Focus on how to lift Singapore football standards, not 9 SEA Games players

With the names and photographs of nine young athletes plastered all over the news like mugshots in the aftermath of yet another dismal SEA Games football competition, one would not be faulted for thinking that these boys committed a crime. However, this certainly wasn’t the case.

Let’s be clear, no one is asking for these boys to be let off. If they broke a curfew while representing the nation, they should be disciplined accordingly. However, this should not be the topic hogging the headlines after what transpired on the field.

Yet this was exactly what happened because of the Football Association of Singapore’s (FAS) decision to name the nine footballers — the first six in a statement on Dec 6 and another three on Dec 9.

Singapore National Olympic Council secretary-general Chris Chan and others in the football fraternity have questioned FAS’ move. But FAS on Thursday (Dec 12) defended its decision, saying it was “absolutely necessary as there was a need to be transparent and accountable not just to our stakeholders but also to the public”.

Let us be clear. These nine players did not cause Singapore’s defeats at the SEA Games. By the time the incident allegedly took place, the Singapore Under-22 team had already lost to Indonesia and Thailand and drawn with Laos.

Our young lions returned home from the competition having lost three of their five matches and only scoring in their last game against Brunei.

Contrast this with the Singapore water polo team. The news that came out soon after they didn’t retain the SEA Games gold medal for the first time in over 50 years was that they would undertake a thorough review over their failure to retain the title.

I don’t recall seeing anything similar from FAS. The steady decline of Singapore football, especially at youth level, is what should be dominating the football-related discussions here; not a night out.

This misplaced focus has plagued Singapore football for years now and needs to come to an end.

With the poor results at the SEA Games and at other youth tournaments, such as the recent qualifiers for the Asian Football Confederation U-19 tournament where Singapore lost 8-0 to Myanmar, it is safe to say that Singapore football has hit rock bottom.

We can now choose to lament the lack of discipline, point fingers at the players and blame national service or we can take a good hard look at our youth development structure, address the issues we are facing and commit to a long term plan knowing that we will only see the fruits of our labour in eight to 10 years.

Devising and committing to a plan will be paramount to any success Singapore football hopes to achieve. Ad hoc changes and trial and errors have to cease, and plans have to be well-thought out, well-considered and well-supported.

In this regard, one bit of news related to the Singapore Premier League (SPL) that went under the radar as a result of the news surrounding the SEA Games has been the introduction of a “new” Under-21 league in the SPL next year.

But let’s call a spade a spade. This is not a “new” league, but simply the re-introduction of the Prime League. The same prime league that was discontinued only two years ago when the FAS mandated youth participation in the SPL.

However, the FAS now states that the “new” Under-21 league is being introduced after consultation with SPL clubs and coaches and listening to their feedback.

Putting aside the questions over how the decision to discontinue the Prime League was originally made, the time and players Singapore lost as a result of these changes will be hard to reverse and we can ill afford to lose any more time.

If football is to remain our national sport, we need to work together as one to revive it. The FAS should continue with its consultations with the relevant stakeholders and commit to a long-term plan and stop the chopping and changing.

Firstly, instead of mandating or forcing youth participation in football, the FAS could implement measures to incentivise youth participation and development. Funding or rewarding clubs based on their use of young players and their youth development plans could have the effect of increasing youth participation whilst still giving the clubs and coaches the autonomy to select their teams as they see fit.

Another issue that could be relooked at would be our national syllabus which can be used to introduce a “Singaporean way” of playing, providing a philosophy, identity and framework for coaches to work within that would also enable players to move seamlessly through different age-groups to the senior national team.

With a growing number of academies in Singapore, it would be useful to have an overarching syllabus which the FAS could then convince the academies to buy into.

These academies could then build on them in their own way thus adding value to the syllabus which would only be beneficial for football in Singapore. This would then increase the pool of players that the FAS has to pick our national youth squads from.

Lastly, we need to address the perennial problem of national service (NS). Our players are going to have to go through NS. 

So rather than wishing it away, it is imperative that we explore sustainable solutions within the system that allow for a pool of players to continue with their football development during their NS. Such an initiative if accepted could then be replicated for athletes from other sports and could be football’s contribution to our sporting future.

This could be a pool of players identified based on merit, character and discipline who can then be placed in select units or vocations that would allow them to be released for training on a regular basis.

This would have to be run under a strict regime such that the players are aware of the privilege that they are being accorded and that if they fall afoul of the rules, they will be stripped of these privileges. This would allow players to develop a sense of accountability as well while being able to further their footballing education.

It is time we stop blaming anyone and everyone else for the state of our football and start taking positive steps forward. No more distractions, no more papering over the cracks, just honest and wholehearted effort towards improving our football. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Sudhershen Hariram is a lawyer with Tan Rajah & Cheah who played football professionally from 2011 to 2012 for Tanjong Pagar United FC in the old S League.