Rilek1Corner

Tag: football

  • Singapura Julang Piala Sultan Selangor Kali Ke-7! Kalahkan Pasukan Selangor PKNS 3-2

    Singapura Julang Piala Sultan Selangor Kali Ke-7! Kalahkan Pasukan Selangor PKNS 3-2

    Pasukan Pilihan Singapura menumpaskan pasukan Selangor PKNS untuk menjulang Piala Sultan Selangor buat kali ketujuh.

    Singapura menang 3-2 di hadapan 26,000 penonton di Hab Sukan, malam semalam (6 Mei).

    Singapura membuka tirai jaringan seawal minit ke-11 menerusi tandukan Khairul Nizam.

    Jurang gol dilanjutkan kepada 2-0 hasil gandingan Yasir Hanapi’ dengan Shakir Hamzah.

    Pada minit ke-60, Faris Ramli menyempurnakan tendangan penalti bagi merubah kedudukan kepada 3-0.

    Namun Selangor bangkit semula untuk merapatkan jurang gol kepada 3-1, tiga minit kemudian.

    Pada minit ke-77, Gonzalo Castro menjaringkan gol kedua Selangor.

    Tetapi Selangor gagal menambah jaringan sekaligus memberikan kemenangan kepada Singapura.

     

    Rilek1Corner

    Source: http://berita.mediacorp.sg

  • FAS Chief Lim Kia Tong Calms Job Fears Over Nasi Briyani And Teh Tarik

    FAS Chief Lim Kia Tong Calms Job Fears Over Nasi Briyani And Teh Tarik

    The newly-elected Football Association of Singapore (FAS) council began its first official day in charge by organising a lunch yesterday for the near-80 staff to allay any fears they might have after a turbulent few weeks prior to Saturday’s polls.

    Over nasi briyani and teh tarik, FAS president Lim Kia Tong assured the employees their jobs were safe and there would be minimal upheaval as the new administration sought to revive the ailing sport.

    “This lunch is important because looking back, the staff was hardly engaged previously,” Lim, whose team had beaten the Game Changers, a slate led by Hougang United chairman Bill Ng 30-13, at the election, told The Straits Times.

    The 64-year-old lawyer and former FAS vice-president added: “The election also created some psychological uncertainty in their minds as they could be worried who will come into power.

    “This might determine their tenure at FAS and it certainly created an air of uncertainty.

    “Having met them for lunch, this tells me a story that the staff is more relaxed now. They are pleased to know that a familiar figure will continue to lead them.”

    While the future of FAS general secretary Winston Lee, who attended the lunch, has been subject to intense speculation, both Lim and vice-president Edwin Tong stressed that Lee’s position was not being discussed yet and he will continue to help run the association.

    It echoed Lim’s post-election press conference words when he said: “We’ll deal with each staff behind closed doors. We have to respect the terms of their employment contracts.

    “We won’t make any comment on his (Lee) future and it is best left to be decided much, much later.”

    Lee, Ng and his wife Bonnie Wong, and former FAS president and former MP of Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC Zainudin Nordin were arrested two weeks ago as part of an ongoing police investigation. All are out on police bail.

    The atmosphere was more light-hearted at the FAS office at Jalan Besar Stadium yesterday.

    Lydia Lim-Goh, office manager of technical director Michel Sablon’s department, said that she felt relieved to see Lim elected.

    “I have known Kia Tong for a long time (Lim first joined FAS as a disciplinary committee member in 1992),” said the 66-year-old, who has been with the association for 44 years and has worked under numerous presidents including R. B. I. Pates, N. Ganesan, Teo Chong Tee and Major Abbas Abu Amin.

    “He has really grown into his role. He is very down to earth and even though he is a lawyer, he does not talk down to people.

    “The staff are looking forward to working with the new council and we are very happy to support Kia Tong and his team.”

    Staff members, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that previously, employees were not allowed to interact with or have direct contact with council members.

    But Tong believes the new council will institute changes to make FAS a more transparent and more engaging organisation.

    He said: “One of the priorities after the election is to introduce ourselves (to the FAS staff) and reassure them that our style is quite different.

    “We want to reiterate the point that we are consultative and we want to invite all of them to share their views.

    “They are the domain experts and they see to it (the running of Singapore football) day to day.”

    Lim had promised that his team would hit the ground running and they were true to his word.

