Lets talk..or not...or don't

Greetings for 2013..and for the year of the Snake to those still celebrating Lunar New Year!

Been a rather busy month of the National Sports Associations, more specifically spokespersons of the various NSAs coming out and saying a lot of earth shattering (or not) comments in the press. The pressmen at both The New Paper and the Straits Times are certainly grateful for the scoops and sauces that have made their Sundaes. 

First up it was the Rugger Buggers who had a front page 'exclusive' in the New Paper on the importing of Pacific Island kids to become naturalized Singaporeans to play for Singapore in the near future. Nothing new there, but the reason why Singapore Rugby was doing this according to its president was purely because local Singaporeans are too small for the game, especially in the scrum positions. I won't comment too much on the program, but really rugby has been and will be a game for all body shapes and there is always a place for everyone on the team. Local boys are getting bigger and taller, I know just from standing in q at the local nasi padang stall. The 'exclusive' that TNP got turned out to not be so exclusive as the Straits Times ran the story the same day, with a slightly different view point. Here the angle was not so much importing, but really tapping on another stream of talent to make Singapore Rugby better. Same shit different smell some might say, but here's what I humbly think :

No matter what the announcement is (and I won't go into much into the actual program) there needs to be some kind of communications sync -with the spokespersons (Singapore rugby had two guys from the management committee saying two slightly different things to two different papers) and more importantly the stakeholders. In this case its the Rugby community, and many I know were upset at the announcement  Singaporeans will always complain, but in this case I don't blame them - to see a major announcement in the papers before hearing anything is a little bit disappointing, especially since the rugby community is a small one. Everyone needs to understand that sports people on this red dot usually get into sports administration for the passion. Power does overtake sometimes, but thats where the village comes together to make sure everyone is on track.

One man's view on this anyways. The Second headline concerns the round ball and the Fandi vs FAS issue - that is coming up in the next post!

Re kick...re take...re view

Been a while between drinks or so they say, and to be fair, this blog has been in and out of circulation for almost 5 years, and only with a couple of posts to show for it!

So this year, the sporting tan will look to get out in the sun a whole lot more and put out a load of thoughts and some keen observations of the wider sporting scene in Singapore, and overseas. The goal has always been to have one man's point of view out there, and this will not change, as this man certainly has a whole load of views to point!

To kick things off (again), lets look at the local football scene. All one has to do in the last couple of days is turn to Singapore's one and only football daily, The New Paper to see that all is not well (again) with our beloved national past time of (talking how to play) Football. This time round its about coaching, and about how after 'Savoir' Raddy's departure  has no permanent successor been found. Two quick points here as highlighted by the local press men - 

1. They have had 3 months since Raddy's announcement to find a suitable replacement for the incumbent, and only decided to get a headhunting firm a month before he left. Of course the 'they' here is the much maligned Football Association of Singapore.  It is a fair point ain't it? If this was a business, and you knew that the contract was fast coming, would there not be a 6 month (not 3 month) notice period? Once can always announce things at an approproate time, but one has to wonder if there was some earlier indication

2. This leads to another question - does this mean that the Assistant Coach not ready to step up? Where is the succession plan? Raddy came to our shores when he was in his 50s, so I mean it was not like he would be around forever I wound imagine. Sundram is now with the Lions 12, but then is now caretaker coach. So another question sports fans : What is Sundram's plans in the eyes of the FAS?

Just two really quick questions and some food for thought. Football is a simple game and that why its beautiful. Unfortunately running the backroom side is not as simple. 

Watch out for more in the coming days and weeks!