Singapore's football ecosystem must go back to 'basics' in order to rebuild

SINGAPORE: The reality of the situation is that Singapore's football ecosystem is "much weaker" today and it needs to “go back to basics” to rebuild itself, said Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Culture, Community and Youth, Eric Chua, on Thursday (May 25).

This entails rebuilding from the grassroots, harnessing and developing youth talent, “so that we can once again have a team that is competitive at the regional level”, said Mr Chua in his opening remarks at an event organised by Unleash the Roar.  

The national movement, set up in 2021 to raise the levels of Singapore football, held a “football conversation” at Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition on Thursday evening with more than 150 people in attendance. This included fans, coaches, parents and even former players. 

Fresh in the minds of many in the room was the 7-0 mauling by Malaysia in the Young Lions' final group game at the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia earlier this month. It was Singapore’s heaviest defeat at the Games since the competition became an age-group affair in 2001. 

Despite Thursday’s session coming across as “ill-timed”, Mr Chua, who is chairman of Unleash the Roar’s executive committee, stressed that he decided to proceed as “football without fans is nothing” and called for the support of fans.

Such conversations under Unleash the Roar are meant to gather feedback in order to develop pathways for the next generation of national team players. 

The result of Singapore’s “much weaker” football ecosystem has been “an impact on our local pipeline of talent”, Mr Chua said on Thursday.

“What has been done before is perhaps no longer working well enough to produce talent that will make our national team competitive at the regional level. At the same time,