In a recent Straits Times article by Marc Lim, dated 12/01/07, FAS chief asks fans to look at the bright side of the LionsÂ’ recent performances.
In the article, he mentioned about how Singapore football, may have earned some flak for not progressing past the first rounds of the, South-east Asia Games and the Asian Games.
He also mentioned, that Singaporeans should be in full support, of the national football team. Citing England and Brazil, who were disappointing and did not play up to expectations in the World Cup, still had their fans supporting their teams. He spoke about the national football team performance, in the SEA Games and the Asian Games. He said: “We need to show fighting spirit. When the fans watch our matches, they should feel proud.”
I keep hearing about how unappreciative Singaporeans are, when it comes to supporting our national football team. The blunt truth is that, we are very appreciative of our national team football, but the football association of Singapore fails to see the bigger picture.
Singaporeans give constructive criticism all the time, to the national team, but why is it always perceived as something negative? Has the players in the national team gone soft, and due to that the players cannot perform 100%, on the field each time they hear a Singaporean speak their mind, about the performance of the national team? I thought the whole idea of being a professional football player, is to be able to take criticism, and channel it into becoming something positive. Now that is the bright side of football.
It is all too common now, that we do not progress past the first rounds of certain Asian Games, big deal, I say. I do not think that is the biggest worry of the football fans in Singapore anyway.
So, Prof Ho Peng Kee wants to make comparisons with Singapore, England and Brazil supporters. The fact of the matter is, England and Brazil have a very high standard of football, that they play and when their standards do drop it would not be to the point of inferior quality football. If Singapore on the other hand, drops their standards. We would be playing schoolboy football. Even with schoolboy playing standards, there is still quite a number of real and betting fans that support, Singapore football. If England or Brazil would ever reach our current standard of football. Do you think their supporters, would be all supportive and smiling?
(In a nutshell, stop blaming the fans.)