    The council gathered at the FAS boardroom at 6.30pm for its first official meeting yesterday.

    Apart from deputy president Bernard Tan, who is away in Chicago on a business trip, 14 of the 15 council members were present.

    Lee also attended the meeting but his position was not part of the agenda raised, noted Tong.

    Instead, over the course of three hours and 15 minutes, issues like the FAS’ administrative structure, governance and youth development were discussed.

    Another key area raised was the S-League, which has struggled to retain fans’ interest.

    To address it, a task force was formed and will be spearheaded by vice-presidents Teo Hock Seng, S. Thavaneson and council member Forrest Li.

    The purpose of the meeting, said Tong, was to come up with broad structures to reshape Singapore football.

    “The members were very forthcoming,” he said. “We have at least two names for each of the 16 standing committees (which touch on areas like administration, finance, facilities, women’s football, referees, competitions and audit).”

    On the back of the $500,000 donation saga, governance is an area the new council wants to tighten.

    “Partly,” Tong replied, when asked if the review was done in light of the controversy.

    “But also because the new council wants to start off on a clean slate. We want to make sure there are no blind spots.”

    At 9.45pm, the meeting was adjourned, marking the end to a very long day for many in the council. Yet their faces bore no hint of tiredness, only resolve to make good on their election promises.

     

    Rilek1Corner

    Source: http://www.straitstimes.com

  • Five Immediate Tasks For New FAS Council

    Five Immediate Tasks For New FAS Council

    Singapore football’s course over the next four years will now be guided by new Football Association of Singapore (FAS) chief Lim Kia Tong.

    The New Paper looks at some of the pressing issues they have to instantly deal with.

    1. S.LEAGUE

    The S.League has not been given the attention it deserves in the last few years.

    The LionsXII’s participation in the Malaysian Super League from 2011 to 2015 meant it became the FAS’ main focus, instead of Singapore’s own professional league.

    S.League administrators also made a major blunder in the proposed age-cap on players, a plan which was eventually scrapped because of the opposition it met with. Players, too, complained about the low wages and practice of 11-month contracts, and nothing has been done to improve the situation.

    Hyundai Motors coming on board as co-title sponsors in February has lifted the gloom somewhat, although there is still much to be done.

    Some in the local football fraternity have suggested increasing the number of clubs in the S.League, which currently has nine teams. Out of the nine clubs, six are local.

    John Yap, chairman of Gombak United, who have sat out the S.League since 2012, said: “When we were a part of the S.League, there were 12 teams, and one season (in 2012) there were even 13.

    “I feel a league with more teams is more vibrant, more competitive.

    “There is talk that Singapore is small, and that justifies just having just a few (local) teams… I think that is wrong.

    “I think our landscape can support a few more teams in the S.League.”

    2. NFL & GRASSROOTS FOOTBALL

    Considering the S.League’s woes over the years, imagine how bad the amateur National Football League (NFL) have it.

    From 2015 to last year, the FAS spent about $8 million on the various national teams’ training costs.

    During the same period, it spent about $250,000 on grassroots football, which includes the NFL.

    But the FAS has made moves to rectify the situation.

    Starting this year, the 23 NFL teams across Division 1 and 2 get seed money of $8,500 per club, group insurance from Great Eastern Singapore for their players, among other improvements.

    Gurbachan Singh, operations manager of NFL Division 2 side Singapore Khalsa Association, said he was pleased with the commitment by the new council to make improvements for all NFL sides, saying “the previous FAS council were more interested in only the S.League and Division 1.”

    Zairi Ahmari, club secretary for Division 1 side Sporting Westlake, said he hopes the changes do not merely represent a false dawn.

    “What we have fought for has been given,” he said.

    “Definitely, we look forward to better things.”

    Whether the FAS will continue to make improvements to the long-neglected NFL, remains to be seen.

    3. FOOTBALL DEVELOPMENT

    During the campaign, Team LKT came up with the vision of building a national team that would consistently win the AFF Suzuki Cup and South-east Asia Games.

    Those are bold targets, considering the Lions went into the Suzuki Cup as underdogs in three (1998, 2004 and 2012) of their four successes, and the fact Singapore have never won a SEA Games football gold medal in the biennial competition’s 58-year history.

    The FAS believes the key to building a strong national team is to create a conveyor belt of talent, so in April 2014 it roped in Michel Sablon, who came up with a blueprint.

