SINGAPORE: For about 20 minutes on a Monday evening, 15-year-old Shamil and his two friends milled about inside the street football court at Chai Chee Street, randomly taking shots at goal.
Despite wanting more than just a kickabout, the three young players waited in vain for more people to turn up.
With no one to compete against, the group quickly got bored and left before sunset to do something else. The sound of laughter among friends and balls pinging against the steel goalpost soon made way for total silence, as the court was left deserted and unused for the rest of the evening.
“Sometimes, there will be guys playing street soccer here. But mostly it’s like this,” said Shamil.
The scene at Chai Chee is often seen in other neighborhoods. After spending a few hours in the evenings at a number of similar facilities around Singapore, Channel NewsAsia observed that many free-to-play street soccer courts are rarely used.
“Casual street soccer is dead in Singapore,” said Ashraf Ariffin, who is a youth football coach at L’s Football Academy, which offers training to children and teenagers. “The sight of neighborhood street soccer courts being active with casual and random games in the evening – that culture is now no more.
“Youngsters would rather be indoors, instead of picking up a football and heading to the neighborhoods to play with their friends or with other boys,” said Ashraf, 30, who used to play street football every day as a child.
Ashraf observed that the previous culture of random street games which thrived in the late 90s and early 2000s is disappearing at a rapid rate. “In fact, I struggle to think of any courts in the east of Singapore now which have some sort of regular street soccer games going on.”
SHIFTING CULTURES
The scene of near-empty street soccer courts was played out again at the futsal arena along Woodlands Ave 1, where 8-year-old Shiva and his 4 friends were having a casual game of two-on-two on a weekday afternoon.
With no one else joining in, there was no chance of a proper match.
“Not many kids play football these days. Many of my friends prefer computer games … in air-con rooms,” said the Fuchun Primary School student.
The current decline in the popularity of street football contrasts with the childhood days of 36-year-old Jasper Richard Thomas, who is a futsal coach with Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT).
“When I was young I carried a ball everywhere I went. I’d find like-minded kids to play with and we’d play at the void deck either two against two or three against three,” said Thomas, who is also a coach at ActiveSG academy.
A deserted street soccer court in Chai Chee. (Photo: Noor Farhan)
“Now you definitely don’t see this, as technology has taken over, with kids playing computer or mobile games,” he said.
“During the 80s and 90s in Sembawang, youths were playing football anywhere and everywhere. It was like a ‘Little Brazil’,” he added. “I know about 14 to 15 ex-national players from Sembawang alone.”
One such player who learnt his game on the streets in northern Singapore in the early 1990s is former Singapore international Noh Alam Shah, who was talent-spotted as a kid in his neighborhood. “I never went to football academies as a kid growing up,” said Alam Shah, who played professionally in Indonesia at one point. “I’m pretty much a street football guy. While other kids were busy studying, I would be at the void deck playing football.
“I was spotted at a void deck in Yishun and was then invited for a trial at Woodlands Wellington. They were having trials for their Under-16s back in the day, and so I was asked to join the selection,” he recalled.
He laments the current lack of interest in street football among children and teenagers in recent times. “Whenever there was a football trial in those days, there would be hundreds of youngsters who’d go down.
“Nowadays, when you hold trials, no matter how you market it, there won’t be many kids showing up,” said the former national striker, who is now a grassroots coach at ActiveSG.
OF PARENTS AND ACADEMIC IMPORTANCE
A number of factors are contributing to the lack of interest in street football, according to L’s Football Academy coach Ashraff. He believes the lack of playing space is a major issue. “The main problem now is that there are hardly any spaces where kids can play casual football whenever they’d like, out of their own free will.
“At certain void decks, there are even spikes high up on the walls purposely installed to deflate footballs when hit,” he said.
As a result, fewer youngsters are inclined to take the initiative to organise a random pick-up game with their peers. “You don’t see kids walking around carrying a ball – any ball, be it plastic balls, worn-out footballs and the like,” he said.
Pick-up games of futsal are no longer as frequent at this street court at the west side of Singapore. (Photo: Noor Farhan)
Former national futsal player Oswind Suriya Rosayro, who represented Singapore at the 2015 AFF Futsal Championships, thinks heavy academic commitments in school are also partially to blame. “Street football is in the decline because of the added stress kids have from school and academics,” he said.
“School hours have been lengthened, as there are supplementary classes and co-curricular activities to think about. Some kids stay in school till after 6pm for school-related activities.
“Not forgetting tuition classes on top of more tuition classes. Parents are more academic-conscious now compared to the last generation and I don’t blame them as the syllabus is crazy these days,” added Oswind, a former S-League player with now-defunct Woodlands Wellington.
“Childhoods are also changing for the modern youth, which I don’t think is a bad thing. But they’d definitely benefit from a social, fun kick-about twice or thrice a week.”
Former Lion Alam Shah believes parents are another reason for the fading street soccer culture. “In those days, from 430pm onwards, almost every kid in my neighborhood would be downstairs at the void deck playing football till sunset,” he said.
“Such a sight is already missing these days, and one of the reasons is due to the culture of parents not allowing kids to go and play on their own.
“Some parents feel that it would be easier to control their kids if they are staying at home,” he added. “These days parents who can afford it would rather to send their kids to academies.”
BENEFITS OF STREET FOOTBALL
Having been actively involved in the grassroots coaching scene, Thomas thinks the current gap in technical skills in youth players is down to their lack of exposure to street soccer. “Learning on the streets makes kids think on the spot – they will have to figure out how to improvise and think about what to do in small-space situations,” he said.
“This is different in football academies, where everything is being controlled.”
He added: “I draw my experience from having coached at various levels here in Singapore, from grassroots to youth. Sometimes when a new boy comes in to my team, he’d feel somewhat unmotivated as he would have been used to an academy system where he is always told what to do.”
Without spontaneous games of street football, Thomas believes grassroots football will not progress much. “In Singapore, there isn’t really any street soccer scene to speak of,” he said. “That shouldn’t be the case as the majority of world-class players had their roots in futsal and football in the streets.
“Why are South American players good? It’s because they started playing futsal at a very young age.”
He elaborated further on the technical benefits it brings, especially to kids who are only beginning to realise their talents. “Futsal naturally gives you the skills to play football,” said Thomas.
“If you’re good in futsal, then you’re definitely going to do well in football,” he said. “First and foremost, you’ll know how to play in small areas. You work on your footwork, pushing and pulling the ball under pressure in tight corners.”
“You’ll be forced to adapt to situations using your own technique, plus it also develops footballing instinct.”
According to Thomas, Singapore’s current lack of good, young strikers is the direct result of the dearth of street football. ” The lack of players with skillful footwork, in addition to having good striker’s instincts, is a national problem,” he said.
“We lack good strikers not only at the national team, but also at all levels. We simply don’t have proper forwards nurtured from young with a basis of playing futsal,” he explained.
“I believe that it is through futsal that kids will be nurtured into better players.”
