How does ESPZEN differentiate from other amateur leagues like D2D and The X League?
These [other] leagues are “social” football leagues not “amateur” football leagues. There is a market for social teams in Singapore… it’s not our market. We attract teams who understand football and love the game; they want to play football against teams of a similar standard, and they want organization, discipline and structure. Prize money is not a motive; high prize money is actually an unnecessary evil in amateur sports. Once serious prize money is added to a soccer tournament, suddenly the intensity rises and it can be a “win at all costs” mentality for some teams or players.
ESPZEN manages leagues for over 160 teams. We have approximately 4,000 players under our management from over 35 nationalities, and we organize over 3,500 games per annum. To execute this volume of activity, organization, process management, training and industrialization is required.
With so many weekly amateur games going on in Singapore—especially since the opening of school fields for public use over the weekend years ago–why do you think the football talent pool in Singapore is still saturated? It’s a little known fact that ESPZEN back in 2003/4 was instrumental is lobbying the Ministry of Education to release school fields so that our football league could commence. Amateur leagues are generally for older players who play amateur football are not looking to become professional players. That being said our leagues have seen many former Singapore League players participate and continue into their golden years. Patrick Paran scored 111 goals in our Sunday League before joining the S League. A national football training center is a must and children need to be taught football using the same methods as successful countries in other parts of the World. Singapore does not need to re-invent the wheel. In short, young players need to” learn to play football before they learn to win football”/ For example, a six to seven year-old player should be comfortable with the ball, learn to keep possession, pass and move and only later should children learn how to win. We should judge youth football games by number of completed passes, time in possession and not simply kick and rush goals. It’s a crime to ask youth players (less than nine years of age) to play seven-a-side football game as this is destroying development.
Do the new artificial pitches contribute to overall quality of our footballers?
Astro turf pitches remove the uncertainty of bumpy surfaces. Having matches played on astro turf means less games and training sessions are cancelled. The astro turf has improved Singapore’s average football player. The challenge with astro turf is that it takes out of the game slide tackles as sliding on astro can lead to friction burns. Slide tackles however are an important part of the game and removing this element from the sport means players become less aggressive on the pitch and find it harder to win the ball back. Professional players train on astro turf all over the world but not exclusively. Quality grass pitches and training facilities are still required.
Are you a proponent of the recently approved goal line technology?
100% yes—in professional sport. Let’s get the decisions correct and remove the guess work.
Are you an active footballer yourself?
I played for South East England school boys at the age of 16, and I still play today. In addition I am also a qualified coach from the Football Association of United Kingdom. I coach at weekends in ESPZEN Soccer School, which sees over 300 children each week.
Does ESPZEN plan to move on to organizing amateur leagues for other sports as well?
In addition we also have a sister company PEZZAZ, which manages Amateur Basketball Leagues under the same principles as our football league model; opportunities in other team sports are perhaps limited as there is no volume of participants or access to facilities.
Your referees are normally at the frontline when it comes to your footballing clients. Do they get plenty of abuse? As referees are human beings, there are times when referees do make wrong judgement calls in the games, which makes certain players unhappy. A referee’s role on the field of play is very difficult being the only match official present hence we expect from all ESPZEN team managers that they should always control their players and let the referee deal with any situation at all times. After seeing the need to improve the relationship between players and referees, ESPZEN will launch our RESPECT program soon, which is a first in Singapore.
If there was one thing about Singapore football that you could change, what would it be?
More effective investment in youth football (facilities, coaches, methods, culture).
ESPZEN‘s Men’s Midweek Futsal League Season 12 commences at the end of May. You can register your team at the official website.