    Sablon was the man largely credited with developing Belgium’s current golden generation of players such as Vincent Kompany and Eden Hazard.

    Last October, the FAS also formed a new age-group national team – the Under-20s – with Fandi Ahmad taking the helm, in hopes of preventing late-bloomers from slipping through the cracks and disappearing from the game.

    Khairul Asyraf, technical director of NFL Division 1 champions Eunos Crescent and co-founder of the 2Touch Soccer School, said: “The exco of the new FAS council must decide matters in the future such as national coach, technical director and national playing philosophy, in consultation with the the technical committee.

    “As for Sablon, he came with a lot of promise, and on paper (his blueprint for Singapore football) has more ticks than crosses… I’m not completely convinced but I want to be, and someone with his credentials should be given the benefit of doubt.”

    4. FUTURE OF KEY FAS SECRETARIAT POSITIONS

    Barely an hour after being elected, Lim was asked about the future of FAS general secretary Winston Lee.

    Lee, who has been in his present role since 2008, was involved in a public war of words with Game Changers’ Ng over the controversial $500,000 the latter donated from Tiong Bahru Football Club’s funds for the Asean Football Federation’s (AFF) Football Management System.

    The 52-year-old Lee was present during Saturday’s election but left the venue before the post-election press conference.

    When asked about Lee’s future, Lim said: “We’ll deal with each staff behind closed doors. We have to respect the terms of their employment contracts… we won’t make any comment on his future and it is best left to be decided much, much later.”

    A week earlier, Bernard Tan, who was on Saturday voted in as Lim’s deputy president, said: “It’s as good as saying whether we will keep (national coach) Sundram or Fandi.

    “We do not discuss staff issues like that. It is highly inappropriate. To be fair to the people employed, they have contracts, and they deserve to be treated in a way that’s professional.”

    Besides the position of general secretary, the S.League chief executive’s seat is also vacant, after Lim Chin left the role last month.

    Lim, however, said he and his new council have not yet decided if it intends to find a new man for the role, or instead make structural changes to the S.League which might see the position become obsolete.

    5. TRANSPARENCY & ACCOUNTABILITY

    One of the 10 points on Team LKT’s manifesto was: Create a transparent FAS that has a high standard of administration.

    Cleaning up the FAS’ image and ensuring transparency will be high on its to-do list, especially after the controversy that shrouded Ng’s $500,000 donation.

    Ng claimed he had donated the money to FAS – who explained they had facilitated the donation to the AFF.

    But Lim, Tan, and the new council’s vice-presidents Edwin Tong, Razali Saad and S Thavaneson – who were all on the previous council – all claimed they had no knowledge of the donation.

    If this is true, then it shows major problems with accountability.

    Lau Kok Keng, who ran as deputy president on the Game Changers’ slate, said: “No one in this country would have imagined that the council was led by one man alone, and the rest did not know what was going on.

    “All NSAs are societies, and a lot of them – like FAS – have a lot of money.

    “So maybe (the whole donation saga) calls for some kind of examination… and we will see what the new council does.”

     

    Source: www.tnp.sg

  • FAS An Example Of Why Politicians Must Not Interfere With Everything In Singapore

    FAS An Example Of Why Politicians Must Not Interfere With Everything In Singapore

    In the last General Elections, Workers’ Party chairman and MP for Aljunied GRC Sylvia Lim spoke up about how the People’s Action Party “infiltrates every aspect of life” in Singapore, even in our sports associations.

    She said during a fiery rally: “The PAP wants Singaporeans to be dependent on them. But there is more than enough talent in the private sector to drive things,” Ms Lim said in her speech in Jalan Besar. “In fact, Singapore may be able to achieve better results if the PAP would get out of certain areas.”

    One of the best examples she cited was the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), which was headed by political appointees like Zainudin Nordin, who are not surprisingly from the PAP. It is clear to everyone that the standard of Singapore football is not doing well.

    The WP has already pointed out the problem before this FAS-AFF scandal!

    Read her speech here.

    “… the WP differs from the PAP because we do not think that the government should infiltrate every aspect of life. The PAP obviously thinks that they should control everything.

    The PAP places government representatives in all areas of Singapore life, including sports, business and professional groups.

    The PAP wants Singaporeans to be dependent on them. But there is more than enough talent in the private sector to drive things. In fact, Singapore may be able to achieve better results if the PAP would get out of certain areas.

