OPINION BY JOSE RAYMOND
That Singapore’s former chairman of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) N Ganesan has not been posthumously inducted into the Sport Hall of Fame which is administered by Singapore’s National sports agency Sport Singapore is regrettable and disappointing.
A lawyer, Ganesan led the Football Association of Singapore from 1974 to 1981.
This was the man who was responsible for creating the Kallang Roar, when he took the decision to move Singapore’s Malaysia Cup home games from the 6,000-capacity Jalan Besar Stadium to the National Stadium – creating a 60,000-strong cauldron of noise.
This was the man who taught Singapore and Singaporeans how to turn up at the National Stadium for matches when the Lions were involved, like it was religion.
This man was a trailblazer, a risk taker who against popular belief, had the instinctive resolve to make the National Stadium Singapore’s football home, such that even a movie was made about the now revered Kallang Roar.
This was the man who taught us how to think of the National Sports Association like it was a business.
In addition to the birth of the Kallang Roar, he saw the need for youth development and started the Lion City Cup way back in 1977, a tournament in which a young 16-year-old Fandi Ahmad started his football journey.
The Lion City Cup also drew the attention of FIFA with FIFA’s Sepp Blatter visiting Singapore in 1981 and asking the FAS for a technical report on the organisation of the Lion City Cup. (3)
Inspired by the Lion City Cup, FIFA went on to start the U16 World Championship in 1985, which is the modern-day FIFA U17 World Cup.
Under his reign, Singapore footballers like Quah Kim Song, S. Rajagopal, Mohammed Noh, Dollah Kassim, Samad Allapitchay, Edmund Wee and others became football superstars – loved by an entire nation.
Ganesan aside, there have been so many other sports administrators who were trailblazers and Singapore sports administration icons.
There is a reason why hockey’s Annabel Pennefather is already in the Singapore Women’s Hall of Fame for mostly what she achieved in the field of sports in Singapore.
That she is not in the Sport Hall of Fame now that there is a category for leaders is indeed ironic.
And what about Ivy Singh-Lim, the former president of Netball Singapore who like Ganesan, helped reshape the sport of netball in the 90s and 2000s while she was President, including helping to raise money so the sport of netball could have its own home in Kallang.
How about SS Dhillon and Lau Teng Chuan, who were both responsible for leading the Singapore National Olympic Council, helping to push the Singapore sports cause.
THE QUESTION OF ELIGIBILITY
One of the eligibility criteria set was that nominations received posthumously will not be considered.
The question is why not?
Especially since creating the Sports Leaders category was new.
Among the criteria was that the individual should have displayed extraordinary contributions of that person’s sport or to sport generally, over a significant period of time and they had to be initiators, game changers, innovators whose work has been adopted widely, sports developers or achievers at the highest levels of office or appointment available.
Shouldn’t Sport Singapore have done the research, engage the community and induct those who have helped shape Singapore sports post-independence, even though they are not with us anymore?
What is the message Sport Singapore trying to send? That only those living have contributed to sports in Singapore?
That the people who helped build Singapore sports will not be remembered or have their legacies installed?
Then we should also do the same for Singapore’s pioneer leaders who helped build this country. Let’’s stop referring to them every time we look back at how far we have come.
The administration of the Sport of Fame is in need of a rethink and needs to be led by an independent body.
MAIN PHOTO: STRAITS TIMES