Genesis: How we started

The origins of our Ladies' Soccer Team can be traced back to a period from around 1993 to 1994, when a group of friends came together to play street soccer every Sunday at the NUS handball courts, from 11am to about 1pm (yes, people thought we were mad to be playing around noon. The courts were usually empty except for our group!).

Who were we? The core group was made up of a bunch of friends (guys and girls) from St John's-St Margaret's Church, plus Martha and Ling, whom I knew through work and saxophone lessons, and her sisters Ying and Ping. All of us also pulled in other friends to be part of our group. Who among our group could forget Kaifoong's friend and fellow NTU lecturer Ramin, the bald Andre Agassi lookalike who became a regular?

The girls among us weren't experienced footballers - we were there either because we were longtime football fans who wanted finally to realise our dream of actually playing footie, or we were non-football fans who came for the company and the fun. Ling and Ping used to play football back in high school.

Picture taken of mainly just the girls because it was Ling's birthday (note the bouquet)
Back row (from left): Yili, Connie, Ling, Ying, Julia, Lynette, Lionel
Front row (from left): Hur, John, Mark, Martha, Adeline, Ping

Who were the Law people among us? There was me (Hur), Ling, Martha, Julia Low, Andrew Ong, Kenny (a real twinkletoes of a dribbler), and (once in a while) a few friends of Kenny's.

Practically every Sunday we would be there, and most weeks there would be some new friends dropping by, brought by one of us. It was a great way to get to know new people. When we were done, we would adjourn to a nearby hawker centre for lunch.

So what happened to this group? It petered out around 1994, maybe 1995, as the members dropped out one by one for different reasons. Lynette and Connie went abroad to further their studies/career. Adeline's knees were really giving her lots of trouble. People got married, e.g. Julia, Andrew Ong. Some lost interest, especially as the group shrank. It just wasn't so fun anymore when so many of your friends weren't there.

When it finally died out, I had all but resigned myself to never playing football again. Then Ling became convenor for the Law Soc netball team in 1996, and together with Susan they managed to persuade the Powers that Be to include Ladies' Soccer for the B&B Games. She then issued the call to Martha and me, and boy, was I excited! My first experience of football on grass! I get to wear football boots! The real deal!

What I discovered about playing on grass:

1. wow, the field is so big! Have to pass and kick harder, further and higher!
2. hey, grass is so much softer! Can really dive for the ball without fear!
3. whoa, the goalposts are humongous! This is not at all like guarding a handball goalpost!

So began the journey of the pioneer batch of footballers in the Law Soc Ladies' Team. We got to know one another, and also the guy friends that "tagged along" faithfully. We started practising for the 1996 B&B Games by ..... but that is another story . :-)

The Hur

Coach Iskandar

Scene: Just after Coach laid out the paint your canvas metaphor

Coach: So, can we do it?

Players: ..... a soft smattering of "yes" (prob 2 voices as rest still imagining what the final masterpiece will look like) ....

Coach: (totally disheartened look towards Hur) ... only 2 are ready

Coach: (with more fire) Can we do it?

Players: ..... a chorus of "yes" (but still not full blooded enough)

Coach: (begins to show disgust and disappointment, then suddenly lets out a final yell) Team, can we do it?

Players: "Yes" (in my humble opinion, louder, more in unison but still a little reserved. I think we redeemed ourselves when we did our "Singapore .... Ooosh")

Quotable Quotes Contribution by Elaine

Her World Glamour Queens

Year 12 - 2007, Singapore Polytechnic, Singapore

THE TEAM
Top : L to R : Susan, Dawn, Aileen, Andrea, Evangeline, Choon Wai, Rebecca
Bottom : L to R : Deborah, Hur Yuin, Ling, Amy, Elaine, Andrea Chee, Mag, Jessica, Kit Wan

THE SCORE
1 (Singapore - Mag) : 0 (Malaysia)

THE ALBUMS
Malaysian Bar (Photo above extracted from this website).
Martha's Album (game)
Ling's Album (soccer party)

