A brilliant view of Singapore Football

On Friday, Brunei DPMM FC took back with them the League Cup trophy and in doing so become the first foreign side to take home a piece of domestic silverware since the foundation of the S.League in 1996.

And just like the winners, the 2009 League Cup competition itself has also broken into a whole new world for the S.League with the first ever ‘Live’ airing of its matches on cable television. The whirlwind 19-day tournament had 13 of its 20 matches shown ‘Live’ on StarHub’s Football Channel and the broadcast of the matches produced by World Sport Group have given Singaporeans a brilliant view to its local football and have impressed many.

"My friends and I actually seldom watch local football but the recent League Cup on the Football Channel caught our attention,” said Polytechnic student Koh Weihuang.

“We first saw the SAFFC-Albirex game on TV and it was actually quite good. So we made it a point to be home to catch some of the other matches. I must say the action in the knockout stages were definitely better and comparable to a lot of matches in the EPL,” Koh added.

The Football Channel has been the source for Singaporeans to get their regular dose of English and European Football, but the telecast of the League Cup on the channel has not only won the S.League some new fans, but also quite a few converts from the EPL who have packed the pubs to catch some of the recent action.

"I am used to watching EPL, but based on what I’ve seen the standard of football in Singapore is certainly something I feel is worth catching live at a stadium", said Carlos del Castillo, who was watching the Final at Bobby’s at Chijmes.
The League Cup production also included a half time segment hosted by P J Roberts which profiled the teams in the competition. One of the many who enjoyed the features was Mervyn Lai, who has worked in the sports TV production industry for over a decade.

“The fact that there was a half-time show was a big plus and the features were well done and gave viewers an insight to the players’ lives,” said Lai.

Even some players were overheard raving about the standard of the coverage of the League Cup tournament and local commentator Shehzad Haque, “The replay angles in during this tournament really showed everything and commentator was really good. He really knew what he was talking about and gave really good insights on the players,” said SAFFC wing-back Shaiful Esah.

The success of the television coverage has also spilled over to the stadiums with the League Cup Final almost packing in more than 5,300 fans at the Jalan Besar Stadium.

“I have been following the matches on television and I knew DPMM and SAF would give a good game, so I thought I come and be part of the atmosphere at the stadium,” said Navy regular Ronnie Lim, who sat with the SAFFC fans during the finals.

The League Cup production has been quite a success for the S.League and when asked if there were future plans for such collaborations, they would only reveal that they have been in talks and would only reveal more at a later date.