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Tag: Bill Ng

  • Game Over, Winston

    Game Over, Winston

    IN BETWEEN nasi ambeng and satay on Thursday evening, representatives of National Football League clubs explored a proposal to set up a café to raise money for their teams. The 24  sides playing in two divisions of the NFL are running on annual budgets of between $6,000 and $16,000.

    The higher figure belongs to Jungfrau Punggol FC, but it is an exception because the team owner is Salman Abdullah, who happens to run Padi@Bussorah’s restaurant. In reality, the average budget for the 24 amateur teams is about $8,000. They are struggling, which is unforgivable, and an embarrassment to the Football Association of Singapore.

    Why so?

    Well, because while the teams’ representatives were cracking their heads on how to generate revenue to keep their sides playing in the NFL, Commercial Affairs Department officers were in the midst of raiding the FAS offices.

    At the heart of the CAD investigation is a $500,000 cheque that Tiong Bahru Football Club chairman Bill Ng wrote to the FAS, who then donated the money to the ASEAN Football Federation. What it is for is immaterial, but details have been reported in the media over the last few days.

    What matters, though, is why did the FAS allow half a million dollars to benefit a non-Singapore football organisation when the money could have been used to help struggling local NFL clubs?

    This is a serious dereliction of duty by FAS general secretary Winston Lee, who is Singapore’s top football administrator. He made the unilateral decision to allow the donation to go to the AFF because he contended the FAS Council did not have to be informed about it.

    But the FAS’ constitution defines the Council as the association’s supreme body. Its primary responsibility is to ensure Singapore football is managed with integrity and not fall into disrepute, the kind of which has got Winston and, by extension, the FAS into a tangle.

    The FAS Council hires the general secretary but when it is oblivious to what its employee has been up to, the roof inevitably caves. Should anyone, therefore, be surprise at the sorry state of Singapore football today, especially the S-League? The dramatic slide from top ASEAN team to near minnows began under Winston’s watch, after he assumed his current post in 2008. National youth teams also floundered and flopped.

    But there is a silver lining.

    With the CAD hauling up Winston for questioning, including Bill and two others, his tenure as general secretary is all but over.

    It does not matter whether he is found complicit in any wrongdoing or not, but the new Council, when it is elected on April 29, must release him. Its mandate from voting members is to overhaul Singapore football and reverse the game’s dive and it must stay true to this mission. This means also ridding what other rot that has taken root in the secretariat and filling it with more capable staff.

    Many were hopeful that the election of new office bearers will trigger Winston’s exit and those closely linked to him. But the events of the past week that culminated in the CAD action, which came as a complete shock, are now forcing the issue.

    My only gripe: Why did it take so long for matters to reach this stage for real good to finally come upon Singapore football?

     

    Source: http://iandecotta.com

  • ASEAN Football Federation Contradicts FAS Regarding $500,000 Donation By Bill Ng

    ASEAN Football Federation Contradicts FAS Regarding $500,000 Donation By Bill Ng

    The Asean Football Federation (AFF) has contradicted earlier statements by the Football Association of Singapore regarding a $500,000 donation by Bill Ng.

    The FAS had previously said that it was former FAS president Zainudin Nordin, who had approached Ng with a proposal to support the AFF’s Football Management System (FMS), and that Ng had decided to donate the money directly to AFF through a soccer club that he owns.

    “It is clear that the amount of $500,000 was never meant to be donated to the FAS or any Singapore footballing activity… This was not a case of FAS accepting a donation and thereafter channeling the amount to AFF instead of using it for local football.” – FAS

    FAS provided a quote which it claimed was from“an AFF spokesman” saying:“We are thankful to our donors and partners who have come onboard to support this new programme, including one of the FA Singapore NFL clubs who donated S$500,000 towards the system.”

    Team Game Changers which is led by Ng and will be contesting the FAS elections on April 29, issued a four-page statement yesterday to refute the FAS’ assertions. Read their press statement here: http://www.theindependent.sg/we-are-here-to-serve-singapore-football.

