The Electric New Paper :
Local coach ask : Why no players from poly, ITE
WHACKED: Our boys' scores at Asian Schools U-18 Soccer Championships 0-4, 0-7, 1-4
By Santokh Singh
01 September 2006
EVEN before this team left for the tournament, questions were being raised.
Was Singapore represented by the best school players? Were the selection criteria fair to all students?
Why were the ITE and polytechnic players not considered? What is the point of having National Under-18 and Under-17 teams if those players are not given a chance?
The tournament was the Asian Schools U-18 football championships in Vietnam from 8 to 18 Aug.
The team in the spotlight: Singapore Schools Under-18 squad.
SCHOOLS & JCs ONLY
The Ministry of Education (MOE) confirmed that it was made up of students from secondary schools and junior colleges only.
The team lost all its matches, scoring just one goal.
It went down 0-4 and 0-7 to China and Indonesia and then crashed 1-4 to minnow, Sri Lanka.
Singapore finished bottom of the weaker group as both China and Indonesia lost their semi-finals.
The only way ITE and poly students could have been in the team was to get 'invited' by the team coaches.
In the end, only one ITE player travelled with the team as an 'invited guest-player'.
Some local coaches said they were not pleased with the 'by invitation only' guideline for ITE and poly players.
These coaches, ranging from school teachers to national age-group coaches, felt the team should have been made up of the best players in the educational institutions here as long as they met the age requirement.
Said Mr Jeya Menon, a former football teacher-in-charge: 'If the other countries are fielding their best players from their polys, high schools, technical institutions, then why didn't we?
'Are these not educational institutions in Singapore?'
'It does not do Singapore football any good to get whacked at these tournaments.'
The annual tournament, which began in 1970, was eventually won by Vietnam.
Would the team have done better if the selection was opened to the best players under the umbrella of the MOE?
'Certainly,' replied an age-group football coach here.
HAMMERED
Added another: 'We knew that we were going to get hammered if we did not send the best players, but did we do anything about it? No.'
'For token representation, they invited one ITE player. Why that particular player? No one knows.'
Some players also disagreed with the selection policy.
Daniel Ong, a member of the national U-17 squad which was also in Vietnam, felt that the U-18 team would have done better with the right players.
The Siglap Secondary School custodian said: 'I think that some of the teams brought their national age-group squads, so why not us?'
'Singapore should have the best squad. I don't think we had the best players in Vietnam.'
But Football Association of Singapore technical director PN Sivaji appreciated the Singapore Schools Sports Council's position.
He said: 'It is not a national age-group tournament. It is a schools competition, so we respect their decision.'
'It was a decision made last year and we had Tay Peng Kee, our national U-17 coach then, going with the team as adviser.
'This year, they did not request for any assistance.'
Prior to that, the Singapore Schools teams revolved around the national age-group squads for both the U-18 and U-15 tournaments.
And the U-18 team performed creditably, even making the semi-finals in 2002.
Singapore finished third that year with ITE player Shahril Ishak scoring the golden goal to beat China 3-2.
That 2002 squad of 18 players had only two players from the schools, with 12 coming from the ITEs, one from a vocational institute and three players from the polys.
Twelve players in that squad were also with the national U-18 team then.
The coaches of the present team could not be contacted for their comments.
Copyright © 2005 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Co. Regn. No. 198402868E. All rights reserved.
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