ActiveSG Football Academy: Game-changer or own goal?

SINGAPORE — When the ActiveSG Football Academy launched last April, Khairul Asyraf, who runs private football academy 2Touch Soccer School, felt uneasy. He wondered how this Government initiative would affect his business.

It turns out his fears were not unfounded. Since the launch, Khairul’s academy — which currently has 120 students — has seen a 20 per cent drop in sign-ups over the past year.

Three other private football academy operators TODAY spoke to also reported an average 20 to 25 per cent drop in participants. Only two private academies said they have maintained their student numbers.

Conversely, the ActiveSG academy has been enjoying a healthy growth in its numbers. From an initial 312 sign-ups, it now boasts more than 600 participants across eight training venues.

While some have applauded ActiveSG’s drive to get more young people playing the sport, the academy’s success has also raised questions on whether it has inadvertently hurt the livelihoods of the private outfits. While there are no official figures for private academies here, industry players estimate that there are about 50 such schools, with player numbers ranging from 120 to 2,500.

AFFORDABLE FEES, POPULAR COACHES

Part of Sport Singapore’s (SportSG) Vision 2030 plan to help people live better through sports, ActiveSG has launched five academies and clubs for football, tennis, athletics, basketball, and outdoor adventure to date.

Led by former national striker Aleksandar Duric, its football academy aims to groom and develop boys and girls who enjoy playing the sport, particularly those who are not part of their school teams.

As a result, fees are kept affordable, with participants paying S$130 for a 10-week season comprising three training sessions per week. With a maximum of 29 sessions each season, participants pay just S$4 per session.

In contrast, private football academies charge an average of S$30 per training session.

On top of its wide range of eight training locations, ActiveSG also boasts star power in its coaching stable, which includes popular ex-internationals Steven Tan, Isa Halim, Richard Bok and Terry Pathmanathan.

Competition from the ActiveSG academy — and the perceived lack of a level playing field — has caused unhappiness among some of the private academies. While larger ones such as JSSL Singapore have not been affected, smaller outfits are feeling the pinch.

Harman Ali, founder of Global Football Academy, which has about 120 students, said: “It’s definitely not a level playing field — they (ActiveSG) win hands down because they have all the facilities and budget to run it and keep the cost low.

“ActiveSG and private academies can co-exist, but I would have liked for them to have met the private academies. We could have come up with a proposal that would have been a win-win for everyone.”

A private football academy operator, who declined to be named, agreed. “The ActiveSG academy didn’t make sense to many of us because the People’s Association was already running PAssion Children’s Football with similar aims,” said the owner, whose 150-strong academy has seen a dip in participation.

“We know some have moved to ActiveSG because of its low fees. We cannot compete with their prices because it doesn’t make financial sense.”

Local football observer Jose Raymond, who runs public relations company Spin Worldwide, said in a recent Facebook post that the ActiveSG academy’s cheaper fees were “destroying” private outfits and the industry’s ecosystem. 

“The consequence (unintended or otherwise) of this programme is that it kills the existing academies which have already been in operation ... and this flies in the face of the Government’s move to encourage entrepreneurship among Singaporeans and to support small businesses,” he said.

When contacted for comments on the issue, SportSG said they would address the role of the ActiveSG academies in a media briefing soon.

DIFFERENCE IN COACHING QUALITY AND SYLLABUS

For now, the private academies say they have to up their game to stay competitive. One way is to provide training sessions that are of a higher quality, as Khairul of 2Touch said: “By having a mass programme on a cheaper scale, certain things may be compromised. It’s about the work we do and whether our customers have confidence in us.

“Thankfully, there are those who see the added value we bring. Parents feel it’s worthwhile to pay more for their children to be coached by us.”

Former national goalkeeper Yakob Hashim, who coaches at ANZA Soccer School, feels there needs to be more synergy in coaching methods by the different parties. At present, academies run their own coaching programmes, while ActiveSG adopts its curriculum from the Football Association of Singapore’s grassroots manual.

“Nobody knows which direction Singapore football is going,” he said. “There is no system of play for our boys to learn from, and when they grow older and want to pursue the sport seriously, they find it hard because they are not used to the system of play by the national age-group teams or local clubs.”

A MATTER OF PREFERENCE

Parents told TODAY that while training fees did influence their choice of academy, they were not the deciding factor. Businessman Januri Jaafar said he let his sons, aged 13 and 17, continue with 2Touch as he wanted more personalised training for his children.

“The coaches at 2Touch care not just for the kids’ progress in football, but also about the child’s development as a whole,” said Januri. “Active SG is for the masses, I’m not sure if they can monitor each student as closely. Also, if coaches teach the wrong thing, it becomes a bad habit which is hard to change, so the right foundation is important.”

The convenience of ActiveSG’s venues was the deciding factor for property agent Kenneth Sim to make the switch. “Logistics and timing were the key issues when I switched my son over to ActiveSG,” he said.

“It’s (also) not cheap to keep training at a private academy. His former academy focused on possession play and not individual skill, whereas ActiveSG trains the children more in technical skills. But I don’t see a difference in the quality of coaches or how the lessons are conducted.”

Even as debate on the issue continues, some in the fraternity believe that ActiveSG and the private outfits can co-exist. Sanjay Danani, who runs the Cage Football Academy, feels that ActiveSG’s efforts could lead to more people pursuing football seriously. This, in turn, will benefit the private academies, as the children look to further develop their skills.

“We need an entity like that, which is not profit-driven and can cast the net wider,” he said. “There will come a point when the kids will realise they need to go elsewhere to develop further ... that’s when they turn to the private academies.”