SINGAPORE — To ensure that the first local football club to play at the new National Stadium will not play to empty galleries, the S.League has ­instructed all its clubs to turn up at the 55,000-seater arena on Tuesday (May 10) in support of Tampines Rovers.

The Stags take on Malaysian ­Super League side Selangor FA in their Asian-level AFC Cup Group E match, which they need to win to avoid an early exit in the group stages. Selangor need just a draw to progress.

The match, which was originally scheduled to be played at the 8,000-seater Jalan Besar Stadium, will be the first competitive fixture for an S.League club at the National Stadium since it reopened in 2014. The change in venue was due to Tampines chairman Krishna Ramachandra’s wish to add more buzz to Singapore football.

However, with Tampines drawing an average attendance of just 2,310 fans at their two previous AFC Cup matches at Jalan Besar Stadium, there is a real fear the Stags will be playing to a near-empty arena at the cavernous National Stadium.

Hence the S.League’s rallying call to all its clubs to ask all their players and fans to attend the game.

“Yes, that is true. We have ­instructed all S.League clubs to come down and support Tampines at the National Stadium,” S.League CEO Lim Chin told TODAY. “The rationale ­behind this is quite straight forward. Tampines Rovers are a club who are representing Singapore in a prestigious continental competition and I believe all S.League clubs should come together to show their support as the Stags attempt to do the country proud.”

Lim added: “The response from S.League clubs has been positive and I am incredibly thankful to the club chairmen for their support. Let’s hope for a good turnout.”

Tampines general manager Desmund Khusnin told TODAY that the club is expecting about 10,000 fans to turn up tonight.

Club officials TODAY spoke with confirmed that members of their first-team squads will be attending the game, and they have asked their fan clubs to attend the game if they wish to. Only DPMM FC — who are based in Brunei — and Balestier Khalsa, who are playing away in Hong Kong, will not be there. Hougang United, for one, said it has no qualms supporting an S.League rival, although it stopped short of making attendance compulsory for its players.

“The S.League have told us to show our support for a fellow league club,” said Hougang marketing and media manager Nicholas Low. “We haven’t made it compulsory for our players and they have the choice if they want to attend the match or not.

“But it will be interesting to see the difference in standard and quality of football between Selangor and a fellow S.League club. We’ll just take it that we’re supporting a football event at the National Stadium.”

However, not everyone is pleased with S.League’s idea of asking all the clubs to show their support for Tampines, with Warriors FC defender Ismail Yunos taking to Facebook to state his discontent.

“So if Manchester United (are) playing in the Champions League, is it compulsory for all other Premier League teams to come watch them play?” he questioned.

Some fans are also nonplussed at being asked to support a rival club.

In a Facebook post, Hougang fan Merv Tan suggested it is unfair Tampines was “backed” by the Football ­Association of Singapore in this match and will not support the cause. “I’m rooting for a Selangor humiliation of the FAS-backed Tampines Rovers,” he wrote. “Sorry to my good friends playing for, or supporting, Tampines, but your management needs to learn tough lessons in humility.”

But S.League chief Lim Chin has brushed off such sentiments.

“There will always be people who are not so supportive,” he said. “By and large, everybody is supportive. I feel voices from the minority don’t ­reflect the general consensus.”