The Management of Hougang United Football Club (HGFC) has come out to sympathise with Home United Youth Football Academy’s predicament as a result of the Singapore Land Authority’s decision to restrict usage of two pitches at Mattar Road. HGFC said that they shared Home United Youth Football Academy’s (HYFA) dismay on SLA’s injunction.
In a statement released in its website, HGFC said that it fully believes that as with every sport, footballing talents must be nurtured young.
It said that as Singapore is an intensely compact city, the co-existence of peaceful residential living and provision of basic sporting infrastructure within close proximity should be a given. In referring to a TODAY article, HGFC noted that in this case, existing infrastructure and terms of usage at Mattar Road were appropriately approved by the authorities.
HGFC said that it “salutes HYFA’s establishment and efforts in Mattar Road and in continually promoting and providing avenues for our nation’s young footballing talent to train and play.”
Adding: “As a heartland club that also aspires to work towards similar academy, this augurs very well for our nation’s footballing future, especially at this juncture when our nation’s ranking for football is at the nadir of our nation’s history.”
The soccer club’s management hopes that all stakeholders, “especially the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) and Sports Singapore (SG Sports) will continue to support, promote and engage the other relevant land authorities to provide more land for football training in our heartlands, and with a fair calibration towards the need to preserve the peace and conduciveness of residential living.”