Post-Election field issues cause concern

Source

Tam Cheong Yan
info@sleague.com

Election fever may be over, but it appears things are not back to normal in the S.League just yet.

Nine S.League stadiums were among 41 sites used for campaigning purposes during the General Election 2011, while Hougang Stadium was among the venues for supporters of various political parties to gather on Polling Day to wait for the election results.

It was earlier reported that these ten stadiums, together with Queenstown Stadium – which was eventually not used – had been closed to all bookings for sports activities until Polling Day on 7 May, according to media releases published by the Singapore Sports Council.

However, sleague.com now understands that clubs will only be able to regain normal use of their home grounds, particularly the fields, as late as 14 May, one full week longer than was officially stated.

As a consequence, four S.League matches in the coming week have been moved to Jalan Besar Stadium, which was the only facility seeing S.League action since 28 April.

This includes the Courts Young Lions’ meeting with Geylang United on Monday, which was originally to be played at Bedok Stadium but was eventually relocated in a fixture swap.

While the decision to move all games to Jalan Besar may cause some inconvenience for fans, clubs have been more concerned with the effects the stadium closures have had on their training schedules.

Home United are one such example. Unable to use their base at Bishan Stadium, the Protectors have found themselves training next to recreational players or meeting at little-used venues that have fallen to a poor state of repair.

“Getting a field has been a major concern for us,” confided Home assistant coach S. Subramani.

“It’s not easy to get a field to train, in fact it has been difficult for the past two weeks. We could hardly get any stadiums, and there is a lot of competition in terms of booking public fields.

“Because of that, we have had to change our training times, and it has been very inconvenient for our players. There was this time when we trained in the morning at the Kallang Practice Track, and the condition of the pitch there was terrible, not at all ideal for football training.

“We were fortunate to be able to make bookings sometimes at places like the Premier Pitch facilities at Balestier. But otherwise we have had to make many adjustments.”

Some other clubs have been more fortunate than Home. Gombak United, for example, are known to occasionally go to Turf City off Bukit Timah Road, where there is another artificial pitch facility, while Tampines Rovers sometimes train at Temasek Polytechnic.

A few clubs have even been given the option to train at their regular home grounds in the mornings, although for bottom side Tanjong Pagar United, this solution was less than ideal.

“The SSC was actually willing to assist us by giving us a training field before 3pm,” explained Jaguars general manager Francis Lee.

“But I can only say that we could not take advantage of this. This is because many of our players are polytechnic students who have classes in the daytime, and so we could not train together as a whole squad.

“For us, though, it should make no difference. We are a team of professional footballers, so whether we train or play at Clementi or Jalan Besar, it should all be the same to us.

“But I don’t think I can say the same for every other club, because every club faces different implications as a result of this. Still, if people say they cannot train because of this and that, I think that’s just an excuse.”

That ‘excuse’ is expected to disappear for all clubs by 15 May, when Tampines host Albirex Niigata (Singapore) at their regular home ground in Tampines Central in what will be the first post-election S.League clash not to take place at Jalan Besar.

With both teams showing a penchant for passing football based on ground play, the match will be a good indicator of whether the Tampines Stadium field has faced damage during the General Election period.

The same concern also applies to all other stadiums, and it remains to be seen whether any of them will need to be closed beyond the one-week period from the end of the General Election.

It is something the FAS Competitions Division, as organisers of the S.League, will be keen to avoid, and while no precise answers regarding pitch maintenance was forthcoming, they appear confident that there will be no need for further postponements.

“The usage of some of the stadiums for the General Election 2011 meant that we had to move a number of games from their original venues,” said an FAS spokesman responding to queries from sleague.com.

“Now that the General Election is over, maintenance will be carried out on the various pitches, and S.League matches will resume at the stadiums starting from next week.”

Should that indeed hold true, things will swiftly move back to normal for all teams ahead of a hectic June period that will see the RHB Singapore Cup kick off before the S.League season approaches the halfway mark.

All clubs would therefore be crossing their fingers over the state of the fields, many of which had been trampled upon by thousands of feet belonging to people who had attended the numerous events held throughout the election campaign.

Lee for one was quick to state his belief that Tanjong Pagar’s home ground at Clementi, which was used for election rallies for West Coast GRC, will be good enough to pass the pitch inspection before their home fixture against Tampines at the end of the month.

“I saw the way the stage had been put up at the stadium,” he noted.

“I think the relevant people were quite cautious about it, because they did not put the stage over the grass area, which would have killed the field. The only thing I noticed was that the barricades were moved, and that’s our only concern.

“As for the participants at the gatherings stepping on the field, I think it’s like footballers stepping on it, so I see no difference. I took a few photos of the ground after the rallies, and I didn’t see much damage.”

For Home’s Subramani, though, there was more cause for concern, after Bishan Stadium had hosted several well-attended rallies by both the People’s Action Party and the Singapore People’s Party, who were contesting for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC.

“I haven’t really seen the pitch, but I hope there is not much damage,” said the 38-year-old.

“The pitch was already not in an ideal situation when the authorities took over the stadium. Hopefully, after the Elections, the pitch was not further damaged.

“I was told beforehand that if there was indeed any further damage, then they will take some time to repair that damage before handing the field over to us. If that’s the case, it will cause further difficulties for us to deal with.”