Remembering the National Stadium: Best memory #5

#5 When Singapore won its first international rugby title in 20 years  

That was in 1998 when Singapore won the Asian Rugby Championships Plate competition, also known as the Second Division title of the biennial event, by beating Sri Lanka 25-13 in the final at the National Stadium.

If you are a rugby fan, you would understand why that triumph was so precious to Singapore rugby.

It was the first time the Republic had ever won a piece of Asian rugby silverware, and it also came a year after Singapore recorded its first international win, a 21-10 win over Malaysia, in more than a decade (I kid you not).

Before all that, the 1980s right up to the the mid-1990s was a pretty bleak period for the sport, which in turn were a huge contrast to the golden years from 1978 to 1982. 

The Republic had finished third in the 1978 Asian Championships, a triumph that subsequently landed national coach Natahar Bava the Singapore National Olympic Council’s  Coach of the Year Award and skipper Song Koon Poh - arguably Singapore’s best player ever - the Sportsman of the Year Award.

That year also saw Singapore winning the Malaysian Rugby Union (MRU) Cup. Bava and Song then repeated that MRU triumph in 1982.

But it all went to pieces after that as Singapore slumped into a decade-long losing streak on the international stage.

Singapore rugby then hit an all-time low at the 1994 Asian Championships in Kuala Lumpur. That was where the Republic crashed to a world record 13-164 loss to Hong Kong. ( I am not able to confirm if the score has been surpassed since. Can anyone help?)

But things started to pick up when the Singapore Rugby Union (SRU) hired Australian Peter Randall as its chief executive and tasked him to turn the sport around. 

Randall took three years to do that.

By 1998, the cash-strapped NSA had been transformed into a 20-strong corporation operating on a $2.5 million annual budget. More than 4,000 people and 140 schools were also playing the game by 1998, the result of the SRU’s tireless efforts to promote the non-contact versions of the game to non-playing schools and to the public.

But regardless of all this, Singapore rugby still needed that major triumph on the international level to show that it had finally arrived. 

That triumph finally came in the 1998 Asian Rugby Championships.

So, as a rugby fan who grew up on stories of the exploits of Natahar Bava’s men, it was really a moment to savour when national skipper Terence Khoo walked up the National Stadium steps, received the Asian Championships plate and then held it up in front of 7,000 supporters. 

Singapore rugby has lost some momentum and shine in recent years.

Although it successfully defended the Division Two title two years later, Singapore’s ambitions of being one of Asia’s top-four rugby-playing nations in the past eight years has been checked by the emergence of the Arabian Gulf, Kazakhstan (both of whom joined the Asian Rugby Football Union family in 2000) and China.

(Piece of rugby trivia: Incidentally, China made its international debut in 1997 against Singapore. That historic match was held at the National Stadium, by the way, and beamed live worldwide. Singapore easily won 33-3.)

In fact, Singapore was not part of the inaugural HSBC Asian Five Nations competition held in April. The competing countries were Japan, South Korea, the Arabian Gulf, Kazakhstan and Hong Kong. Instead, Singapore is in Division One with Taiwan, Sri Lanka and China.

Singapore rugby is also still undergoing a period of rebuilding after being rocked by that financial scandal in 2005 which saw former SRU employee Sean Lee absconding after siphoning $1.2 million from its coffers. Lee’s whereabouts are still unknown today.

I am certain though that the SRU will find soon itself on steady ground once again under the stewardship of Low Teo Ping, who took over the SRU presidency from Dr Chan Peng Mun in the aftermath of that financial crisis.

But even so, I don’t think Singapore rugby is ever going to match those heady days of the late 90s which culminated in that 1998 win at the National Stadium.

The fact that I got to witness that moment is why that moment is on my list of top five memories of the National Stadium.

Yours in sport

Singapore Sports Fan

Related links:

23 July: Remembering the Grand Old Dame of Kallang? 

Saying goodbye to the Grand Old Dame of Kallang?

