RE-MERGER
WITH MALAYSIA
- IN FOOTBALL
Bring
back soccer buzz; devise a contest between the two
national tournaments. By Seah Chiang Nee
Nov 21, 2000
Dear
Mr. Mah Bow Tan and-all,
I
think this idea - joining up with the Malaysia League
- is worth exploring. After five years, it is apparent
that Singapore's own tournament has hit a plateau
with little chance of a significant leap.
Despite
all your hard work, it has not achieved the two most
crucial goals - bringing back the crowds and improving
the country's standing abroad. Its world standing
has gone down. It is struggling even against countries
like Cambodia..
But
there are pluses, too. Football, I feel, has gained
in depth by producing more players and better players.
Management of teams - and finance - have improved.
So
we're learning. The main trouble remains the lack
of public interest - except for a few thousand die-hards
- in the tournament.
Gate
collection will remain poor for a reason you can't
control, the lack of team loyalty.
Fans
go to a match mainly to watch their team knock the
daylight out of the other team, to root, to cheer.
If they want skill, they stay at home and watch the
football channel.
The
trouble is the large army of fans here simply do not
have an S-League team to call its own, to cheer during
rain or shine.
I
have asked friends, including a few fanatics during
Singapore's Malaysia Cup days, who was their local
league team. Few could name one.
Most
of the cheering comes from the team's friends and
relatives - or people who bet.
The
rare ones who were rooting for a team chose it according
to their location. In other words their team was Tampines
Rovers if they lived there.
This
is a long-term handicap. With regular upgrading, Singaporeans
change homes several times in their lives, moving
from one part of the island to another hardly long
enough to be bonded to the place.
Even
without this, the city is too small for people to
develop geographical attachments.
This
is unlike larger countries. In England, for example,
fans don't choose teams. They support their local
clubs decided by where they live - Liverpool, Chelsea
or Oxford. Malaysians passionately support their home
states.
In
Singapore, they don't support their home constituencies.
At any rate, where exactly is Geylang or Tanjong Pagar?
In
China or India, much larger countries, geographical
loyalty often bonds people closely together. When
two persons from the same village meet in a foreign
land, an affinity emerges. The two immediately trust
and help each other.
I
do not know whether in 50 years' time, Singaporeans
from, say Woodlands, will be able to feel a special
emotional linkage to the place. Maybe they will after
a few generations living there.
If
they do, then football teams based on locations will
take off.
Until
they do, the S-League will spark off less excitement
than an inter-school match or a inter-company tournament
where supporters have a tangible team to cheer for.
So
back, to the idea of merging the two leagues. Will
it be acceptable to the Malaysian states, and even
if they do, can past obstacles (which caused the split
six years ago) be removed? If we don't try, we'll
never know.
In
the first place, this arrangement is not the old formula,
where Singapore weakly played as a "state"
in a Malaysian tournament.
I
don't know if Malaysia will agree to it, fearing it
is losing total control of the tournament. Or it may
insist Singapore have fewer teams. At any rate it
is a merger.
Malaysia's league has 14 and Singapore has 12 teams.
Secondly,
the combined league will have a slate of more than
two dozen teams of more or less equal standards.
What
needs to be resolved are (1) Finance. How to divide
the collections (2) the number of foreign players
allowed and (3) an established set of rules to combat
corruption.
Then
there are questions like:
What
will it be called? (Suggestion: a joint or neutral
name, not forgetting Brunei).
Who
will organise it? (Suggestion: Joint committee, rotating
chairman).
What
is the maximum number of foreign players per team?
(Suggestion: Keep at four in the first year and reduced
to three afterwards).
Both
Malaysia and Singapore can draw strength from the
arrangement for as long as it lasts.
Suggestions
for a regional league to include Thailand, Indonesia
and others, however, laudable, is ahead of the times.
It's expensive business and with money in short supply
everywhere, it is unlikely to work.
With
best wishes for a happy 2001 soccer year..
Yours
Sincerely.
Seah Chiang Nee