Year 11 - 2006, Langkawi, Malaysia

THE TEAM
Top : L to R : Susan, Kit, Rebecca, Chye Gek, Chi Duan, Martha, Aileen, Jessica, Hur
Bottom : L to R : Choon, Karen, Elaine, Ling, Nadia, Mag, Weimin

THE SCORE
1 (Singapore - Susan) : 0 (Malaysia)

THE BEACH SOCCER FRIENDLY
The above is a group photo of both the Singapore and Malaysian teams. The Malaysians take up most of the bottom row, save for the 2 or 3 from the right, while the Singapore team take up most of the top row save for the 2 or 3 from the left. The only 2 ladies representing the Singapore beach soccer team were Susan (second from right) and Wei Min (next to her in photo).

THE REPORT FROM THE JUNE ISSUE OF SINGAPORE LAW GAZETTE

"The magnificent LADA stadium, with a big electronic scoreboard proclaiming the scores, played host to all the soccer matches. The pitch was wonderful and the action was equally exciting.

The highlight of the afternoon was the Ladies Soccer match. Under a blistering sun, the Singapore girls looked set to be thrashed by a much bigger Malaysian team.

But once the game got going, it was Singapore which dominated the match. The Malaysian girls, though menacingly bigger in physical attributes, were completely outclassed by a quick and nimble Singapore team. What we lacked in size, we made up for with speed and skill.

Our girls repeatedly outran and outwitted the Malaysians, and were virtually camping in the Malaysian half throughout the match. As a testament to our total dominance, our goalkeeper touched the ball only twice – once to catch a high lob towards the penalty area, and the other to take a goal kick after the Malaysians had sent the ball tamely over the goal-line in one of their rare attacks. Despite being bombarded with no less than 10 shots on goal, the lucky Malaysians were able to block or scramble the ball out of touch time and again.

The match was won early in the first half by Woman-of-the-Match, Susan Lim, who lashed an unstoppable thunderbolt to the roof of the net from some 25 metres out."

THE ALBUMS

Siva's (Ling's friend) Album of practice game against NUS

Mag's Album of game

Rebecca's Album of beach soccer and post game fun

Year 10 - 2005, New Town Sec School, Singapore

THE TEAM AND COACH
T1 (L to R) - Susan, Elaine
T2 (L to R) - Karen, Hooi Yen, Nadia, Jessica
T3 (L to R) - Hur, Rebecca, Chye Gek, Chi Duan, Amy, Aileen
T4 (L to R) - Peck Lin, Ling, Iskandar, Mag

Above : More goofing around shots...

Above : The inspirational "coach" speech!

THE SCORE
3 (Singapore : Susan (2), Karen (1)) : 2 (Malaysians)

THE ALBUMS

Amy's Album (Soccer Game)

Amy's Album (Soccer Party)

Mag's Album (Soccer Game)

Nadia's Album (Soccer Game)

Year 9 - 2004, Kuantan, Malaysia

THE TEAM
Top (L to R) : Coach Iskandar, Bur, Chi Duan, Nadia, Andrea, Belinda, Janice,Jessica
Bottom (L to R) : Elaine, Choon, Susan, Ling (slightly above), Hooi Yen, Mag, Karen, Corinna
Front Row : Hur

THE SCORE
1 (Singapore - [xx]) : 0 (Malaysia)

THE ALBUMS

Ling's Album

Year 8 - 2003, Queenstown Stadium, Singapore

THE TEAM
[To add]

THE SCORE
2 (Singapore - Karen, Ling) : 0 (Malaysia)

THE ALBUMS
Nadia's Album

Year 7 - 2002, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

THE TEAM
[To add]

THE SCORE
1 (Singapore - Corinna) : 0 (Malaysia)

THE ALBUMS
[To add]

Year 6 Article - Brief History of the Games

BRIEF HISTORY OF GAMES

It is not the biggest sporting event to be held in Singapore and Malaysia - sometimes the standard of play during the competition might not even be very good - but it is the only sporting tournament that has the power to stop proceedings in the hallowed courts of justice in our countries. The significance of the annual event lies in the fervent support it receives from the judges and legal practitioners from the two neighbouring territories over the years.

