Players of National Football League Division 3 clubs D2D FC (green) and Vipers FAA (blue) do battle during Round 1 of the 2013 Singapore FA Cup at Serangoon Stadium. Vipers FAA progressed to the next round courtesy of a 2-1 win over their opponents (photo by Lee Jingyi/VOXSPORTS).
by Kesavan Loganathan
With the S-League and the RHB Singapore Cup still going on strong, a third tournament was set to be re-introduced into the fray on the 13th of July - The Singapore Pools FA Cup 2013.
The Singapore Pools FA Cup was introduced way back in 1996. The annual knockout tournaments were initially planned to only cater for the S-League teams and that was the case till 1998. The Football Association of Singapore made a change to the system, whereby only teams from the National Football League (NFL) could take part in it, due to the commitments of the S-League teams in the Singapore Cup.
With the trophy remaining in the NFL side of the pitch for 7 years, the FAS once again decided to make a change, and introduce a challenge into the FA cup. Prime league teams of the S-league clubs were then allowed to take part in the competition, which indefinitely spiced things up for the teams from the various NFL divisions.
Fairy-tale ending
The magic of the annual tournament returns once again from the fairy-tale ending it had in the year 2012. A club that would never have dreamed of having a shot at the title made it to the finals of the cup. The newly-promoted NFL Division 3 side, Siglap CSC were huge underdogs coming into the match against the highly fancied S-league side, Balestier Khalsa FC.
Siglap CSC also had an aim to prove a particular stereotype wrong; that clubs from the lower leagues can also perform well at bigger games, such as the FA Cup where NFL and Prime League teams are incorporated in the game.
Despite the large majority of people putting Balestier Khalsa FC on the cards as champions, the third division side held their own and performed to the best of their abilities approaching the game very tactically, even holding the Tigers to a 0-0 scoreline at half-time.
However, the tale for the Siglap side had to end there as goals from Casteels Tzu Ming and Kim Minho capsized Siglap CSC’s hopes of becoming champions of what would have been an unforgettable year for the Singapore Pools FA Cup. Despite losing out in the finals, the sole act of getting into the finals of the Cup was a great achievement for the Siglap CSC side.
This story alone attracted more people to the allure of the Singapore Pools FA Cup this time round and more teams from the lower division have managed to register themselves for the draw this year. Siglap CSC returns this year alongside 15 other hopeful teams, ready to go the distance and against the odds to reach the later stages of the tournaments to pit their skills against the veterans of the local footballing scene.
Many of the Round 1 teams were no strangers to their opponents as all the teams were from either the second or third division of the NFL tournament. Despite having faced many of the opponents before in a league setting, the round matches held a higher importance because the tournament was a knockout one and there was no room for mistakes in their opening matches.
The Prime League teams taking part in the tournament were already seeded into the third round of the cup. These Prime League teams included Balestier Khalsa FC, NFA Reds, Woodlands Wellington FC, Home United FC, Geylang International FC and Warriors FC.
The opening match in Round 1 of the tournament between Vipers FAA and D2D FC was a clear sign of how even the teams from the lower divisions in the NFL were upping their game and were not to be ruled out in the fight for the FA cup title. An intense match saw the Vipers come out as the victors against a bitterly disappointed D2D side with a score of 2-1.
“I think it’s a really good initiative to have this tournament as it gives very valuable experience to the youngsters of the teams to play against the teams from various divisions,” mentioned Daniel Ong, team manager of D2D FC.
With all the build-up of last season clearly upping the standards of the annual cup, the favourites and the underdogs of all the various divisions in the local soccer scene are set to have a cup run to remember.