Tampines Rovers offer S$35,000 car to woo fans

SINGAPORE — In a bold move to pull in the crowds for their 2015 Great Eastern-Yeo’s S-League season, Tampines Rovers is dangling a Hyundai Accent for fans who attend their home matches at the Jurong West Stadium.

The car, worth S$35,000 without Certificate of Entitlement, is the biggest prize offered by any club in the league’s 20-year history. Fans who buy tickets to Tampines’ Singapore Cup and League Cup matches can also enter the contest.

Speaking to the media yesterday, Tampines chairman Teo Hock Seng said with the club relocating to Jurong West Stadium, they had to build a new fan base to meet a key performance index set by the S-League.

This is the five-time S-League champions’ second move after they were forced to play at Clementi Stadium for the 2012 season as their traditional home base made way for the Tampines Town Hub. As a result, attendances suffered, averaging 800 to 1,000 per match for the previous three seasons.

“Fan base is critical for any club and when we were located at Tampines, we used to average 3,300 for our home matches,” said Teo. “When we went to Clementi, this dropped because the catchment area was not so good. So we decided to move to Jurong West and hopefully to a better catchment. And finally in two years’ time when we go back to Tampines Stadium, which is a 6,000-capacity stadium, we hope to build that up.”

Teo, who is also group managing director of Komoco Group Holdings, which represents Hyundai, Chrysler, Ferrari, Dodge, Jeep vehicles and Harley-Davidson motorcycles in Singapore, said the club may offer more attractive lucky draw prizes.

“The 2016 European Championships is coming and Hyundai is one of the tournament’s sponsors. Once we get our allocation of tickets, we will think about it,” he said.

In the lucky draw for the Hyundai Accent car, paying fans can submit a maximum three entries per match for each of the Stags’ home games throughout the season. The draw will be conducted at the club’s last home match with Harimau Muda on Nov 22.

Teo also revealed Komoco is continuing to prepare players for life after football. It is a scheme he started in the 1970s when he was chairman of Farrer Park United and council member of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) and when he became chairman of Tampines in 2000.

Among those who have benefited are former Singapore national players including Rahman Nongchik, who is in his 50s and a technician at Komoco, and Nazri Nasir, Rafi Ali and Noh Alam Shah.

The latest batch includes goalkeeper Joey Sim, defenders Zulfadli Zainal, Fabian Kwok and Jufri Taha, and midfielders Firdaus Idros and Ismadi Mukhtar. With ages ranging from 25 to 32, they are employed part-time in positions such as sales, administration and finance.

“Instead of playing football every third, fourth day, they can do something else,” said Teo. “Here, we are trying to build something for our players after football.”