THE ‘Wild Boars’ Thailand cave-football team hogged the regional headlines the past fortnight but in Singapore the long-going coffeeshop talk is on a 17-year-old British footballer Benjamin Davis, who signed a junior professional contract with English Premier League (EPL) club Fulham.

The major hurdle for Davis, born in Thailand of British nationality but with a Singapore passport, is a sacred military commitment where his application for the deferment of full-time National Service (NS) in Singapore was rejected.

Singapore’s Ministry of Defence (Mindef) made it clear that Davis and his parents had been informed of the rejection of their application by the authorities 18 days earlier, on June 11, before they signed the contract on June 29

This means he may have to put his pro football career on hold as he has to return in December, a month after his 18th birthday.

I’ve heard a 1,001 arguments over the Davis dilemma, from the antiquated corridors of the FAS (Football Association of Singapore) at Jalan Besar Stadium to the heartlander stadiums at Woodlands, Bedok and Queenstown and even the sarabat stalls in Tampines, Toa Payoh and Thomson.

And let me put my cards straight, without fear or favour: I must agree with Mindef that “deferment from National Service (NS) is granted for exceptional sportsmen to represent our national interest and not their own career development”.

Mind you, Davis has not played a single “A” international match for Singapore, ranked by FIFA at 169 and under existing EPL guidelines, those keen to play in the Premiership must have regularly played international matches for their respective countries, which must have a FIFA-ranking of below 70.

NO PLAY IN PREMIERSHIP

Technically, that rules out every talented footballer in Asean, who may have to be contended to play in the lower-level Championship or below in the “Land of Football”.

Mindef further says: “When granted, deferment is given for a defined period after which these sportsmen must return to fulfil their NS duties. Davis’ application does not meet the deferment criteria and was therefore turned down.”

Personally, I support sports-talent development, be it Ang Peng Siong or Joseph Schooling or V. Sundramoorthy or Fandi Ahmad, but it must be done, in a democratic and meritocratic way with the Singaporean prodigy having a realistic chance to be a potential global sportsman.

Schooling proved it mighty right when he won Singapore’s first ever Olympic gold medal, in the 100 metres butterfly, at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.

Benjamin Davis? He has not played one senior match for the FAS (which is the basic criteria to play for a Premiership club) and his father, Harvey Davis, who runs the JSSL Arsenal Soccer School here, would not commit, according to Mindef,  to a “date and expressed that he would put Davis’ professional career first.”

Rather audaciously, the father went on to sign the contract despite the rejection for deferment and more daringly, he even publicly stated that he would encourage his son, who reportedly holds a British, Thailand and Singapore passports, to renounce his Singapore citizenship in order to pursue his football career.

FULHAM ACADEMY

Davis, for the record, was born in Phuket, Thailand, and received his Singapore citizenship in September 2009, and played for the FAS’s Junior Centre of Excellence team from 2010 to 2012. He competed last year in the Asean Football Federation U-18 Championships and the Asian Football Confederation U-19 Championships, and recently earned a call-up to the national team for a friendly against Maldives.  

He is currently based at Fulham’s academy, which is one of only 24 Category One – the highest grade possible in the country – schools in England. Fulham was recently promoted to the Premier League for the 2018-2019 season, and Ben will play in the Under-18 Premier League which will include other clubs such as Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.

Looking at the cards put forward, Mindef makes sense in advocating, fair and square, the government’s NS policy. I agree that Davis is not putting Singapore first, like thousands of teenagers who have done National Service (including me) and his immediate actions are meant to further his own professional career, not national interest.

It just doesn’t make commonsense for the father to say he’s “looking out for his son’s future, not Singapore’s”. In simple words, they have no intention of returning to fulfill their son’s NS duties, especially if he is given a full professional contract after the two years of his senior contract.

From Fandi Ahmad’s son Irfan Fandi, arguably the most promising Singaporean prodigy the past decade, hundreds of footballers have completed their NS dutifully first before pursuing their professional careers.

So, what, why, when, how should Davis, not born in Singapore, be special and given extra privileges?

Mind you, government rules are short and simple: Sporting deferments are granted only to those who represent Singapore in international competitions like the Olympic Games and are potential medal winners for Singapore. In the last 15 years, only three have met this criteria.

Singapore’s first Olympic gold medallist Joseph Schooling and fellow swimmer Quah Zheng Wen were given NS deferment to compete at the 2016 Olympics and again for the 2020 Games in Tokyo. Sailor Maximillian Soh was the other athlete who was granted a year-long deferment in 2007 to compete at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

If Davis is seriously a rip-roaring talent like England’s Marcus Rashford or France’s Kylian Mbappe, then the FAS should have immediately inculcated him to the Lions as Fandi Ahmad, as a 15-year-old, was given the rare honour by then-Singapore coach Trevor Hartley in the Malaysia Cup.

AMBASSADOR’S SAY

Former Singaporea leading diplomat, Bilahari Kausikan, rightly suggested that the Davis case  is “no different in principle” from academic or professional opportunities granted to “many other male Singaporeans [who] have had to defer” such opportunities in order to complete their National Service (NS) first.

He wrote over Facebook: “The only difference is that this concerns professional football rather than, say, studying or working in some other field like accounting that does not arouse strong passions.

“So think carefully, folks. How is this different in principle? It is not as if deferment is to enable him to serve the country in a different capacity. If he is allowed to defer NS, what grounds can others in the same non-football situation, be denied deferment?”

Simply put, in my opinion, Davis is just an ordinary footballer, who with reasonably good connections of his father, managed to get a Fulham junior-professional contract which doesn’t automatically make him the first Singaporean to play in the Premiership.

If he cannot command a Lions jersey for a single international match, what chance has he to play professional football in the top-tier league in the “Land of Football”.

In the final context, I believe Davis is merely asking for deferment to pursue his own career and development. He sincerely doesn’t have Singapore at heart.

His father has indicated that with a flick of a passport, his 17-year-old son may well give up Singapore citizenship.

GET PRIORITIES RIGHT

Right from the cradle, every Singaporean parent knows It is compulsory for all male citizens and second-generation permanent residents to serve two years in the military. Those who refuse to join the army face up to three years in jail and a fine of S$10,000 ($7,300) under the country’s Enlistment Act.

Mindef and the government have got their priorities right. Let this Davis case be the right and timely reminder of the need for fairness in applying laws regarding NS deferment.

Simply put: What’s the big deal?

Signing with the London-based Fulham FC is not exceptional enough to qualify for a deferment. If Davis is proud of his red passport, he must do what every Singapore teenager does, to dutifully observe the NS obligations, without fun, fear or favour. – SURESH NAIR.

 

  • Suresh Nair is a Singapore-based journalist who feels Benjamin Davis has not made a tangible contribution to merit deferment. Every Singaporean teenager knows national defence and security, safeguarding the sovereignty of the country is the real big thing.

 

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