FROM the corridors of Parliament to the football fields at Jalan Besar Stadium the banter continues on the “ownself-check-ownself”.
More appropriately for football, at the FAS (Football Association of Singapore) headquarters, it’s an “ownself do ownself check” philosophy, where the lack of checks and balances appears to have resulted in some departments working ultra-independently, a classic case being the referees, the declared “law and order” personalities.
As the new FAS committee under Lim Kia Tong approaches its 100-day in office in three weeks, football fans are closely scrutinising the early days of the newly-minted team, who have as yet announced the respective committees, let alone a strategic long-term plan for Singapore football to move forward.
Former sports journalist Siva Govindasamy says the new FAS council should present a “public plan with clear goals, milestones and timelines”.
He adds: “Sure, set minimum and maximum targets to give themselves some leeway. But stop hiding behind the excuses that Bernard Tan (FAS Deputy President) is trying to perpetuate – we have been hearing them for far too long. And get rid of the deadwood in the FAS.”
Be it football or politics or even in business, the new leaders have to live in the world they inherit. And it’s a world in which, for better, or worse, what new leaders do in their early days has a disproportionate impact on all that follows.
So far the early accomplishments of Lim Kia Tong’s team have been insignificant as the national team’s FIFA ranking slided further down to 169. The home defeat by Chinese Taipei in an Asian Cup qualifier proved to be a demoraliser and the Under 15s continued losing streak, over three matches, in the AFF junior tournament in Chonburi, Thailand, have been worrying, especially if this core of youngsters may well be the Lions’ fag-bearers in 2030.
MORE ACID TESTS
This week, more acid tests are on the cards as the AFC Under 23 tournament kicks off in Myanmar with Singapore playing Myanmar (who recently qualified for the World Under 20 Finals) in the opening match. And next month is the SEA (South-east Asia) Games in Kuala Lumpur.
Lim Kia Tong must boldly unveil his 100-day in office and not allow a prolonged silence to monopolise his longer-term strategy. Seldom in football would you be given time to make mistakes and learn.
The Lim Team must sincerely declare a long-term vision and not have to worry so much about tactical maneuvering. In a better world a lot of things would be different. Lambs would lie down with lions, for example, and goodness and niceness would prevail.
Patrick Tan Siong Kuan, in a letter in The Straits Times Forum, also called for an instant change of football mindset.
“Most of the new council members were in the previous councils and have been in it for decades. Surely, they would have seen that we were lagging behind. Why didn’t they stem the decline earlier,” he says. “Football fans are a forgiving bunch. All it takes is for the new council to admit that the previous council messed up, and to ask for a clean slate to put things right.
“Winners accept 100 per cent responsibility. Losers find excuses. We will continue losing if we do not change our mindset.”
To date, the only high-profile FAS outreach has been a commentary in the The Straits Times by Deputy President Bernard Tan on July 14, where he admitted that “the road to reach the pinnacle of soccer is a complex one and each country must choose its own route”.
He wrote: “The question is how much we as a nation want it. The FAS can lead in visioning but it needs to work with schools, the community, parents, teachers, children and volunteers. Most importantly, it needs government support to help make things happen. Soccer is a national project in terms of resources – it requires people, time, land use and, most of all, funds. In that sense, it takes a whole country to get soccer right.
“But at the most basic level, it first boils down to families encouraging their sons and daughters to learn to play the beautiful game. I have seen volunteers do great things to spur that along. Our children need our encouragement to enjoy the game we all love, and that is where change will start. For if our children play, the rest of the issues will sort themselves out.”
But renowned journalist P.N. Balji, the former Editor-in-Chief of TODAY newspaper, responding to the FAS Deputy President, reiterated the call for FAS to show its cards. He wrote over Facebook: “What a cushy job. Ask government for money and facilities. Ask families to get the kids to play soccer. FAS sits back and administers…no need to convince me. Produce the results and I will be convinced. Or show me a plan and I can be convinced.”
Hopefully, the recent FAS imposition of a strict ‘Code of Conduct’ from council members to committee members and staff, national and age-group players, will set more rights form the wrongs, especially in dispelling the “ownself do, ownself check” philosophy.
OPEN SECRET
Perhaps the departments that need the most scrutiny are the referees and technical departments. It is an open secret that senior referees feel the FASRD (FAS Referees Department), working ultra-independently, looks after their own interests and not of the men-in-black.
“They’re keen on their overseas trips and literally line up to go for AFF and/or AFC appointments rather than seriously work towards the general upgrading of the referees,” says one senior referee.
