In another blow to the doomed Singapore soccer scene, the former army general and current CEO of Singapore’s sports regulatory board SportSg said that he will cut the funding for S-league by half. Former SAF Brigadier General Lim Teck Yin who spent 30 years in the army told state media reporters in an interview that he believe the Football Association of Singapore can make do with half the funding money:
“We are not cutting funding because they weren’t performing. I think we did a deep-dive into how money was spent and we are convinced that we can do this at a lower level of funding. If I gave you a million dollars and you were not sharp enough with that million dollars, that could be less effective than someone who has half of that but is very clear what that money is going to be put into. I am convinced that more efficiencies can be made.”
General Lim Teck Yin said that S-league clubs will now have to share stadiums to save money:
“One of the ideas we have is to convince the S.League that we should share stadiums. There is a difference between maintaining 11 pitches versus upgrading and maintaining five.”
The military crony of the ruling party dictatorship also added that Singapore soccer players are “earning good money”:
“the ones who perform well earn good money. If you’re earning S$10,000, that’s not bad, right? This is fair. I don’t want to run the risk of, in one statement, whitewashing everybody, but should a footballer who is not in the national team be publicly funded more than many of our national athletes in other sports? There needs to be a balance in terms of investment and accountability and to have a better perspective on the total amount of public funding that will be given to this.”
General Lim Teck Yin also criticised that Singapore soccer players are unprofessional:
“Some players in the clubs lack a professional high-performance mindset. This is about how you live your life. How much you sleep and rest. How much you train. Both in the training that is organised and that you do on your own. How much do you study your sport and how much do you practise? Any athlete who wants to do well makes big sacrifices.”
The SportSg CEO also said that Singapore soccer players do not appreciate the Singapore government:
“A vocal few fail to acknowledge what is already being given. Very often, I wonder if I should come out on social media and declare the amount of money they are actually getting from Government. Some athletes are understating Government support, some might say he has already cast aspersions on the fraternity… There’s medical support and support in terms of sports science. Sports science has physiology, nutrition, psychology, strengthening and conditioning and even facility support. And all this is free for the athletes.”