Fans buy into Pennant buzz

SINGAPORE — It may have only been a pre-season friendly, but a sizeable crowd still showed up at the Jalan Besar Stadium to watch Tampines Rovers take on Malaysian outfit Johor Darul Ta’zim II last night.

For most of the 1,300-odd supporters, who ranged from seasoned S.League fans to young children, they had braved the cold drizzle for just one purpose: To catch Tampines’ latest star signing, Jermaine Pennant, in action.

The relatively healthy crowd attendance for the game — regular S.League matches usually average about 500 spectators — is symptomatic of the sort of buzz that Pennant has created in the local football community since arriving in Singapore two weeks ago.

“I decided to bring my son down to catch this game because there’s been so much talk about Pennant that we wanted to see what the hype was all about,” said engineer Christopher See, 40. “I’ve been going to S.League games for over 10 years now, but this is the first time that I’ve brought my son to catch a local football match.”

Stella Ng, 28, said: “I am not a football fan, but my husband dragged me down here tonight because there’s a former Liverpool player in action. From what I see the crowd seems excited with the football being played.”

For the Stags, posting such healthy crowd attendances for the second friendly game in a row — their match against Hougang United last week was witnessed by about 1,200 fans — will only serve to reassure the Tampines hierarchy that they made the right choice in signing the former England Under-21 international.

And the club can expect a sustained interest in the fortunes of the team this season, with fans clamouring to see more of Pennant ply his trade in what is shaping up to be an exciting Tampines team in the near future.

“You can see for yourself, the turnout here tonight is really strong,” said 55-year-old fan Richard Lim, who works as a security guard. “I don’t remember seeing any crowd as good as this, and I watch S.League games at the Jalan Besar Stadium frequently. I just want to watch entertaining football and Tampines look quite exciting this year.

“Pennant is a big name and should deliver. After all, when was the last time someone of his quality played here? In the long run we need more players like him, but I doubt the other S.League clubs can afford them like Tampines.”

There was an expected roar of excitement from the crowd when Pennant, who started on the bench, entered the field in the 67th minute of the game, which eventually ended 1-0 in favour of the Stags.

While fans were entertained by Pennant, Tampines and JDTII on the pitch, it was a different matter off it, as some of them were left disappointed at the absence of stalls selling Tampines memorabilia.

“It’s surprising to see no merchandise on sale tonight,” said Eugene Tan, 35.

“I was hoping to get a jersey with Pennant’s name for my son, who is a Liverpool fan. Maybe the jerseys aren’t ready for sale yet.”

Added See: “I thought there would maybe be a stall to sell Pennant’s jerseys since he’s their star name now, and especially after he just signed his contract yesterday. I was actually considering buying a jersey for myself if there was, but I suppose I’ll have to get it elsewhere now.” ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AMANPREET SINGH