After it was announced on Friday (Jun 10) that starting from Dec 9, Sport Singapore would take over Singapore Sports Hub in Kallang, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong expressed excitement over the takeover.
In a Facebook post, he wrote, “Today marks a new chapter for the Sports Hub.”
With the former project agreement with Sports Hub Pte Ltd terminated, Mr Tong wrote that the government “will take over full ownership and management of the Sports Hub at the end of the year.”
He then proceeded to outline some of the reasons for the takeover:
“The Sports Hub is an iconic national sporting asset. It is the Home of Singapore Sport. It must therefore be more accessible, vibrant, and open to a range of different activities and to a broad spectrum of our society.
We want more Singaporeans to come to the National Stadium, to develop an affinity with, and feel proud of our stadium and its sporting infrastructure, which should also very much be part of our day-to-day lived sporting experience.”
The Minister added that more school events, community sport programs and other events are in the offing, as well as plans to regularly open the Sports Hub for members of the public who wish to exercise in the evenings.
He also shared a fond personal memory from his years at school when “it would be the highlight of the inter-school games calendar to play the Zone or National Finals at the old National Stadium, with the rest of the school cheering the team on, from the stands.”
Urging to bring this back, he wrote that it would cause young athletes to aspire to play at the National Stadium.
Building a strong affinity for the Sports Hub would also help TeamSG athletes realise how much support their fans have for them.
He added, “Besides making the hub more accessible, we also have an opportunity to turn Kallang into a diverse, vibrant sporting and lifestyle hub.
It has also been 15 years since we embarked on this project, back in 2007. In that period, we have seen our own sporting ambitions grow tremendously. Singapore’s sporting, lifestyle and entertainment ecosystem has also developed and matured. We now have more top talent in sport management, lifestyle and events programming.”
Mr Tong also mentioned up-and-coming facilities that would “develop Kallang into an even bigger sporting and entertainment hub” such as the Kallang Football Hub, Kallang Tennis Centre, the Youth Hub and a Velodrome.
These venues would also allow for more world class events at the Sports Hub, and allow Singaporean athletes to compete with those of world-class calibre.
He added, “We will work together with SHPL during the next few months, to ensure a smooth, seamless handover.”
And for Mr Tong, the crux is this: “Much more important to me is for our National Stadium to be open and accessible to all Singaporeans. From world class events, to sport enthusiasts engaging in an active lifestyle, to everyday Singaporeans participating in community fringe events, we must turn the Sports Hub into a sporting home for all to enjoy.
Through this, we must also develop a sense of pride and affinity with the National Stadium, make it OUR HOME ground, and a place where opposing teams fear to tread!”
/TISG
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