Three criteria on whether FAS should rename itself the Failed Association of S'pore

Can Singapore football be saved?

Michael Y.P. Ang| March 11, 03:56 PM

Is the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) a failed organisation?

Singapore football is not flourishing. And we are recently reminded of the sorry state of the S-Leaguewith last Friday's clash of the players’ jersey colours with the referee's.

While some might argue that it is harsh to call FAS a failed organisation, FAS is certainly not meeting Singaporeans' expectations of footballing success.

FAS' under-performance is surprising, considering the fact that it's supervised by a parliamentarian. MP Zainudin Nordin was a former Mayor who had the experience of running a large organisation such as the Community Development Council.

But simply relying on a ruling party politician's leadership doesn't guarantee footballing success.

Let's grade the FAS based on three key criteria and assess whether they have done well. 

1. FAS' primary purpose: Promoting and developing football at every level, while enhancing inclusiveness and openness

Football_jersey Source

At least 70% of Singaporeans are turned off by the idea of playing football full-time because they see no real future in it. With the majority disinterested, one could even argue that Singapore football is socially exclusive.

While the FAS claims that "youth is the heartbeat of football", Sport Singapore's Football Task Force has discovered that 47% of pupils want to play football but only 5.9% actually do.

Although the FAS is working hard to rectify this massive problem, one wonders whether it would be doing so if it weren't seeking to stage the 2019 or 2021 Under-17 World Cup.

In 2010, football fans called on the FAS to reveal the identities of five national players who broke curfew to play cards, while representing Singapore at the AFF Suzuki Cup in Vietnam. The Lions crashed out in the first round, and fans wanted the ill-disciplined quintet to apologise to the public.

But FAS president Zainudin ignored the public's request, even calling it a witch hunt.

Grade: Mediocre. Football Task Force was formed in 2013 to improve the standard of Singapore football but we had not seen any tangible results yet. 

2. FAS Strategic Plan: Establish Singapore as an Asian top-10 footballing nation by 2015

FAS Source

The FAS Strategic Plan, launched in April 2010, is an impressive blueprint for football development. But crafting a plan isn't enough. Equally important is how one executes the plan.

It's highly unlikely the Lions will become an Asian top-10 team by year-end. But failing to meet this main goal is not really unacceptable. What's unacceptable is how the FAS responds to its failure to meet a secondary target.

After Singapore lost all its six Round Three qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup, thus failing to meet the FAS Strategic Plan's secondary target of Round Four, Zainudin didn't even acknowledge this. Instead, he said "the national team met our target of reaching the third round of the qualifiers".

Is this how the FAS executes its strategic plan — quietly lower a target when there's failure to achieve the original goal?

Grade: FAIL. FAS should not shift its goal-posts when its objectives are not achieved.

3. Management decisions

Remember Johan Gouttefangeas?

Johan Gouttefangeas Source

In January 2012, the FAS hired Gouttefangeas as S-League Deputy CEO to help the struggling league operate better as a business enterprise, only to find out days later that the Frenchman used to run two failed businesses in France. Gouttefangeas quickly stepped down.

Two other management decisions, one in late 2012 and the other in late 2014, resulted in quick flip-flops by the S-League management.

So much for the FAS' mission of "leading innovative development of competitive and recreational football in Singapore".

Grade: FAIL. The FAS President needs to deepen the talent pool of its senior management. It has to attract more non-politicians and non-civil servants to its senior management pool. 

Fortunately, it's not game over, as long as the FAS realises that not all radical changes are unfeasible.

Return tomorrow for details on how the FAS could help the Lions play in a high-level foreign league.

Top photo from FAS  Facebook page.

Michael Y.P. Ang is a Singaporean freelance journalist. He worked at the former Singapore Sports Council before covering local and international sports for Channel NewsAsia for several years. Follow his Facebook page Michael Ang Sports for commentaries on sports issues that matter to Singaporeans.