Debated in Parliament on 14 Jan 2013.
Mr Ang Wei Neng asked the Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (a) whether the Ministry has plans to ride on the success of Singapore's performance in the 2012 ASEAN Football Federation Suzuki Cup to further improve the standard of Singapore football; and (b) what are the plans to retain good national football players to play for Singapore clubs when they are sought after by regional football clubs with more lucrative terms.
The recent Suzuki Cup triumph can be attributed to the developmental system that the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) has put in place since 2000, to identify and develop young talents with increased funding support from the Singapore Sports Council and sponsors, such as the Tote Board and Singapore Pools. The Singapore Sports Council is currently working with the FAS to conduct a holistic review of football development in Singapore to further improve the standard of Singapore football.
When the standard of Singapore players improves, it is only natural that they will be sought by other football clubs. The best way to retain our players is to make sure they have good development and growth opportunities in Singapore, such as playing in the Lions XII team in the Malaysian Super League, and for various S. League teams. Notwithstanding this, we recognise that
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professional players do sometimes relish the exposure they can gain from an overseas stint. If they play better as a result, they can still contribute to the national team when they are called up for international matches. Hence, we need to strike a balance between trying to keep all our players in Singapore and giving them the opportunity to play for regional and international football clubs.
Mr Ang, we only have one minute left.
Thank you, Mdm Speaker. As the Acting Minister has said, football is a good sport that can gel Singaporeans together, as what we have witnessed in the Suzuki Cup. How could we better engage the national players to promote the sport among the youths so that the youths can also aspire to be national players one day?
Mr Ang has raised a very pertinent point. I have been talking to the FAS and encouraging them to get more of our national players to go out to schools to speak to students, engage students, to conduct soccer clinics so that we can, indeed, motivate and inspire more young students to take up soccer, to hold them up as role models that more young students would be inspired by what our Lions are doing. This is something important that we are keeping an eye on, and the FAS is, indeed, having plans to do that.
Order. End of Question Time.
[Pursuant to Standing Order No 22(3), Written Answers to Question Nos 30-35, 38-42, 44-49, 52-53, 60-65, 67-79 and 81-82 on the Order Paper are reproduced in the Appendix. Question Nos 36-37, 43, 50-51, 54-59, 66 and 80 have been postponed to the next available sitting of Parliament.]
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