Bringing fans back to the S-League the Balestier way

SINGAPORE — When Toa Payoh resident Harpit Singh Sindu opened the door of his Toa Payoh apartment at around 6.30pm some time last year, he was greeted by a group of footballers with huge grins.

Flashing a pamphlet promoting their next home game, defender Paul Cunningham shook Harpit’s hand and said: “We’re from Balestier Khalsa, your neighbourhood S-League club and we would like to invite you to support us this Saturday. Bring your family members along too.”

That, in a nutshell, was the club’s method of bringing the fans back for their home games at the Toa Payoh Stadium last season.

Balestier Vice-Chairman S Thavaneson said the players decided around the start of last season to visit the apartments surrounding the stadium up to twice a month to increase interaction and establish a rapport with fans.

“There are 100,000 residents in Toa Payoh,” said Thavaneson, crunching the numbers for TODAY. “If we can bring in just 3 per cent of them to our stadium, we will have a full house each time.”

With S-League attendances dropping to an average of 932 spectators last season, Balestier’s method appears to have had some effect, with the club drawing an average of 1,002 fans per home game last year. Some matches, like their game against Gombak United in March last year, attracted 2,300 fans.

Balestier have decided to continue this method of engaging their fans for this year’s Great Eastern-Yeo’s S-league season, starting with their first home match of the season when they entertain Geylang International tomorrow as they seek their first points after last Friday’s 3-1 loss to Tanjong Pagar. They covered about 10 blocks last season, and intend to visit more this year.

“The more often the players go knocking on doors, the higher the chances of them becoming familiar with residents,” said Thavaneson. “Who knows, they may become curious and decide to watch a game or two.”

Said Harpit: “S-League clubs are meant to represent the area where we live. It is only logical clubs focus a substantial part of their time reaching out to residents, who can even be roped in to assist the club in their activities.” DEBORAH ONG