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 Lions 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.)
