I have not always been a fan of the local football scene, be it the Prime or S.League but I do come down and support for home games that involve the Singapore National Football Team.
Today on the 29th of November, Singapore loss to Malaysia with a score of 3-1 . I won’t rant on how the game was conducted by those awfull referees (Let’s face it, hands down – Malaysia did outplayed us and we did give our best.The ref’s decision making was totally not agreeable and that made the game more bitter than it ever should) but rather I would want to talk about SingaMania.
For some of you who doesn’t know, “Singamania” is a group made up of smaller die hard football fan groups in Singapore. They can be said as the voice of Singapore Fans when it comes to National Games like how the Ultra Malaya are to Malaysia.
What made me dissapointed was on a few factors:
1) Game was played at home. We should have had bigger national flag than what the Ultras brought. It was disgusting to see how these Ultras had a huge Flag over their entire seat stand but SingaMania had two smaller national flags – nothing compared to half of what the Ultras had. Probably the Ultras had support from the Malaysian football federation for they could not have acquired a large flag if they were an independent group so does SingaMania has support from F.A.S?
It’s Kallang Stadium not Bukit Jalil Stadium. We should have a flag as big as them, if not bigger.
2) It is known that the match tickets sold out in a few hours so I presume 50,000+ people were present including me. The Ultras were louder even though they were only a handful. They were more organised in cheers and their rythm was as close to as a marching band.
Singamania on the other hand couldn’t be clearly heard and the rythm was too fast paced and long. For God’s sake, if you want us to sing & shout with you, make it slower and repetitive so we could know what you guys are chanting. Even when we do get what we think you are saying, you guys just change to another cheer that will be faster than the previous.
I have done my research after the match & I have watched almost all the ultras video that I could find on the net and youtube. It seems they have upload their own songs with lyrics in it. Songs that are easy to learn and sing. I could only found one Singamania cheer video but it wasn’t as catchy neither was it short. It wasn’t a cheer anymore, it was a song. An uncatchy song.
What I could suggest for Singamania: Rather than you guys keep and stay together at one spot like a flock of birds, why don’t you guys divide yourself into smaller groups and stand infront of each wing to teach and get us going. How to coordinate it? Simple, use walkies. Walkies that are sold in Giants or Challenger are affordable to say the least. Sure, it might be expensive but in the long run, Singapore Football Players could finally feel that they are playing at home and not away. They would know that every single fan are standing behind them, cheering them on in every home games.
Don’t forget to make videos on the cheers that you want us to sing. Please do include lyrics in it. Make it short and catchy. Listen to some ultras cheers for inspiration but do not copy any of them. Let’s have our own cheer rather than we, Singaporeans be known as football fans who copy ideas from other Ultras. (I say this because I realised one of your cheer is exactly the same as a cheer made by the Ultras in Pahang, Malaysia)
But hey, if this doesn’t come into effect as soon as possible, i wouldn’t be surprised either. Afterall the Football Association of Singapore doesn’t really encourage home fans to support the team since Horn Makers (such like the vuvuzelas and the Air Horn – all this info can be found on their website) are not allowed.
F.A.S, please do change your policy. Please revived the old kampong spirit in every football fan. Please revived the Kallang Stadium into what it was before – a Lion’s Den. A lion’s den that every away fan wouldn’t even dream of coming to cheer for their teams and be louder than us.
Thank you.
– From a Fan.
TRS Contributor
Source: www.therealsingapore.com
