a last hurrah

it laid in my wardrobe for the last ten years. the last time i wore it was in late 1994 when singapore beat pahang 1-0 at the national stadium enroute to their malaysia cup triumph that year. i didn't even wear it to the stadium. i only changed into my bright-red singapore die-hard fan club tee shirt only when i got to my seat. i was surprised i fitted nicely into it only now. it used to hang on me like some cloth over a scare-crow when i was twelve.

and yes. the familiar sight of a full-capacity crowd was exhililarating. the repeated rounds the kallang roar/wave went. and the sea of pure red madness. the chants of ole-ole-ole. the curses and shouts of kayu that proceeded after the horning of the air horns.

i was at the most vintage point of the stadium. seated right beside the main television cameras at the grandstand upper tier gallery, i had a shelter over my head, free flow of tiger beer and a half time dinner buffet. it was really the MOST privileged soccer match i ever attended. the view i got from up there was like what i would get on the television, except that this time i was there live -- again, after 10 long years.

the only downside to it all is that it lacked the atmosphere i was familiar with in the east entrance gallery. the wooden benches. the cigarette-smoke infested toilets during half time. the humidity. the squueze. but more crucially, the passion. the sheer noise.

it was too quiet where i was last time. i remember the grandstand crowds right in the front was where the singapore version of the ultras were usually seated. and together with the ones usually seated in the front on the east, were the most vocal crowds. yet yesterday, perhaps out of action for far too long, they resembled more like the prawn-sandwich eating people roy keane described a few years ago.

but it was all well and good. arguably the last full-house at national stadium u will ever get to see and experience. and for once, i get to be on the other side of the stadium stands.

singapore won the tiger cup for the second time. it almost didn't matter really. i was just glad to be at a passionate national stadium not on a national day parade kind of event. it felt really good.

one last hurrah before the old lady of singapore soccer comes tumbling down before a new world-class sports complex in the mould of the bukit jalil one in selangor or the the one built for any olympics except that it is probably going to be on a smaller scale. they call it the sports hub at kallang.

and just for the record, singapore beat indonesia 2-1 and 5-2 on aggregate to lift the tiger cup. and lionel lewis was the mvp of the tournament. and fandi ahmad was assistant coach to the first good coach singapore had in years -- raddy avramovic.