Top 15 ARFC scorers (as at 30 Sep 2013)

1. Alvin - 208 goals;
2. Haron - 195 goals;
3. Blackburn - 131 goals;
4. Hee - 91 goals;
5. Sebastian - 88 goals;
6. Robin (ex-player) - 69 goals;
7. Derrick - 66 goals;
8. Toh - 65 goals;
9. Tjioe - 59 goals;
10. Khim - 50 goals;
11. Jeffrey (ex-player) & Soon - 49 goals;
12. Kiat (ex-player) - 25 goals;
13. Tong (ex-player) - 24 goals;
14. David (ex-player) & Kenny - 23 goals;
15. Jiong (ex-player), Hock (ex-player) & Chun Haw - 21 goals.

Blackburn turns back the clock with inspiring display

In a friendly match at the St.Gabriel’s secondary school artificial pitch, ARFC bounced back from last week’s thrashing by SAFSA to easily sweep aside the challenge of another young team, SMS FC, by a score-line of 4-2.

ARFC’s comprehensive victory was witnessed by Rayes (son of Darren) and Rachel (beau of TBN).

Soon, despite his gruelling 30-km training run in the morning, Playing for very first time, still appeared to lend support though he refused to play. By this simple yet noble act, Soon has set a example to all ARFC warriors on what dedication and commitment means.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper           -           Impeccable How Meng

Right-back     -           Unpredictable Blackburn (captain)

Sweeper         -           Astute-reading sweeper Elvis       

Stopper          -           Towering Toh

Left-back       -           Unbeatable Darren

Left-mid         -           Talented Chun Haw

Centre-mid    -           Influential Sebastian 

Centre-mid    -           Combative Ron

Right-mid      -           Nippy Kenny  

Striker                        -           Speedy Hee

Striker                        -           Powerful Alvin

             

Subs:

Marauding Guoxiong  

Talisman Derrick

Wonder Wayne

Dynamic Soon  (but did not play)

Absent:

Dependable Jinzhong

Steely Tze Ern

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Resolute Jasper

Composed Jackson

Sublime Khim

Hard-man Tjioe

Skillful Weilit

Booming Boon

Jiawei

At almost a 50-min delay, the referee still did not appear and an agreement was reached for Guoxiong to stand-in as referee first.

ARFC took the lead within 177 seconds. Chun Haw chipped in a diagonal cross ball from the left and Kenny timed his run to perfection to break their off-side trap. Kenny killed the ball with a perfect first touch, rounded their keeper and stroked the ball into the empty net for his 23^rd ARFC goal, thereby continuing his recent scorching form for ARFC. 1-0

The opponents tried to protest but the referee’s decision was really spot-on.

Kenny’s goal also moved him level with an ex-ARFC scoring legend, David, on 23 goals.

3 mins later, the referee got another decision right when he blew an off-side against the opponents who protested more violently this time but was ticked off by the referee.

One thing worth to note is that despite being relatively new, Guoxiong’s refereeing standard is almost on-par with Pierluigi Collina, the bald-headed Italian referee. Besides getting both decisions correct, Guoxiong even has the same “killer-stare” as Collina when he ticked off their left-back for vehement protesting!!!!

The referee then turned up and took over from Guoxiong.

ARFC then spurned a host of chances, the most glaring being Derrick’s missing of 2 easy headers and Hee side-footing wide from 0.77 yards after Alvin’s great work down the right flank.

ARFC then doubled its lead after Blackburn picked up a cleared ball just 0.77 mm inside their half at right side. Without breaking his stride and spotting their keeper slightly off his line, Blackburn thumped a long high ball goal-wards. The ball sailed over their keeper, took a bounce and landed into the net. The goal was really similar to David Beckham’s land-mark goal in 1997! 2-0 and this was Blackburn’s 130^th ARFC goal!

ARFC still continued to be wasteful in front of goal.

How Meng then came up with several good catches and punches.

In the 2^nd half, ARFC continued to dominate play and extended its lead just 7 mins into the half.

Sebastian twice exchanged wall-passes with the very impressive Chun Haw.  Receiving Chun Haw’s return low ball about 37 metres away from goal, Sebastian’s first touch took him away from their covering midfielder, found a gap at the top left-hand corner, and lifted the ball right at the spot where the gap was. Their keeper tried to save but could only grasp thin air. 3-0 and this was Sebastian’s 88^th ARFC goal.