    The following is a press release by the AFF in full.

    —
    PETALING JAYA (17 April 2017) – As a result of various queries from the media on the subject of the FMS, the AFF would like to clarify particularly on the system.

    The Asean Football Federation (AFF) Football Management System is an initiative aimed at enhancing the capabilities of football associations and clubs which will then better position them to achieve success in key result areas including but not limited to income generation, information technology, corporate governance, and facilities utilization, among others.

    The sharing of resources among football associations in this region will strengthen ongoing efforts aimed at raising the standards of football management in Southeast Asia. We are in the last phase of preparations and we expect to launch the system within the next nine to 12 months.

    The AFF Council members were informed at the 3 Council Meeting held on 6 December 2015, that the FA Singapore had donated a sum of SGD500,000 on 4 November 2015 as a payment to develop the System. The Council recorded its thanks and appreciation to FA Singapore for their effort to make the project a reality.

     

    Source: www.theindependent.sg

  • FAS Donation To AFF Raises Many Questions

    FAS Donation To AFF Raises Many Questions

    By: Leong Sze Hian

    I refer to the media reports where Hougang United chairman Bill Ng claimed that he had donated about $850,000 to the FAS since 2012 but was unsure where the money went; as well as to the Football Association of Singapore’s (FAS) rebuttals to the allegations by Mr Ng. The various news reports piqued my interest and I went through the FAS’s annual reports (financial report section) for FY2015 and FY2014, covering the period from 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2015, but could not find any mention of this $500,000 donation to the Asean Football Federation (AFF) in it.

    As this sum of $500,000 is extremely huge, relative to the FAS Group’s (operating) deficit (revenue – expenses) before taxation of $5,445 and $5,453 in FY2015 and FY2014, respectively – instead of just stating that “all donations and sponsorships from our partners are recorded and accounted for”, and that they “are prepared to share the documents relating to this subject with the relevant parties.”  – can the FAS help to clarify where this donation is reflected in their annual report, and make public the documents recording its receipt and subsequent payment and receipt to the AFF.

    This may be a matter of some urgency, given that the elections will be held on 29 April.

    I also refer to FAS general secretary Winston Lee’s comments as reported in the media that Ng “had full knowledge of what the donation was for, and that none of it came to the FAS.” Mr Lee further said that Mr Ng “knew that the money was not being donated to FAS or any Singapore footballing activity, and to claim it was given to FAS is not factual.”

    But the question really is, did the FAS inform the donor in writing that the money was in fact for the AFF?

    Also, since the FAS is an Institution of Public Character (IPC) which means that donations are tax deductible, did the donor get a tax deduction, with full knowledge (according to FAS) that the money was not for local football, but for the AFF? Also, why were the donation(s) channeled “through FAS” to the AFF? Was the $500,000 donation (cheque) paid to the FAS?

    In this regard, questions by the soccer fraternity and fans about “where the funds of a hugely profitable amateur club were channelled to, and why they did not make moves to invest in local football or join the professional S.League”, is well justified.

    Mr Ng further said in his statement to the press that he believes “that none of the council (members) knew anything about this (donation).” But at the time of writing this article (10 am, 15 April), I do not seem to be able to find any response to this assertion in the various FAS statements.

    FAS subsequently issued a second statement which included a quoted from the AFF on the football management system, where the the AFF spokesman said the football management system will enhance the “capabilities of football associations and clubs, which will then better position them to achieve success in key result areas including but not limited to income generation, information technology, corporate governance, and facilities utilisation, among others.”

    The AFF spokesman in thanking the Singapore NFL club for the $500,000 donation, further said that the system will be launched “within the next nine to 12 months”. But, is taking more than three years or four years to develop a “football management system” arguably, kind of long?

    And also, should not the AFF thank the FAS and not the Singapore NFL for the donation since the donation went to AFF via FAS? Was the donation paid to the AFF by the FAS or directly to the AFF by Tiong Bahru FC?

     

    Source: www.theindependent.sg