Two of the three Fandi brothers in the final list of 28 players in Tatsuma Yoshida’s squad – Irfan Fandi and Ikhsan Fandi – have posted Instagram Stories after Lions fan group SingaBrigade announced their unhappiness over the price of tickets and also the ban on drums for the upcoming AFF Suzuki Cup 2020.
SingaBrigade, made up of hardcore fans of the Singapore national football team, said that they will not be attending the matches as a group, but had stopped short of using the word boycott in an announcement on 27 November.
The group usually congregates at venues whenever the Lions face off against opponents in matches held in Singapore armed with drums, flags and loud voices.
Ikhsan shared a story with two facepalm emojis while his elder brother Irfan posted that he was “disappointed but not surprised”.
SingaBrigade’s act has also trickled down to at least one other fan group.
In response to the decision taken by SingaBrigade, a fan group affiliated with the Lion City Sailors have also supported the decision, and have announced that they too will not “be coming down for the upcoming AFF Suzuki Cup.”
“LCS Family respect (sic) Singa brigade’s decision and agree with what they said,” said the group in an Insta Story as well.
They also sarcastically thanked the Football Association of Singapore.
The SingaBrigade fans are usually given their due respect by the Lions at the end of every match.
A few members of the group were also featured in a video with local podcast entertainers OKLETSGO earlier in July this year.
Click on the image to watch the video.
FANS ARE DIVIDED
TMSG readers are divided over SingaBrigade’s decision but many agreed that the no drums rule was somewhat misplaced, since this was a football match where fans would be expected to cheer and cheer the Lions on.
The $25 adult ticket prices elicited a fair level of contrarian comments.
Separately, Lions defender Madhu Mohana tweeted that it was important to get fans to the stadium and “it’s not about making money now.”
Main Photo: SingaBrigade, FAS, ESPN
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