Zainudin in the hot seat

New chief aims to get fans ‘connected’ to local football

 

Shamir Osman 

shamir@mediacorp.com.sg 

 

ZAINUDIN Nordin’s reign as president of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) will inevitably be judged on the performance of the national team, but he also hopes he will be treated fairly.

Speaking after Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee handed the baton over at the FAS AGM yesterday at Jalan Besar Stadium, Zainudin said: “If you see our players giving their best and fighting against the ‘big boys’, you must also be fair,” he said.

“We will have our own objective and goals and you should measure us based on what we have envisioned for the future.”

Passion was the word of the day at FAS headquarters yesterday. New football chief Zainudin, the Mayor of Central District Singapore, paid tribute to the passion and commitment of out-going president Ho.

Under Ho, the Senior Minister of State for Law & Home Affairs, Singapore football experienced several firsts, including the Lions winning back-to-back Asean titles and earning a spot in the third round of the Asian Zone World Cup qualifying campaign.

“Prof (Ho) has shown wonderful leadership and has achieved a lot,” said Zainudin. “I would like to do what he has done.”

The new chief will reveal his concrete plans for Singapore football soon, but one of his aims will be to bridge the disconnect that fans and local football seem to have suffered over recent years, with so many fixated on just the English Premier ship.

“I really want to bring back the football culture and football philosophy in Singapore,” he said. “During the Malaysia Cup days fans knew the names of all the national players, like Kim Song, Dollah Kassim and Mat Noh and I want that to return ...

“We need to have systems in place to improve the quality of football and to improve the selling of the football, then we can tell fans: ‘Come to our stadium and see that the atmosphere is as good if not better, and we’re offering you a live football match experience here with the atmosphere and the excitement’.

“That’s where we’re going.”