The Kallng Roar

I haven't been blogging much of late. Reasons being either I have nothing to blog about or simply too tired & lazy when I got home every evening. I was supposed to blog this yesterday or even that day itself but was too tired and sleepy but its better to be late than never, and I simply can't miss out on this entry. Here's why...

Initially I wanted to catch the Asean Championship semi final against M'sia but couldnt do so as Kylie's birthday celebration fell on the same day. Hence this made the final against Thailand a 'must watch' game. I'd already promised myself to watch S'pore play live at the stadium if they made it to the semi finals. I will be the first to admit that like many typical Singaporeans, I'm not a fan of local football. I don't follow the clubs or leagues, only checking the national team results every now and then.

Somehow I as the final approaches I could feel that there was going to be much fanfare, just for this game at least. I couldn't get the tickets myself as I was stuck in camp, so many thanks to Kelvin for helping us to get tickets.

I scrambled out of camp as fast as I can on the day of the match. I heard they were queuing and going in as early as 5pm so I had to rush down straight and change in the toilets. Met Peggy on the train to my surprise, she was going to watch the match as well. And funnily enough, the row of seats I was seating consist of other fans cladded in red too, it was such a funny sight really.

In fact I believed everyone in red that day was going to the staidum!

The Kallang MRT station resembles an airport arrival terminal filled with crazy fans waiting for their idol to touch down. It isn't scarastic, its real! Every corner I see was people filled with red, red red and more red color clothings, caps, banners, flags, whatever they could bring! Somehow dear managed to find me in the mist of the red crowd.


Kallang mrt stat


We own the roads!

The last time I went to the National Stadium was like 2002, nearly 4 years ago so I'd more or less forgotten the route there but that matters little because the crowd was so huge and free flowing that all I had to do was to follow the crowd! So off we went, on the long trail to the stadium. I hate walking long distances but this was one which I really love and enjoy every second of. There were so many people and its really an interesting sight.








outside the stadium

The view from the top must have resembled a large red army marching to war!

When we reached the stadium enterance, the entrie place was packed with 'red ants'! There were the usual curry puff sellers, the flags and banners sellers, painted faced fans, the young, the old, the office executives, the tao kays, students, ns-men, indians, malays, chinese, ang mohs, u name it they were all present!





The atmosphere was electricflying and yet relax, everyone had the word excitement spell across their faces. Its just a pity that as I reached abit late and wanted to get a gd seat, I could stay longer to snap more pictures or mingle around. I'd love to do that.


View from the top!



The best seats in the gallery were already taken up or being 'chopped' by people using...of all things...."plastic bags and paper cups!". More than 3/4 of the entire gallery have been filled up and it was only like 6pm? More than an hour away from the kick off time.

Just then, the S'pore players came out to warm up and the cheers that greeted them was sooo loud and patriotic that the hairs on my body were standing up! I felt goosebumps on my skin as well.



Forget the game or the stupid incidents that happened. But for 2 hours or more, we were like kings and queens. We could litter, curse, swear and scream vulgarties all we want. For the younger kids, it was a bad example but this time, it was their parents who were setting those examples.

Not that anyone cared anyway, the police turned a blind eye to all the 'chee bye', 'fuck off', 'butoh', 'knn' and whatever other vulgar words people used. For once, Singaporeans who were known to be too quiet and nice were being rough and intimidating. For the neutrals, they were having a good laugh at all funny swear words used and the even funnier actions that some supporters did.




Typical scene of swearing and screaming vulgarties

On one ocassion, one fan below me was so fed up by a referee decision that he raised his hands without realizing his was holding a drink.......thankfully it was a package drink instead of a cup or glass!

That 2 hours we spent at the stadium gave me an insight to how patriotic and united S'poreans could be. It showed the more beautiful sight of S'poreans.


During halftime....it was my longest wait ever juz to pee!

I used to have a mindset like most local soccer fans who think that Spore's national team is crap and isn't worth watching but this game has at least changed that mindset a little. How do u expect the team to get motivated and play well when we fans do nt even bother to watch them? They said fans could be the 12th player and I guess we were really the 12th player on Wednesday night.


So kan chiong that nobody bothered to sit down, everyone wa standing to watch!


GOAL!





Well I finally received my long awaited MOS complimentary memebrship card as well. There are still alot of confusion over the card and I've still got to go down and activate it. Freaking troublesome! Worst part was that I'm supposed to activate it by 30 Jane yet the postman only deliver it to me on the 31st! So its a last min scramble to activate the card.

I must say, the design is pretty cool though and I can finally kiss goodbye to cover charges :D