A FOOTBALL DREAM

A little story about my football dream (by Reynold Pereira)

A recent trip back to Singapore, I was given a couple of plastic bags full of stuff by my sister. She had done some spring cleaning in the storeroom of our family home in Bedok South. These were stuff that I had hoarded over the years. 

Going through the stuff was almost like entering into a time machine and going back in time. Each little item seemed to evoke a certain memory from the past though I have to confess that there were some items which I had no recollection at all!

 Part of my football ticket collection

Among the items which I obtained were some match tickets from football matches that I had attended almost thirty five years ago. Sad to say I had no recollection of any of these matches but suddenly that sensation of this little boy who dreamt of one day being able to play in a major team in Singapore or even representing  Singapore one day, overwhelmed me.

 Cover of Soccer Annual 1977

It was a dream I had ever since I saw the likes of Quah Kim Song, Dollah Kassim and Mohd Noh mesmerising the throngs of people who used to flock to the Kallang Stadium (also known as the National Stadium) in the mid-70’s.

Many hours were spent playing football with my neighbours in Kembangan and acting out the moves of our heroes. Dollah Kassim, with his ‘gelek’ style was always one of the favourite players that we liked to mimic. There were also the players that we saw on TV like the English players with their stylish long hair (Of course, school rules did not permit us to sport those ‘stylo mylo’ hairstyles that they had.)

Me aged 9 (left) in 1973 with my brother, Wilfred (right) and neighbour, William (centre)

For some of us, the golden opportunity to realise part of our dreams came during the Lion City Football competition that was organised for the under 16’s from 1978 to the early 80’s. The first competition was held in 1978 and it featured a player who was to become a Singapore football legend, Fandi Ahmad.

A young Fandi Ahmad (Picture courtesy of the Canon Lion City Cup Facebook page)

I decided to try my luck when I was 14 and joined the training squad for the 1979 competition. Training sessions were held every Sunday at the football grounds in Dempsey Road. It was tough going but the opportunity to play with the best schoolboy footballers in Singapore acted as a spur to keep me going.

Dempsey Road football field

Funny enough, the highlight of each training was in fact the ‘Roti Johns’ that we had after each training at the Botanical Gardens hawker centre (Taman Serasi  food centre). No sure how the name, ‘Roti John’ came about, though!!

A typical plate of Roti John at Taman Serasi food centre near the Botanical Gardens

But alas during the final selection to select the final 18 out of 22, I was one of the four not selected. I recall the tremendous disappointment I felt. Of course, in my mind, I felt that the coach had favoured some players over me (typical sour grapes mentality!)

I gave it another shot in 1980 but this time round, I decided to leave the squad (I had a very strong chance of getting in) when I realised that the tournament was going to coincide with my GCE ‘O’ level preliminary exams. Decisions we make! Do I regret making this decision?