Why does English footballer Perry Ng want to play for Singapore?

Ng, 28, whose family stays in Liverpool in the UK, currently plays as a defender for Championship club Cardiff City in Wales, but has openly expressed his dream to represent Singapore on several occasions.

He bears a familial connection to Singapore as his paternal grandfather, James Ng, was born here before settling in Liverpool.

Recently, Ng was invited by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) to come for a familiarisation stint with the men’s national team.

During his time here, Mothership spoke with Ng about his Singapore roots and what motivates him to represent our little red dot in international football.

Inspired by his grandfather

We met Ng after a training session, at Block 511 Bedok North Street 3 Market and Food Centre, where his grandaunt has run the 福兴记 (Original Fried Hokkien Mee) stall since 1978.

His relatives took up three full tables around him, as Ng, clad in a T-shirt and shorts, tucked into a meal of hokkien mee and satay.

When asked to share one interesting fact about himself, Ng said,

"If I was asked this in the UK, I'd tell people, 'I'm Singaporean'. People always guess that I've got some [mixed heritage]."

His late grandfather James moved to Liverpool out of a love for the Beatles, Ng said.

There, he ended up finding a second love — Ng's grandmother.

"He ended up staying there and opened a business manufacturing Chinese food, which my father still runs today," Ng shared.

James was also the one who got Ng interested in football, bringing him to matches at Liverpool Football Club when he was young.

Ng's favourite footballer is Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard. No surprises here.

He also previously attended tryouts for the Liverpool academy, when he was around five years old.

However, he opted for local club Crewe Alexandra and stayed in its youth system for 10 years prior to his professional debut in 2015.

Oddly enough, Ng says he never really had an ambition to play for the England national team.

"When I was younger, perhaps. But the more I got older, not really. I think people from Liverpool are a bit different than the rest of the UK. So we keep to ourselves, and we always say we're Scouse, not English. It's been more of a target of mine to play for Liverpool," Ng admitted.

But it was around 12 years ago, when James passed away, that then-teenager Ng started seriously thinking about playing for the Singapore national team.

"I always felt like I needed to honour my grandfather and make him proud, and he never got to see me play professional football."

Wants to represent family in Singapore

Another motivation for Ng is to be able to represent his family who are still in Singapore.

While James moved to Liverpool, most of his family remained here. In fact, around 20 of Ng's relatives, aunties, uncles, and cousins alike, still live in Bedok.

So it's a tradition to drop by the stall run by his grandaunt (James's sister) for a meal when he's back.

Ng says that he's visited Singapore a few times in his childhood, and every year for the past five to six years, during his off-season.

He shared that it's a common practice of his to see his family in Singapore before going on holiday around Asia, and fondly recalls a Sentosa trip last year with one of his younger cousins.

Whenever he visits Singapore, Ng also makes it a point to visit the temple where James's ashes are interred, to pay his respects.

"So I always feel like me playing for Singapore would mean a lot to me, because of my grandfather and all my family here today have never seen me play football live, so I think it'd be amazing to for them to come along and watch me," Ng said.

'Now at a good level where I can push myself'

So why make a move to try to represent Singapore now, and not 12 years ago?

Ng replied that he feels his club career is at a point now where he's able to manage those responsibilities.

"Now I'm at a good level where I feel like I can really push myself, and I feel like I'm in the peak of my capabilities, and I can cope with the demands of international football. So I think now's the right time to do it, and I think it really fits into my career."

Ng, who made his professional debut at Crewe Alexandra in the fourth-tier of English football in 2015, joined Championship club Cardiff City in January 2021.

He currently plays as centre-back or full-back for Cardiff City, where his current contract runs till 2026.

Ng has also been named Cardiff's player of the year for two years running.

Football-crazy since young: Mother

Lisa, Ng's mother, recalled that when football-crazy Ng was young, he would ask for football jerseys and footballs as gifts, and beg his father, Perry Sr., to bring him to watch football games.

Neither of Ng's parents are football fans.

Yet she and Perry Sr. would drive Ng to training after school — packing a quick meal for him to eat in the car — and attend all his games over the weekends.

Ng now stays by himself in an apartment in Cardiff, but his parents still make it a point to catch all his games, driving about three hours from Liverpool to Cardiff each time.

Perry Sr. said that the process of helping Ng realise his dream of playing for Singapore started about six to seven years ago, when his football agent in the UK contacted the FAS.

Noting that Ng has wanted to play for Singapore for a long time, Perry Sr. remarked, "You always support your children, right?"

However, Ng's journey has been delayed by citizenship and passport issues.

Perry Sr. said that they have been in discussions with FAS president Bernard Tan to help expedite the process of getting Ng naturalised as a footballer.

Ng said he's currently applying for permanent residency in Singapore, and is in the process of "doing the right things, sending off documents and speaking to lawyers".

Ng's family — and especially those in Singapore — are eagerly awaiting the day they can watch him walk out at the National Stadium as a member of the Singapore national team.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world. I think I might cry a little," Lisa added.

Related:

@mothershipsg According to FAS, Perry is eligible to play for the Lions through his late paternal grandfather, who was born in Singapore. If successful, he will be the first heritage athlete to gain Singaporean citizenship. #tiktoksg #singapore #football ♬ original sound - Mothership

Top image by Perry Ng's Instagram / Mothership / courtesy of Ng