This stamps from a lack of authority from the FASRC which is headed by former Lions defender Lim Tong Hai, who appears to have no clue between a whistle and a flag, as in his first term as FASRC Chairman, he seldom attends refereeing activities or engages with the men-in-black.
Now that he has accepted a second term as FASRC Chairman, this has left the refereeing fraternity in a jaws-dropping shock because Lim’s continued presence surely means a prolonged non-leadership at top refereeing management.
A veteran referee says: “There have been calls for a former experienced referee to take over the FASRC helm so that he can moderate relationship between FASRC and FASRD. Not it appears that because of the FASRC Chairman’s gross inexperience, the FASRD appears to be running the show in the ‘ownself do ownself check’ policy.”
10-POINT MEMORANDUM
Some senior referees did write, earlier this year, in a 10-point memorandum of the gross shortcomings in refereeing matters, some serious enough to warrant a formal inquiry. But Lim appears not to have taken any serious action.
A critical talking point was when the FAS Head of Department (HOD) allegedly appointed himself for a Toyota-Mekong Cup final match in Bangkok when four Singapore FIFA referees were set to do the FAT-organised international tournament, sanctioned by the AFC. Even the Match Commissioner was strangely from Singapore, which an AFC senior official noted, would probably be a “unique world record of sorts” with the referees, referee assessor and match commissioner from the same country!
“This clearly smacks of a shoddy high-end management at the FAS where in any internationally-sanctioned tournament, the referees and other officials cannot come from the same country on grounds of neutrality,” says the senior AFC official.
“It’s ethically and morally wrong but FAS strangely advocates it in a rather reckless manner. It shows there’re mavericks who run the organisational show with little adherence to Standard Operation procedures (SOPs).”
Ironically, despite this matter being brought to FAS General Secretary, no formal investigation was reportedly done and/or action taken against errant personality on a matter of grave regional importance.
LACK OF GOVERNANCE
Says a well-informed referee official: “This is the long-standing sorry state of refereeing where, despite being the ‘law-and-order’ authority of Singapore football, too much of internal cover-ups are done. There is clearly a prolonged lack of governance.
“This has led to accusations of favouritism in appointments, for referees and officials, changes in S-League assessment marks and a lackasaidal way of overall management because of the ‘ownself check ownself’ policy.”
I’ve been involved in refereeing for over four decades from the era of Asia’s first World Cup Finals referee (the late) George Suppiah in the mid-1970s. Only during the previous management era of lawyer Jeffrey Beh has there been an attempt to change its approach to a fair, honest style of referee management.
In my view, engagement must the new buzzword and even the government has repeatedly promised to listen more closely to the public. Does the FASRC and FASRD really follow the heartbeat of the men-in-black at the grassroots?
I seriously wonder what 71-year-old Teo Hock Seng is going to do for referees as the newly-minted FASRC Deputy Chairman. He has a funny reputation of referee-bashing during his hey days as Chairman of five-times S-League champions Tampines Rovers. And now he’s trying to molly-coddel the football judges?
TECHNICAL DEPARTMENT
Even in the Technical Department, there have been cries of cover-ups and some inconsistent appointments. Technical Director Michel Sablon has been gritting his teeth to tolerate the shaking-of-the-legs philosophy, wherein he finds it tough to fully implement his longer-term grassroots policies.
It’s time for the football cards to be unveiled as the 100-days of Lim Kia Tong’s rule comes to a countdown, just around the National Day weekend.
No more a “silence is golden” mantra. The football fraternity is demanding to see the FAS report-book of what it has done over 15 weeks, or 100 days.
This is the key point. It’s not that a new President’s hundred days will either doom him to failure or guarantee his success. It’s that transitions are times when momentum builds or it doesn’t, when opinion about the new leader begin to crystallise.
It’s a time when feedback loops – virtuous cycles or vicious ones – get established. Significant missteps feed downward spirals that can be hard to arrest.
My advice to the FAS President: It’s far better for Lim Kia Tong to get early wins that build personal credibility and political capital, rather than dig themselves into holes and have to clamber back out.
And yes, please stop the “ownself-check-ownself” philosophy where the lack of checks and balances appear to be bringing down the behind-the-scenes drawing boards.
- Suresh Nair is a Singapore-based journalist, who is also a qualified referee, referee instructor and coach for over three decades
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the writer/contributor and does in any way reflect that of the editorial or the management of www.sports247.my