Right from the start when the Bench and Bar Games were first inaugurated through its evolution into the Malaysia-Singpaore Law Games, the closing of each year's proceedings alwyas evoked a sense of anticipation for the next event. Light-hearted fun and games and opportunities to build and renew friendships during the annual event have ensured the games' popularity through good times as well as bad. The games weathering constitutional crises and economic recession have grown, in terms of the number of sports played and the number of participants.

Bigger, better and more enjoyable - aspiration of each year's organising committee. In year 2000, the Malaysia-Singpoare Law Games were held together with the inaugural Quadrangular Law Games - participants from the Sabah Bar and Sarawak Bar were added to the fray. The standard of play might not have become appreciably better - our golfers are no Vijay Singhs and we will still not see Mia Hamms on the football field or the bowling skills of Murailitharan on the cricket pitch - but the annual games for the legal fraternity have certainly become bigger and in many ways, more enjoyable.

Tan Woon Liang

Year 6 - 2001, NUS, Singapore

THE TEAM
(Back, from left): Peck Lin, Choon Wai, Martha, Jessica, Nadia, Janice, Susan, Coach Iskandar
(Front, from left): Hur, Hooi Yen, Ling, Gwen, Stephanie (with Alexis), Chi Duan, Deborah, Gillian


THE SCORE
4 (Singapore - Peck Lin, Hooi Yen, Susan, Ling) : 0 (Malaysia)


THE ALBUMS
[To add]

Year 5 - 2000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

THE TEAM
[To add]

THE SCORE
1 (Singapore - Natalie) : 0 (Malaysia)

THE ALBUMS
[To add]

Year 4 - 1999, Indian Association, Singapore

THE TEAM AND COACH
Top : L to R : Constance Mah (Convenor), Elly, Chi Duan, Martha, Harvonne, Shamini, Hooi Yen, [xx]
Bottom : L to R : [xx], Choon, Gwen, Ling, Iskandar, Gillian, Peck Lin

THE SCORE
3 (Singapore - Shamini (1), Peck Lin (1) and Gillian (1)) : 0 (Malaysia)


Above, the team celebrates their victory!

Photos compliments of Gillian (action shot of her above).

Year 3 - 1998, Penang, Malaysia

THE TEAM
We went up for a 9-a-side game with only 5 players, and no coach. The Malaysians, having about 17 players in their squad (mainly from Penang), agreed to make it 7-a-side instead. We went in search of a few more girls from the Law Soc contingent willing (ability was a bonus at this stage!) to play for us. Our makeshift team comprised:

Constance Mah (Convenor), Hur Yuin, Gillian, Harvinder, Jeyanthi, Joanne from Law Soc Organising Committee (who had never played before but agreed in Penang to join us because we were short of players), and [one more player whom I cannot recall]

Special mention to Lina Ong (squash player who rushed from her game to join us in the dying minutes when we were literally dropping from exhaustion).

THE SCORE
0 (Singapore) : 1 (Malaysia)

Surprisingly, we dominated from the starting whistle, but could not score despite many chances. Then, as our stamina and energy levels began to flag (we had no subs), the Malaysians began making many substitutions to bring in fresh and fast legs, to stretch us more and more. Our players kept asking our supporters if there were any replacements willing to come into the game, but there were none. Finally, the inevitable happened. There was a loose ball, their striker broke with it past our very tired defenders into space, and then it was just the striker versus our goalie (Hur). The striker then proceeded to mishit the ball, so that it unexpectedly hit Hur on the knee, and deflected spinning into goal.

Nearing the end of the game, Lina, who had told us earlier that she would join us as soon as her squash game was over, rushed from the squash courts to take the place of one of our tired players. Her energy encouraged the team to press on for an equaliser, and she and Jeyanthi came very close to scoring on a few occasions. The closest chance was the final play of the match, which led to a goalmouth scramble with their goalie finally smothering the ball practically on the goal-line. Credit to the Malaysian goalie from Penang (who was also their singing diva at the D&D that night!), who made many brave saves to stop our players from scoring.