The letters:

To date, there have been two letters in TODAY complaining about the number of “last games” that have been played at the National Stadium.

Reader Ng Woon Yang (see link here) said that he thought the Asean Football Championships final between Singapore and Thailand would be the Stadium’s last game.

He was thus was surprised when Singapore subsequently played Australia in a friendly to officially mark the closing down of the arena.

That surprise, he said, has however turned into disgust at the number of “last” games that have been played on that hallowed Kallang ground since.

“The closure of Singapore’s most iconic sporting structure has been handled poorly and points to poor planing on the part of all organisations involved,” he blasted.

“Let us alow this national icon to retire gracefully before more “mistakes” turn its last days into a farce.”

Likewise, Jason Chiam said (see link here) that he was appalled by the decision of the Football Association of Singapore to hold the friendly between a Singapore Selection side and the Brazil Olympic squad at the National Stadium.

“Since last year, we were told umpteen times, that a particular match would be the last at the Stadium, and the faithful among us have trooped to the grand old dame to soak in the nostalgia before she is pulled down to make way for the new sports hub,” he wrote.

“But time and time again, new matches have been lined up at the stadium…I think this has to stop…”

My thoughts:

It’s quite easy to understand why some fans are complaining even though there is now yet another opportunity to watch Singapore (or in this case, a Singapore Selection side) play a potentially top-class game next Monday.

After all, they would have had particular fond memories of going at the Stadium to watch what they thought would be its final game. 

Much effort would probably have also been put into the act of going to that ‘final’ game (ie making preparations and plans with friends or family to head down to Kallang together, dressing themselves either in red or in old Singapore Malaysia Cup jerseys, with red scarves or bandanas tied around their wrists or heads, taking pictures of themselves on the terraces, cheering the Lions until they were hoarse, getting autographs from the players and taking pictures with them afer the game etc ). 

For some, being at the Stadium for its last match would have given them bragging rights among their friends (One can just imagine them saying: “I was at the Stadium for the last game, you know?” to their friends and wearing that statement like a badge of honour).

And of course, there was that official song-and-dance closing ceremony in March this year which President S R Nathan even attended and which featured many of Singapore’s past and present athletes doing a lap of honour on the track. (See one young person’s emotional account of that event here)

So, to stage yet another game at the Stadium, would mean taking all that away from them, especially that sense of closure. Which, I am sure, can be very annoying.

Well, I didn’t bother to go down for what I thought were the last matches at the Stadium ie that friendly against Australia which was part of that closing down ceremony, and which ended in a 0-3 defeat for the Lions, and that 0-2 loss to Saudi Arabia just recently which ended Singapore’s World Cup qualifying campaign.

Nor will I need to go down to Kallang this Monday to watch the Brazilians in action so as to end my relationship with Kallang on a high.

I already have several fond memories of Kallang. Five stand out, in particular. And they are all I need to remind myself of all the great times I had on those terraces. 

I’m going to share them with you in my next post as my way of saying farewell to the Grand Old Dame.

If you have a great memory of the National Stadium, do share it on this blog too. I’d really love to read about it.

Yours in sport

Singapore Sports Fan      

(Note: Pictures taken from The Straits Times and Youth.sg)

What a great weekend for Singapore sport!

I usually hate Mondays because it marks the start of another long week at work. I’m sure many of you know the feeling.

But today, I went into the office with a grin and a heart quietly beating with pride, all thanks to The Straits Times and TODAY, or rather, all thanks to the reports that they carried of our athletes in action on the international stage over the weekend.

I really cannot remember the last time I read so many reports in a single edition of the two newspapers about the exploits of our sportsmen in four different sports. There was:

- the report of our junior sailors narrowly missing out on a gold at the World Optimist Championships by just three points

- a report on Jasmine Yeong-Nathan snaring a bronze in the girls singles at the World Youth Bowling Championships;

- a story about Fandi Ahmad’s eldest two sons, Irfan and Iksan, capturing the attention of the youth coaches at Spanish club Valencia during a training stint and winning invites to train with the La Liga side’s academy, and finally,

- the report of Lam Chih Beng creating local sporting history by becoming the first Singapore golfer to make the cut for the British Open.

