Online petition started to oppose Singapore’s involvement in Asean Super League

SINGAPORE — Outspoken local football personality R Vengadasalam has started an online petition to oppose Singapore’s involvement in the Asean Super League (ASL).

Set up three days ago on petition website Change.org following news of a proposed September 2017 start date, it has garnered 127 signatures as of Monday (Nov 28).

TODAY had reported last week that the ASL has begun looking for a chief executive officer (CEO) to oversee the competition, which is expected to commence next September.

The ASL project, which has the backing of the Asean Football Federation (AFF), is spearheaded by former Football Association of Singapore (FAS) president Zainudin Nordin. The AFF has combined with CT Sports to form the joint venture ASL Pte Ltd, with Malaysian firms Catcha Group and Total Sports Asia named as core investors.

Venga told TODAY he is “frustrated” that the FAS has not publicly taken a stance on Singapore’s involvement in the ASL.

“My purpose of starting this petition is to make FAS aware that I and fellow supporters of local football who have signed this document do not want Singapore in the ASL,” he said. “I am hoping to convince FAS not to be involved in it because it will hurt our S.League.”

The purpose of the petition is described as discouraging the FAS from funding the ASL with “money meant to develop local football”.

Venga explained that the S.League will “suffer” if Singapore sends a team to compete in the ASL which is expected to feature teams from the 10 AFF member nations of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore.

Speculation is that the FAS is expected to reform the LionsXII - the now-defunct club it set up in 2011 to take part in Malaysian domestic competitions - to be its ASL representatives, with the core made up of national players.

“The ASL is a private project and funded by private investors,” Venga pointed out. “We shouldn’t send a team because we need our best players to play in our S.League.

“At the end of the day, if the ASL goes ahead, the S.League suffers, just like how it suffered when we had the LionsXII. And the S.League is at its lowest right now in (terms of) producing the kind of players we need for the national team. There are some players in the national team who can’t even trap a ball properly.”

One of the signatories of the petition, Muthu Krishnan, commented: “Let’s get our local league going first. Look at the state of local football and the resulting national football team and their current standard.”

Another supporter, Alastair Chan, added: “Please develop our local football community and young players before doing some regional stuff. We shouldn’t be funding someone’s personal pipe dream pet project.

Venga, who is forming a team to contest the upcoming FAS elections, added that in his view, the ASL is a commercial project “aimed at making money” for its backers, and will not help football development.

He has also written to the Ministry of Community, Culture and Youth and Sport Singapore to tell them to “stop” Singapore’s participation in the ASL.

Referencing recent comments made by former Singapore international turned pundit John Wilkinson who said that people who think the ASL will help local football are from a “different planet”, Venga said: “Other than Zainudin, please show me a large group of people who want ASL.

“Nobody, in the right frame of mind, wants ASL in Singapore at this moment because of its impact on the S.League.”

Venga said the petition will go on for “a while” and expects it to reach at least 1,000 people.