Kallang Will Roar Again! (Part Four)

Soccer is all about the fans without which there is little meaning but it is the players that make things happen. Star players were household names. Of course there must be rivalry. Strangely enough, when a team wins, they often mention about some great players or the team but much less praises or awards are given to coaches, yet the coach is the main fall guy when it comes to the sacking when things do not turn out right.

Uncle Choo was not the Singapore coach because he was extremely outspoken and fiery just like Brian Clough was. He recalled certain players against certain opinions. You see Uncle Choo was diabetic and in giving his all to Singapore he might have neglected his health. Soon after the glorious win and thereafter, he had an amputation of his right leg due to gangrene to save his life. At 66, the enforced idleness was too much to bear as the FAS turned down his offer to be adviser to the Pre-Olympics team. "I may have lost my leg but not my head" Uncle was devastated. The same leg that saw him hobbled around Jalan Besar stadium despite being swollen was no more.

He was so passionate for soccer that everything else took less priority. If only you had heard his bellowing voice at training. The players had awesome respect for him and once a player stealing a cigarette smoke was almost caught and he rather stuffed the lighted cigarette into his palm rather than getting caught. They can't let Uncle down. Many players were spotted and groomed by him such as Majid Ariff, Rahim Omar, the Quah brothers including Kim Song, Dollah Kassim, Edmund Wee plus many others. His methods were unorthodox. No players and even officials were spared if they stepped out of line. His passion, integrity, ability, flair and delivery of the final goods wee never doubted. On June 21, 1977 then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew congratulated him at a special Malaysia Cup dinner held at the Istana.

Uncle Choo's team capped an unbeaten run in that year's Malaysia Cup series. He was a student of Victoria School and RI. He coached the Malaysian to victory from 1958-60 in the Merdeka Tournament. FAM President Tungku Abdul Rahman sent him for a coaching course at Burnley FC in 1961. Uncle once described a prominent star player who has electrifying pace and great stamina - "good for the turf club". Choo Seng Quee truly believed great players know how to conserve their energy. Singapore soccer will never see another man like him not even in a century, they have said.

Jita Singh was rebuilding the Singapore team. He was in charged of the "Cubs" for the King's Cup in Thailand and brought surprising success and finished third behind host Thailand and South Korea against formidable opposition with a young team. Their biggest scalp was a 4-0 drubbing of arch rivals Malaysia. They were labelled no-hopers even before they arrived at Bangkok. They opened with a 1-2 defeat to Thailand B team followed by a magnificent turnaround - a 4-1 thrashing of China followed by that famous 4-0 trouncing of Malaysia, one for the record books. For never had Singapore beaten Malaysia by such a margin. Against all odds, Singapore nearly made it all the way but they lost 1-2 and drew 0-0 against South Korea and finished joint third with Thailand when they played to a 1-1 draw.

The signs were good that things were coming together. The Cubs consisted of players like David Lee, R. Suriamoorthy, Wong Kok Choy, Lim Tang Boon, Jeffrey Lazaroo and Jai Prakash. Singapore hosted the Pre-Olympics qualifiers. They opened with a 3-0 thrashing of Sri Lanka with Lim Tang Boon and Wong Kok Choy (2) scoring. Then Fandi scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory over India. They were trounced 0-3 by Asian kingpins Iran but returned with a vengeance when they shocked North Korea 3-1 with Tang Boon, Kok Choy and Fandi scoring. Another famous scalp was in the record books when Kok Choy scored in a 1-0 win over China but Iran was too strong as Singapore went down 0-4 in the Final.

 

 

In 1980, Fandi Ahmad and the Lions brought home the Malaysia Cup led by Jita Singh. Fandi scroed the vital goal to seal a 2-1 win after he beat Santokh Singh to score at the Merdeka Stadium. Selangor were the bookmakers' favourites but underdogs Singapore silenced the 35,000 crowd with a 7th minute goal through Leong Kok Fann who stole through a lapse between Soh Chin Aun and Santokh Singh. Selangor responded with waves of attacks and equalised in the 20th minute with a thunderbolt from who else but the awesome Mokhtar Dahari.

Then in the 54th minute, Terry Pathmanathan threw the ball to Fandi who turned and beat Santokh and scored from a narrow angle all in a single flowing move. Singapore hung on to win in what was only their second time as champions since 1977 and before that in the desert for 12 long years despite many appearances in the final. Jita's arrival and more importantly the rise of Fandi Ahmad as a superstar was in the making. A star is born.

Hashim Yaakob, Abdul Ghani, Borhan Abu Samah, Jai Prakash, Leong Kok Fann, Au-Yeong Pak Kuan, Terry Pathmanathan, K. Kannan, Fandi Ahmad, V. Sundramoorthy, R. Suriamoorthy, Samsir Rahmat, Wong Kok Choy, Jeffrey Lazaroo, Lim Tang Boon and Steven Tan made notable contributions. Singapore was suspended from the Malaysia Cup for a few years for "showing disrespect to Malaysian Royalties". During this time, some key players like T. Pathmanathan, Fandi Ahmad, V. Sundramoorthy moved to to play for Malaysian state teams. Singapore team was falling short.

The FAM began to allow foreign players and Singapore players, Michael Vana, later under Seak Poh Leong they had Australians Craig Foster, a saxophone-playing playmaker and striker Warren Spinks and greater success was to follow when they signed Australians Abbas Saad and Alistair Edwards under New Zealander coach Douglas Moore and with the return of Fandi Ahmad, V. Sudramoorthy and an upcoming winger Steven Tan became known as the "Dream Team" that thrashed a formidable Pahang side 4-0 in front of 80,000 fans at the new Shah Alam stadium. The FAS announced Singapore's departure from the Malaysia Cup the follwing year to develop their own S-League. One of the goals saw Steven Tan nutmegging Pahang's very formidable Aussie sweeper was a delight.

Fandi Ahmad was offered a place with famed Ajax Amsterdam but due to difficulty adjusting to the lifestyle and language chose to join Niac Mitra of Indonesia. In 1983, he left to join another Dutch side FC Groningen for 2 years where he famously helped them beat giants Inter Milan in a shock 2-0 win by scoring a goal. In 1999, he was voted oone of top 25 players ever to play for Groningen. In 2003, he was named the club's best XI of the 2oth century. V. Sundramoorthy also played for Swiss club Basel for a brief spell.

Recapitulation

1966 - was the Golden Season of Singapore Soccer as Singapore finished fourth in the Bangkok Asian Games. We had some of the best-ever players like Wilfred Skinner, Lee Kok Seng, Rahim Omar, Majid Ariff and Quah Kim Swee.

67-68 - pulled out of Malaysia Cup and only returned after a few years.

1977 - Under Choo Seng Quee reacptured the Cup after 12 long years beating Penang 3-2 at the Merdeka Stadium.

1980 - Under Jita Singh Singapore won the Cup beating Selangor 2-1 where Fandi scored the match winner signalling his arrival.

82-83 - Singapore pulled out.

1994 - Singapore thrashed Pahang 4-0 to win the Malaysia Cup with Abbas Saad, Alistair Edwards, Fandi Ahmad and V. SUndramoorthy in the side and pulled out the following year.

To Be Continued.....