My heartiest congratulations to Singapore Sailing and the Singapore Bowling Federation for once again proving to everyone out there that our locally-born athletes have what it takes to excel on the world stage.

By their successes, they have shown once again that the argument put forth by some national sports associations that we must have foreign sports talents in order to do well internationally (because our local athletes are just not good enough) is nothing but sheer deception.  

As I have mentioned before, both Singapore Sailing and the SBF have shown that our local sportsmen can deliver the goods so long as they are given the opportunities and resources to develop themselves into top-class athletes.

And what all that, in turn, really needs is an unwavering belief in local talent, in one’s fellow Singaporeans, and the iron will to erect systematic training structures that will enable them to progressively climb the ladder to success.

In fact, the other sailing report on our Singapore sailors finishing fourth at the World Youth Championships, which appeared in The Sunday Times (20 July 2008), when placed side-by-side with that of our silver-medal winning Optimist sailors, provides ample proof of this progression.

Thanks to the talent development systems that Singapore Sailing has built over the years, the likes of Low Wen Chun, Jonathan Chew, Griselda Khng, Cecilia Low and Elizabeth Yin, all good Optimist sailors previously, are now rated among the top 10 sailors in the world in their respective classes.

On the other hand, while Lam Chih Beng’s “mini trumph” at the British Open cannot be used to illustrate the above two points, it nevertheless still drives home the fact that our local athletes do have what it takes to compete on the world stage.

Sure, Lam finished last in the end ( he finished with a 31-over-par total of 311). But honestly, that statistic is nothing to be embarrassed about. As The Straits Times rightfully reported:

“Despite those blemishes on his scorecard, Lam can take heart from a historic achievement. He became the first Singaporean to make the cut in a Major after carding rounds of 72 and 75 on Thursday and Friday. He was also the only South-east Asian player in the field to survive the axe…”

But what I was most sruck by were Lam’s quotes after his British Open adventure.

“For two days, I felt like I really belonged out here,” he said. “I felt like I could compete with the world’s best players… I’m going back and I hope to win an Asian Tour tournament over the next few months. If I can get through this, oher events won’t be that tough.” 

In other words, being given the precious opportunity to compete against the best, and grabbing that opportunity with both hands has enabled Lam to emerge from the experience a tougher, wiser and better golfer. Clearly, his mental game has been given a huge boost with this experience.

Now just imagine how possibly different the state of Singapore badminton and table tennis might be today if, in the past decade, instead of foreign-born sports talents, it was our local-born badminton and table-tennis players instead, who had been given the same sort of opportunities to constantly pit and measure themselves against the best in the world.

Finally, tempting as it may be, I’m not letting myself read too much into the report about how Fandi Ahmad’s sons are wowing the youth coaches and selectors at Valencia.

The kids are doing great now, judging from the glowing report, but then again, the situation may change as they grow older and their bodies change.

And I’m sure they are where they are now, not only because of their genes but also the windows of footballing opportunities that they have easy access to because of their father (ie coaching clinics, stints with S-League clubs, one-on-one coaching sessions with Dad etc).

Once again, here are two examples of how far local talent can go if given the ample opportunities to be developed and groomed.  

Even though I am not letting myself be carried away by the reports, still, it’s nice to dream, isn’t it, that perhaps one day we can see Fandi’s sons not only following their father’s famous footsteps, donning the national jersey, and playing in Europe (and even going further than their father ever did)?

Shouldn’t ALL our local-born athletes be given the chance to dream too?

Yours in sport

Singapore Sports Fan

Related links:

26 June: Singapore boleh, local talent boleh!