This was the last time the ladies' game was non-competitive.

THE ALBUM
[To add]

Year 2 - 1997, NUS, Singapore

THE TEAM
Top : L to R : Shanti, Wei Min, May Ling, Gwen, Peck Lin, Chuen Ling, Elly
Bottom : L to R : Susan, Shamini, Vivienne, Hur Yuin, Gillian

Historical note: Shamini is the only player to date who has played for both Singapore and Malaysia Ladies' Soccer Teams in the Bench and Bar Games. She was their most dangerous player in 1996, but found herself working in Singapore in 1997 for an off-shore firm. She then asked to play for us, and after checking to see if this was permitted, she became a Singapore Law Soc team member.

THE SCORE
0 (Singapore) : 0 (Malaysia)

THE ALBUM
[To add]

SAWL Times October 1996 Article - Ladies Soccer Team WIN The Day in KL!

Year 1 - 1996, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Lots of errors in the Singapore team as printed in the Games magazine, and even a few, "who's that??"

THE TEAM
Top (L to R) : Elly Tham, May Leng (Stephanie), Susan, Shanti, Peck Lin, Wei Min
Bottom (L to R) : Vivienne, Martha, Ling, Gwen, Hur


THE SCORE
3 (Singapore - Ling (1) and Susan (2)) : 0 (Malaysia)


LADIES SOCCER TEAM WIN THE DAY IN KL
(SAWL Times October 1996 Article)

One of the most memorable events in this year's Law Games was, without doubt, the Ladies' Soccer Event. The unprecedented inclusion of this game was initated by a group of football enthusiasts who had played and enjoyed the game during the Law School days. Motivated by fond memories of the rough and tumble, the girls proposed the introduction of Ladies Soccer to the organisers. The Malaysian girls were equally game and took up the gauntlet.

Training sessions were held every Sunday, and closer to the game, on Wednesday nights as well. Our team was coached by very supportive male coaches who even accompanied them to KL. Even though it was a "non-competitive" game ie the scores were not to be included in the final tally, the girls took their training seriously and worked hard on their ball skills and teamwork.

The moment finally arrived. The players took their places for the kick off. The Singapore team looked great in their white tees, solid red shorts, long socks up to their knees and their "spikes". The Malaysian team also looked very professional in their yellow jerseys.

The crowd had gathered around the pitch, expecting some light entertainment - "comic relief" - slightly unkind jokes were cracked (mostly by men) about the players. Someone jibed about the goalie "Oh, be careful, you might chip your nails" and the crowd laughed.

Then the whistle blew and the action began. The teams from both sides dribbled and tackled, kicked long balls, high balls, made short passes, ran and played their hearts out. Watching the display of guts and skill on the field and sensing the spirited determination of the players, the mood of the crowd changed perceptibly. The "smart aleck" jokes died down and the supporters from both sides cheered as loud and hard as the girls played.

When the first goal was scored by the Singaporean team, the crowd almost went mad with delight. Some supporters danced about, waved their hands, attempted the Kallang roar and spilled over into the pitch. They loved it and even more when the second and third goals were scored. There was still a lot of jesting, but it was different. Someone said, "Wow, if that girl was a guy, she would have been Fandi". And the crowd smiled in agreement.


(photo below from printed article)

For the record, our team won by a score of 3-0. The scorers were Lee Chuen Ling (1) and Susan Lim (2). The other members were Shanti Abraham, Wong Peck Lin, Chua Wei Min, Wong Hur Yuin, Martha, Elly Tham, Gwendoline and Mei Ling.

Inspired by their victory, the girls are hoping to make Ladies Soccer a competitive game at next year's Law Games. They welcome new players. Interested parties should call Shanti Abraham at Tel : 5353600.

Singapore.....ooosh!