In a Workers’ Party town hall held over the weekend on Saturday, 25th March, WP Member of Parliament Jamus Lim shared on behalf of Muhammad Faisal, Vice-Chairman of the Workers’ Party, that a former national football player is advocating for more involvement of former players in creating and spearheading programmes for the local football scene.
“If you were my age, you’d recall there was a time when there was a golden age of Singapore football where there was a kallang wave, and all of us were really excited,” Mr Lim shared with those who attended the town hall.
He believes that Singapore football, unfortunately, has not lived up to that past standard, although it has the potential to.
“The WP position is that there is a role in society for endeavours that go beyond the academics,” he shared.
“We have gotten very accustomed to how the only route to a good middle-class life is essentially through academic success, and the reality is, if you look at the rest of the world, that’s not often the case,” he explained.
“Societies in other parts of the world have made conscious decisions to endue these individuals that have been endowed more with alternative set of skills with remuneration, and that is partially what informs some of the issues that we have in this room in a desire to see a greater balance just so that we can ultimately find a role in Singapore’s society and economy for people that differ from that traditional mould of ‘good in studies’.”
Mr Faisal, who was not present at the town hall, believes that a dialogue session is needed among all stakeholders and that Singapore needs to focus on developing its local players, coaches, and clubs. He also proposed that the Football Association of Singapore should organise a national discourse on football in Singapore.
Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong announced the launch of FAS’ new project, called “Unleash the Roar,” in Parliament on March 8, which aims to grow local football with the goal of Singapore’s national team to qualify for the 2034 FIFA World Cup.
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