    Let’s take sports. Since we are in Jalan Besar GRC, let’s talk about football!

    In the early days of Singapore’s nationhood, the Singapore football team was a force to be reckoned with on the international stage. Can you imagine that in 1966, Singapore was 4th in the Asian Games, behind only Burma, Iran and Japan? 4th in the whole of Asia, not just South East Asia!

    In the 1970s, the whole nation was rivetted behind our “Boys in Blue” in their quest to win the Malaysia Cup. Everyone had football fever, not just the usual soccer fans, but even grandmothers and housewives too. I remember as a young child, diligently cutting out newspaper articles and pictures of our footballers, and keeping my own scrap book. We fought so hard and mightily, and had bitter disappointments. But finally, in 1977, Singapore beat Penang 3-2 to become Malaysia Cup champions. And I am so proud that the man who headed home the winning goal is here with us tonight, as my personal driver!

    In those days, the Football Association of Singapore was headed by people who were not politicians. They were passionate about the game, and relied on their own networks to bring in coaches and technical expertise. They even poured in their own money at times to achieve their dreams.

    Where is Singapore soccer today?

    According to the rankings by football’s world governing body, FIFA, Singapore dropped from no. 70 in the world in 1993 to a new low this year of 157. We are classified by FIFA as one of the “worst movers” down the rankings. What went wrong?

    The FAS Constitution states that all council members shall first be appointed by a government minister before being confirmed by election. For the last 20 years, the Minister has placed a PAP MP in charge of the football association. Looking at how our rankings have nose-dived over the last 20 years, is this policy working? The Sports Minister should be committing hara kiri!

    I am not belittling the efforts of our current footballers and coaches. It’s the structure I’m questioning.

    Now FIFA has been critically looking at the structure of FAS, as it believes officials of football associations should be freely elected. Just 2 days ago, on September 1st, FIFA told our FAS to put their internal elections on hold over possible government interference.

    It is embarrassing that it takes an international body to highlight a problem that has been simmering for so long. It is time for Singaporeans to take charge of what we care about. Let our passion take us to greatness. We have done it before, and we can do it again!

    Power has made the PAP more and more arrogant. They think they can tell us who should represent us – not just in Parliament, but also in sports, and even in business groups and the professions. They want to control every aspect of life. If we become totally dependent on the PAP, how can Singapore be a dynamic nation?

    This election, we must bring the power back to the people. Send a strong message to the PAP that Singaporeans want to be free from their arrogance, their control, and their threats.

    Empower Your Future! On September 11, Vote for the Workers’ Party!”

     

    Rilek1Corner

    Source: https://www.allsingaporestuff.com

     

  • Student Who Passed Away After Freak Goalpost Accident Was Brother Of Singer Sarah Aqilah

    Student Who Passed Away After Freak Goalpost Accident Was Brother Of Singer Sarah Aqilah

    The 12-year-old Geylang Methodist Secondary School student who died after a goal post fell on him on Monday (Apr 24) was the younger brother of local singer Sarah Aqilah.

    Sarah, who was crowned the winner of Mediacorp’s Suria reality singing competition Anugerah in 2009, told Channel NewsAsia that death of her brother, Muhammad Hambali Sumathi is a great loss to her and her family.

    “He was a good kid, quiet but smiley and he was very respectful towards his elders. He was helpful too, as a friend and a younger brother,” Sarah told Channel NewsAsia on Monday night.

    Sarah added that Hambali loved sports and that he played for his school football team.

    The mother of two also spoke of how Hambali enjoyed the company of her children.

    “He was also good with kids, especially my children – his nephew and niece. My kids loved playing with him. He never complained about anything,” she added.

    On Instagram, Sarah posted a photo of Hambali on a recent family outing at Universal Studios Singapore. She wrote: “We were supposed to go again in June … but now, it is only memories (we have) left of you.”

    In a separate Facebook post to family members and friends wanting to pay their last respects, Sarah wrote that Hambali’s body would be brought back from hospital on Tuesday.

    Hambali is the second sibling Sarah has lost. Her younger sister, Ms Shaffadina Jamil, died in 2009 at the age of 20, after contracting a virus following a trip to Kusu Island.

    According to local media reports, Sarah has let her singing career take a back seat to focus on caring for her family.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com