New national football strategy ‘a shot in the arm’ but hurdles remain, insiders say

• The Government announced a new plan to have a standardised football curriculum across all primary schools
• The vision for Singapore to qualify for the World Cup in 2034 remains
• The football fraternity said the new curriculum would help to raise interest among the young
• However, there are still hurdles to playing professional football here
• They agreed that the plan will set the base for future success if implemented right

SINGAPORE — The footballing fraternity in Singapore welcomed the Government’s latest strategy to put the country on a renewed path to qualify for the World Cup, calling its new national football project “a shot in the arm” for the sport here.

Then, there are others who said that rather than being bent on reaching that target in the international arena, the drive should be more about rekindling the passion for football among the man-in-the-street.

In trying to inject new life into the sport again, the Government will roll out a standardised national curriculum for football across primary schools over the next two years, along with a new elite youth league at secondary school level besides the current school games.

Mr Edwin Tong, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, announced this project to unite Singaporeans through football during a debate on his ministry’s budget in Parliament on Monday (March 8).

He said that the ministry is also working with the Ministry of Defence to explore opportunities for footballers to continue training and playing at top levels while fulfilling their National Service (NS) obligations.

The latest vision is related to the Goal 2034 ambitions mooted by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) two years ago, which is to have the national team, also known as the Lions, qualify for the 2034 World Cup.

In 1998, Singapore launched a similar Goal 2010, but failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. 

Singapore’s national men football team is now placed 158th in the Fifa World Rankings and has not won a major trophy in recent times.

Former national footballer R Sasikumar, 46, told TODAY that people should not be fixated on achieving the target of having Singapore qualify for the 2034 World Cup.

He said: “If you isolate (Goal 2034) as a goal, then (the project) looks a bit impossible, and obviously the sceptics will say, ‘Look, we can’t even win the Southeast Asian Games’.

“We’ve to see this as a project that unites people and creates this community bond for something that’s common… The journey is more important.”

Professional coach Stephen Raj, 59, said that although the new football project is “a good move”, he noted that the Under-23 ruling in the Singapore Premier League, which requires clubs to field three players under the age of 23 in their starting line-up, reduces the opportunities for older, talented footballers to play.

This will deter people from pursuing playing football professionally in the long run, he added.

ESTABLISHING A FOOTBALL IDENTITY

What the football fraternity agreed on was that a national curriculum for football would help to raise interest among the young and establish a football identity in Singapore.

Hougang United player Lionel Tan said he had observed that children today spend more time on their mobile phones rather than play football even when they are at the park.

Having a national curriculum for football will help to raise interest in the game, as well as widen the future talent pool in the years ahead, the 24-year-old defender at the Singapore Premier League team added.

Ms Radhika Radhakrishnan, 42, the secretary of grassroots youth football club Woodlands Lions, said that a standardised, nation-wide curriculum will ensure that everyone progresses along “the same channel”.

“You don’t have to unlearn what you have learnt before just because (you have) another coach. We will now have a Singapore system and this is how Singapore plays,” she said.

MORE TIME TO TRAIN DURING NS

With a footballer’s prime years coinciding with the years when young men typically serve NS — from the age of 18 to their early 20s — it is good that the Government is exploring opportunities for footballers to train during that time, the insiders said.

Mr Tan said that more leniency in giving time off for footballers to train would be helpful.

Without having to rush for their training sessions after booking out from NS, players will be physically and mentally better prepared to train, he added.

Looking beyond training here, Mr Sasikumar, who is now group chief operating officer of marketing firm Red Card Global, said that it is more important to allow footballers to play overseas to improve their skills.

He suggested that the Government allows players who receive overseas contracts to serve NS after their contracts are over or when the players are on their end-of-season break.

WORKING WITH COACHES

As good as the new football plan sounds, its success will ultimately depend on its implementation, those in the field said.

Ms Radhika, who used to run a youth football academy, said that schools may be on board with the new football curriculum, but it may be harder to secure the buy-in of football academies who will have to find ways to differentiate themselves from other private schools or academies. 

Mr Clement Teo, 55, the head coach of Hougang United, said that school coaches may not follow the techniques laid out in the curriculum as they may want to win a game at all costs.

Mr Stephen Raj, who is an instructor at Woodlands Lions Football Club, said that in sticking to a structured plan, coaches must be flexible enough to adapt the curriculum to the different levels of the children’s capabilities and not stifle their creativity.

CLOSER TO GOAL 2034 OR NOT

On Goal 2034, Mr Teo of Hougang United is optimistic, saying that by setting a firm footballing foundation for the younger generation now, Singapore will be able to reach its target by that time.

Mr Sasikumar said that the FAS must build on the momentum of the announcement and ensure that the changes are implemented all the way down to the grassroots level.

“We can have all these plans but unless it’s executed at a ground level… this will just be a pipe dream."