Pritam Singh meets former national football coach PN Sivaji, says the team under him “electrified the cockles of our hearts”

Before going for house visits in Compassvale, Pritam Singh met former national football coach PN Sivaji and wrote about how the latter built a “dream team”.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday (Jun 29), Mr Singh wrote that he decided to walk around the Block 259-series. While speaking to Mr Sivaji, Mr Singh wrote that it took him some time before he recognised the former national coach of the Singapore football team.

Thanking Mr Sivaji for building the dream team and the memories he made for Mr Singh’s generation of children, Mr Singh added: “In an instant, I was transported back to my secondary school years. Then, my classmates and I would play truant on a rotational basis to queue up for the Malaysia Semi-Pro League games at the National tickets before matchday weekend”.

However, explaining that there was a deeper significance to Mr Sivaji’s appointment as a national team coach, Mr Singh wrote that the football team between 1989–1992 “hosted a chequered record, and we ended up being relegated to the second division”. But, once Mr Sivaji was appointed as head coach, “Fandi and Sundram returned, as did Abbas and Alistair, but carried by a solid core of Singaporean players like Lim Tong Hai, Kadir Yahaya, Nazri Nasir, Saswadimata Dazuki, Malek Awab, and yet many others. Under Sivaji’s charge, the team won promotion and made it to the final of the Malaysia Cup in 1993. Sivaji left after this, but a solid foundation had been laid for the next coach”.

Mr Singh added: “that’s what I remember about PN Sivaji’s dream team. The smiles it brought to the country, and how people of all races and walks of life came together and rallied behind the team after a difficult few seasons. They electrified the cockles of our hearts”. He wrote that Mr Sivaji went on to coach and lead many lesser-known teams in countries around the region.

Mr Singh concluded his post by saying: “And therein is an important life lesson especially for young Singaporeans, especially those who feel downcast about finishing second or third or way behind sometimes, or tripping up here and there in the journey of life. Success is what you make of it. And very often, the journey can be as, if not more important, than the destination”. /TISG