The S-League is a league with a point to prove. Every time we tell ourselves, let’s move on, maybe they will learn from their mistakes, maybe they will prove us wrong and eventually come good, the S-League decides it can do worse.

It seems to be on a mission to reach the Mariana Trench.

To be honest, I was rather excited about the game between Home United and Hougang United last Friday night. After all, both teams had exciting new players to look out for this season – Home United had Ken Ilso, who played in the German Bundesliga against Bayern Munich and its pantheon of superstars like Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery; Hougang had Japanese teen Yuki Uchiyama, capped at U-19 level for Japan and Chupe who played for Spanish titan Real Madrid’s second and third team.

Credit to the players, they did their best to put up a good show, but the game was overshadowed by the farce of the referees’ black kit clashing with Home United’s dark blue kit which led to the ridiculous sight of Home United’s players passing the ball to the referee on a few occasions.

Let's play spot the referee.

Requests were made for the referees to change to their alternate kits but those were in orange which clashed with Hougang’s orange kit.

What happened in the end? The officials had to wear green top with the number 20 on the back.

What.

The.

Stahp.

The best thing? The match was shown "live". Just imagine the viewer's confusion.

Oh, by the way, the score was tied at 1-1.

Although our national league is no stranger to controversy recently (read here, here and here), this wardrobe malfunction takes the cake.

We could perhaps forgive this as a really unfortunate occurrence or permutation of jersey colours - Hougang’s alternate kit is dark blue as well, well Home’s alternate kit is red which would have clashed with Hougang’s orange - but according to The Straits Times, team colours are confirmed at least a day before a game. It is up to match officials to choose a kit - they typically have up to four variations - that best distinguishes themselves from the players.

To make things worse, The Straits Times learnt from a senior referee that the league has issued only black and orange tops to the referees, with a third option due to arrive in two weeks.

This is just the latest episode in a long running comedy, and calls into question the competence of the people running the league.

I am sure I speak for many other fans when I say “enough”. Singapore with all our reputation for excellence can no longer tolerate the jokers running the league.

Responding to The Straits Times, an S.League spokesman apologised for a “one-off incident” .

Haha.

Related article:

What if S’pore scraps the S-League?

Top photo from Youtube screenshot.

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