All Singapore Stuff – Real Singapore News From Tuas to Changi, All Singapore Stuff brings you Real Singapore News!
Dear A.S.S. Editor
Healthcare organisation Mundipharma and English Premier League club Manchester City are collaborating to conduct a football clinic for budding young footballers and youth coaches. The clinic, called the Betadine Youth Football Development Programme, is a one week long clinic conducted by City Football Schools’ coaches to provide top-level coaching for local youth players and coaches.
The collaboration is the first of many planned between the two organisations as they set their sights on grooming local footballers in the hope of unearthing a Singaporean talent good enough to play in the English Premier League. While the goal may seem far fetched, as no Singaporean footballer have really made it big on the international stage, save maybe for Fandi Ahmad who played in the European stage with FC Groningen, the CEO of Mundipharma insisted that their goal of seeing a Singaporean play in England is not just a pipedream – or a gimmick.
He cited the achievements of national swimmer Joseph Schooling, who is an inspiration to Singaporeans. They will work with the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), S.League, Singapore Sports School, football academies like ActiveSG Football Academy and other commercial outfits on selecting young footballers for the programme.
While this is a good initiative, a game such as football is a bit harder to polish those gems, as football is a team game, unlike swimming, where it depends on an individual’s talent and desire to make it big. Aspiring footballers need the talent and dedication, but apart form that, they also need a proper footballing environment to actually nurture the raw talents into a world star.
Gabriel Lim
A.S.S. Contributor
