Beaten, but not defeated

SINGAPORE — Standing in an inconspicuous corner of Singapore University of Technology and Design’s (SUTD) football field, it was easy to miss St Joseph Institution (SJI) head coach Kadir Yahaya among some 1,000 spectators and officials at today’s (July 24) National ‘B’ Division Inter-school football championship final.

Widely credited as the man behind SJI’s unexpected run to the final, the former national defender remained unruffled even as his team were outrun and outplayed by defending champions Hong Kah Secondary School.

There was no shouting, no gnashing of teeth, no furious gesticulations. Kadir’s only reaction to seeing his team concede their fourth goal without reply at the stroke of half-time was to break into a rueful smile.

Even as Hong Kah eventually triumphed 6-0 to clinch the winners’ trophy and end SJI’s hopes of winning their first national title in 37 years, Kadir remained cool as a cucumber. And staying gracious, even in defeat, is one of the values that Kadir hopes to impress on his young charges through the sport. 

“From the very first day when I started at SJI, the philosophy is to firstly impart the right values to them and mould their character,” said Kadir, a former LionsXII assistant coach. “Only after that do we focus on the football itself. Learning how to bounce back from disappointments and how to handle pressure — these are life lessons they will have learnt from today that will stand them in good stead for the future.”

Under Kadir’s leadership, SJI claimed their first football title in 30 years when they beat Queensway Secondary School to win the National Schools’ South Zone ‘B’ Division Football Championship in April.

Their fairy-tale run continued in the nationals, with the boys defeating Singapore Sports School 5-4 on penalties in the semi-final, before today’s loss to Hong Kah in the gold medal match. 

Boasting four National Football Academy players on their roster, defending champions Hong Kah stamped their authority on the game, claiming a comfortable 4-0 lead in the first half before Muhammad Aidil added a fifth for Hong Kah just after the restart. With 18 minutes left on the clock, forward Is Hazwan Azhar made it 6-0 to seal victory for his team, dribbling past two defenders to net his second goal of the match. 

With SJI reinstating football just four years ago, Kadir acknowledged that it was a “remarkable achievement” for his team to have reached the national finals, as he added: “I’m very proud of my players despite the scoreline. To be here is already an accomplishment for them, because we didn’t set our target this far. But credit to Hong Kah, they played a really good game.”

Fatigue had also hampered the players’ performance, said Kadir, as the SJI footballers had only a day to recover from their semi-final match on Wednesday night. A check with the organising committee revealed that the decision to hold the final this morning was made with the agreement of both schools. 

Hong Kah were delighted to win their third National ‘B’ Division football championship in four years. 

“It’s fantastic to have managed to retain the national championship,” said head coach Mohamed Zainudeen. “The boys were very good today, and we deserved the victory. We played against SJI earlier in the season so we managed to identify their weaknesses, and we worked on exploiting that today.”