For years, we have been held ransom by this sport which consists of 11 men in one team trying to score goals to win matches.

Or to put it in a Singaporean context - 11 men who are part of an association more interested in politics than scoring goals or winning matches.

No wonder the Young Lions crashed out of the SEA Games looking more like mice - losing 1-0  to Indonesia on June 11.

It was a match with 4,237 hopeful long balls and no heart to show for.

Here are 8 sports with the never-say-die spirit that we can all root for.

1. Women's Volleyball 

Those tears of joy? They earned it. The girls roared back from a 2-0 deficit to beat Myanmar 3-2 on June 13 to book a spot in the semi final. They didn't beat Vietnam in the semi but their fighting spirit was legendary.

2. Men's Hockey 

The boys lost 1-4 in the opening match against Malaysia and were feeling an acute sense of deja vu when Malaysia raced to a 2-0 lead within 45 minutes in the final.

Buoyed by a partisan crowd, Singapore roared back and equalised in the last minute. Although they eventually lost the penalty shootout, they won plenty of fans for their attitude.

3. Men's Silat

Badly cut foot? Fighting against the world champion? No problem for Silat exponent Muhammad Nur Alfian Juma’en. He fought gallantly against Vietnam’s Tran Dinh Nam in the tanding Class F (70-75kg) final on June 14 and brought home the 80th gold for Team Singapore.

4. Men's Boxing

For Mohamed Hanurdeen Hamid, it's not the size of his swollen eye but the size of the fight in him. Throughout his final Flyweight bout on June 10 against Filipino Ian Clark Bautista, he had a golf ball for an eye - an injury he picked up in the semi. Yes, he lost. No, he did not give up even though he was clearly in pain.

5. Men's Basketball

They couldn't make it to the final. But so what? They gave their all in what some people would say - a meaningless match - to take the bronze medal against Thailand on June 15 despite trailing the Thais for most parts of the game.

And who can forget this shot by captain Desmond Oh in an earlier game?

6. Women's Floorball

Granted there were only three teams in the competition but the girls still had to slug it out for the gold against Thailand on June 14. The match ended 3-3 but goalkeeper Fariza Begum pulled off two outstanding saves for the ages during the penalty shootout and won us the shiny medal.

7. Netball 

They had waited 14 years to avenge their lost against Malaysia in the SEA Games 2001 netball final and they did it in style and with a strong team spirit to boot.

Made up of mainly part timers, the girls stormed their way to the gold medal with an aggressive defence and accurate offence, hitting their peak against rivals Malaysia in the final.

8. Men's Squash

Despite being a forgotten sport for Singapore, our squash players - Vivian Rhamanan and Marcus Phua - defeated Indonesia on June 15 to win the first men's jumbo doubles gold medal since 1995.

Vivian later said: "We hope with this gold medal, we can revive the interest back in Singapore."

It didn't matter if the final was played out at the Tanglin Centre with a "pretty small capacity" - as described by Vivian. They were more interested in supporting each other and playing as a team.

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8 reasons why S’poreans should get behind the netball team

This is what it means to win a SEA Games gold for S’pore against all odds

Top photo by Action Images via Reuters.