Sport

As many of you know, Ben Davis is now considered a NS defaulter and will probably be charged if he comes back to Singapore. You can read more about that here: Ben Davis Is Now An NS Defaulter, Once He Returns To SG, He Face Jail Time

In his latest news, he is now suffering from a 'nasty' shin injury. According to TNP who spoke to Huw Jennings, academy director of Fulham, he said:

“What we thought was bruising of the shin has unfortunately turned out to be more sinister, in terms of the challenge of the injury and the stress fracture.”

Ben Davis last turned up for a match on 19 Dec 2018 as a substitute on the 62nd minute. Jennings praises and provided support for Davis and is hopeful that he will be back in action in a few months time.

We hope that he will recover soon and do well over there. Make us proud!

16 year old national youth fencer, Simon Lee, has clinched the silver medal in the cadet men's epee at the Asian Junior and Cadet Fencing Championship. The Championship is held in Amman, Jordan.

Simon was only ranked joint 30th seed in his category, but overcame three top 10 seeds to eventually lose in the final to Japanese Ryu Matsumoto, which is sadly not the first time Singapore fell to Japan in the month of February.

Simon had actually won the bronze medal in the same Championship last year, and he will still qualify for the age group for the next Championship next year. Chance for him to move on to the gold medal then?

The Football Association of Malaysia have just announced that they will be holding a 4 nation mini tournament during the March International break, and Singapore, along with Malaysia, Oman and the Solomon Islands are the nations participating.

The date of the tournament, named as the AIRMARINE Cup, is slated to be from 20 to 23 March, to be held at the Bukit Jalil Stadium. And to underline how useless Singapore football have become, less than one month before their participation in a tournament, they are still without a coach. Fandi Ahmad left his post in December, to focus on the young Lions for the SEA Games. Two months on, local football fans are no closer to learning the identity of the next coach. The coach definitely need more than a month to know the local scene, especially if he is a foreigner.

FAS has once again proven that they are an incompetent bunch of football administrators.

AS if local football cannot go down any further, they are dealt with yet another blow, as the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) announced that all the 8 local clubs competing in the Singapore Premier League will share only 4 stadiums between them. This has led to disquiet among the clubs, as their fan base is further eroded by not actually playing at the ground their supporters have based themselves in.

The hardest hit would probably be Hougang United, who have a steady following of fans that calls themselves the Hougang Hools. The fan club will turn up in their numbers whenever Hougang United play at their home ground in Hougang Stadium. However, this year, Hougang United will play their home games at Jalan Besar Stadium, along with the Young Lions. The other three stadiums used are Bishan (Home United and Balestier Khalsa), Jurong East (Albirex Niigata and Warriors FC) and Our Tampines Hub (Tampines Rovers and Geylang International). Brunei DPMM will still base their home ground in Brunei. 

FAS acknowledged that the already small fan base might be displaced, but steadfastly claims that by focusing resources on only these 4 stadiums, the match going experience will be further enhanced. Most local football fans are just waiting for the day when the Professional league is finally dead, buried by the incompetent bigwigs at FAS. 

A friendy football match on Sunday ended up anything but friendly, as a 19 second video showed the aftermath of the match. One player was shown lying on the ground shocked, with blood streaming down his face, while further down, players from both teams were seen involved in a shoving and shouting match, with at least one guy caught on camera spoiling for a fight.

Reports indicated that the game was held at East Spring Secondary School in Tampines on Sunday, with both teams made up of Singaporeans, Singapore PR and Chinese nationals. The referee of the match was reported to have said that the fracas broke out 5 minutes from the end, when one player executed a flying kick to an opponent. Police were called in to a case of voluntarily causing hurt, with two men, a 34 year old and a 39 year old taken to CGH conscious.

Police said that investigations are ongoing, but no arrests have been made yet. From a day of football friendly fun, to a brawl, with two taken to hospitals and arrests yet to be made. What a day

In the most expected end to the Benjamin Davis saga, MINDEF has taken the stance to call the young aspiring footballer an NS defaulter, as he failed to report for his NS obligations like he has to, and he is also illegally out of the country after he did not renew his exit permit.

The FAS, on their part, had been championing for Ben Davis to be given an NS deferment, but with this latest development, had voiced their extreme disappointment on Davis' part, for he had reneged on the promises made by his father that he will discharge his NS duties and represent Singapore. The Davis camp, on their part, had remained silent on this issue. So, as far as the matter stands, Davis is still with Fulham youth team in London, trying to earn a professional contract. And if he does return to Singapore, he will be arrested and charged for NS default, which carries a fine of up to $3,000 and / or a jail term of up to 3 years.

Of course, MINDEF will not back down from their stance, once this was made public. And Davis will probably not return to Singapore, ever. That's the end of a promising Singaporean footballer then, all because of NS.