www.Go To The Mountain - Musings of a Potential Guru

The Singapore Soccer Story remains a sad one. From the rich history of those halcyon days where we have succeeded but was never truly built on. Remember the passion of a certain late Mr. N. Ganesan who brought back Uncle Choo Seng Quee who built his team with players like Eric Paine, Hasli Ibrahim, S. Rajagopal, Robert Sim, Samad Allipitchay, Lim Teng Sai, Zainal Abideen, V. Khanisen, M. Kumar, Dollah Kassim, Mohamed Noh, Quah Kim Song, etc. and brought back the Malaysia Cup. Those days Selangor was almost the Malaysia team and Malaysia at the time were a team capable of beating South Korea and you get the picture. The FAS introduced the Merlion Cup and started the Under-16 and Under-18 soccer tournaments that would one day taken over by FIFA and became the age group World Cup. There was soccer fever and many were playing weekday and weekend soccer. There was such passion! Even for the old NFL, I would watch every home game of Toa Payoh United where I was domiciled. Travel to othe...

Liverpool FC was once in the lower division and Leeds United, a mighty force under Don Revie is now languishing in a lower division. Singapore squash was once number six in the world and in waterpolo, we have won every gold medal at the SEA Games. Why the contrasting fortunes? What about Singapore soccer? Whereto from here? There was a time where a local game between two top league teams that can bring in a crowd of 20,000 and regularly at Kallang, we have crowds of 50-60,000 packing the stadiums for a Malaysia Cup match. Why? There were rivalry, stars and legends, there was success, therefore there was huge interest and there was euphoria. Young people started picking up the sports as they wanted to play soccer like Quah Kim Song and Mohamed Noh or play squash like Zainal Abideen. Squash courts were opening up everywhere from Kampong Java to Kallang and they were always packed. In soccer, we had the golden and crazy years when the late and legendary Uncle Choo Seng Quee broug...

Not many know this but when you are a participant of this event or even drop by to watch, you are passionate enough about soccer, Singapore soccer. This is a special event called Singapore 9s Masters. Where older men form and register their teams and participate in a friendly soccer tournament. Pot-bellied uncles and all are the order of the day but there are really very fit players around. There must have been at least 40 teams that participated some coming from overseas like Royal Selangor and teams from Hong Kong. Local teams comprising Singapore Malays, Lion City team of 1980, an ex Poly team called the Polynites and the Singapore Ex-Inetrnationals are regulars. The teams awaiting their turns at the terrace. I spotted ex national goalie David Lee and industry evergreen and veteran Tan Buck Seng and spoke to them briefly.  The Singapore Indians fielded a team too and Royal Selangor Club. I did not stay for the afternoon session where the ex i...

Legends What are legends? A legend is a traditional story or myth, traditional literature or inscription. Lee Kuan Yew is a legend. So was Bruce Lee. You can find legends in business, politics, leaders, music, movies and sports. Legends are heroes of the time, at that time, a moment in history and usually you will find it hard to replicate or reproduce like Jack Nicklaus in golf, England's 1966 World Cup soccer winning team, Brazil's World Cup team of 1970 and 1982. Maradona and Messi are soccer legends of Argentina, Platini and Zidane are legends of France, Beckanbauer and Muller from Germany and Cruyff, Neeskens, Marco van Basten of Holland.  Eventhough Holland did not win the World Cup, the whole team in 1974 were legends. So was Denmark when they won the European Nations Championship. Legends defy logic. They inspire. They make you want to be like them. They start a revolution. They can transform a nation. They can bring joy ...

Two new countries have their flags popped up on my blog - the Czech Republic and Jamaica. These are the 81st and 82nd countries. I like it. For anything to succeed, you need support, you need passionate people all around with drive and dreams and you need the space to do it. Create more spaces for people to play the sports, generate the interest, start them young and get more folks engaged and excited. Build it from the team's wins and it shall be a good start. Douglas Moore did a good job and Barry Whitbread brought home the Tiger Cup with R. Sasikumar's back or backside goal after which we won the Tiger Cup a few times to be the best team in South East Asia. Raddy Avramovic gave us the best ever result when we went to the World Cup Qualifiers' third round. The two legged triumph over arch rival Malaysia, 5-3 at home and then 1-1 away for a 6-4 aggregate win over the reigning S.E.A. champions is such a time to build on with the return of the Malaysia Cup. Singapore...

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 d...