icon Ang Peng Siong, once the world's fastest swimmer in 1982, poses with Paralympic swim stars Theresa Goh (front left), Yip Pin Xiu (centre) and podcast host Ernest Luis (right). ST PHOTO: ERNEST LUIS

ST Sports Podcast Special: Is it worth saving Farrer Park's sporting soul?

Duration: 17 minutes

Synopsis: Singapore may have the new National Stadium in Kallang, but it is widely acknowledged that Farrer Park has provided for decades, the real sporting soul of Singapore sports, breeding future champions and local legends, right into the current day and age with world beaters in para-athletes Yip Pin Xiu and Theresa Goh. There are now plans for the eventual transformation of the Farrer Park fields - a hallowed ground for sports from the 1930s through to the 1980s - into a residential area.

We catch up with Yip, Goh and former swimming icon Ang Peng Siong in this recording at Farrer Park itself, as they share memories, thoughts on sporting heritage and why this simple-looking area has bred champions. They also talk about an online petition to save Farrer Park.

Produced by: Jonathan Roberts & Ernest Luis

Listeners: Send us your feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg

Link to the Save Farrer Park petition: goo.gl/bTxUCd

More ST podcasts here: https://www.straitstimes.com/tags/st-podcasts

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