Well done, Lions! I’m glad I was there at the stadium with you, taking part in the Kallang Roar in the sea of red. Some points worthy of mention…
Gracious Indonesian behaviour: A placard, discarded post-match, thanking Singaporeans in general for sending aid to Aceh. That was sweet.
Not so gracious Indonesian behaviour: Boycotting the Kallang wave by standing up and showing their backsides when it was their turn to stand up.
Not so gracious Singaporean behaviour: Booing the Indonesian players and fans. When the Indonesian trumpets blared (boort boort, boort-boort-boort, boort boort boort boort …) the Singaporeans shouted ‘Butok!’ (please correct my spelling). I understand that means ‘scrotum’ in Malay.
Most exciting thing that nearly happened: Riot. Yeah, only a few fans were led away by police, and some parts of the audience cheered them as they walked past.
Not very clever Indonesian player: One who tripped a Singaporean player, then writhed to the ground in pain himself. Bodoh!
Not very good idea: Getting Jai to sing at the opening ceremony. He was boring and slightly out of tune. Inappropriate choice of songs (slow, draggy and not particularly rousing) such as GNR’s “Knocking on Heaven’s Door”.
Not very good acoustics: All I could hear on the PA system was ‘mua mua mua mua, mua mua muah LIONEL LEWIS! muah muah muah… MYANMAR!” etc.
Most popular phrase (from where I was sitting): Referee Kayu!!! (implying the referee was biased – against Singapore of course)
Overall, it was a momentus occasion. What’s next, World Cup? Maybe in a decade or three.
Comments
Very simple explanation for not joining the wave… don’t wanna be reminded of tsunami mah