How Meng then produced the save of the match when he leaped like a leopard and pushed a long-range violent shot over the bar. Simply breath-taking!

How Meng continued his top form when he punched 2 threatening in-swinging corners under heavy pressure from the opponents.

Blackburn then put the result beyond any reasonable doubt in the 67^th min.  Sfter a string of passes, Alvin laid a ground ball out to Blackburn who was 40 metres out. He took a gentle touch and chipped the ball elegantly over their keeper for his 131^st ARFC goal. 4-0 and another world-class goal!

ARFC then lost some tactical discipline and conceded 2 goals.

Hee then impressed with a superb defending despite playing as a striker. From their quick counter-attack from a corner, Hee showed his world-renowned speed by matching their right winger, who is at least half Hee’s age, pace-for-pace for almost the length of the field before winning a throw-in at our left-back position. Brilliant!

Lots of people may not notice but Hee actually put in lots of harassing and covering work even though he is at times playing as a striker.  Great team player.

These are the voting results:

Blackburn – 23 pts;

Sebastian – 20 pts;

Chun Haw – 19 pts;

Kenny & How Meng – 7 pts each;

Hee & Alvin – 3 pts each;

Derrick – 2 pts.

Congratulations to Blackburn and Sebastian for winning $10 and $5 respectively.

ARFC warriors who scored 4 goals in a match

Dear ARFC warriors,

These are the warriors who scored 4 goals in a match:

08 Jun 1991 - David (we won 11-3);
17 Apr 1994 - Robin (we won 11-0);
15 May 1994 - Jesmond (we won 9-0);
07 Aug 1994 - Jeffrey (we won 7-0);
09 Oct 2000 - Haron (we won 6-1);
12 Aug 2001 - Haron (we won 6-1);
23 Jan 2005 - Haron (we won 4-1);
11 May 2008 - Alvin (we won 8-3);
18 May 2008 - Tjioe (we won 9-2);
11 Sep 2008 - Alvin (we won 7-0);
14 Jun 2009 - Haron (we won 4-2);
19 Feb 2012 - Alvin (we won 7-2);
13 May 2012 - Alvin (we won 9-1);
12 May 2013 - Kenny (we won 8-2).

Cheers.....

ARFC warriors who scored 5 goals in a match

Dear all ARFC warriors,

These are the warriors who had scored 5 goals in a match:

13 Mar 1994 - Jiong Jiong (we won 7-0);
22 May 1994 - Robin (we won 10-1);
11 Apr 2010 - Hee (we won 12-0);
08 Jun 2013 - Derrick (we won 7-0).

Cheers.....

Only 3 ARFC warriors ever scored 6 goals in a match

Dear ARFC warriors,

Sepp Bladder just got back to me.

In our 22-year history, only these 3 ARFC warriors had ever scored 6 goals in a match:

05 Jul 1992 - Robin (we won 14-2)
10 Nov 1996 - Robin (we won 8-1)
21 Aug 2011 - Alvin (we won 13-2)
04 Sep 2011 - Derrick (we won 12-3)

Hopefully, one ARFC warrior will break these records by scoring 7 goals in a match.

Can someone arrange a primary school or woman's team to play against us?   ;p

ARFC hit for 6 in one-sided match

Playing for very first time, and most probably the last time as well, at the lousy Bedok Camp rock-like pitch, ARFC was trounced 0-6 by the SAFSA team whose players are aged between 18-20 years old.

Special credit to Soon and Derrick for turning up despite their early morning exertions – long run and long sex respectively.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper           -           Talisman Derrick

Right-back     -           Dependable Jinzhong

Sweeper         -           Astute-reading sweeper Elvis       

Stopper          -           Towering Toh

Left-back       -           Influential Sebastian  

Left-mid         -           Speedy Hee

Centre-mid    -           Dynamic Soon  

Centre-mid    -           Combative Ron

Right-mid      -           Marauding Guoxiong  

Striker                        -           Unpredictable Blackburn (captain)

Striker                        -           Powerful Alvin

             

Subs:

Steely Tze Ern (late)

Absent:

Nippy Kenny

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Talented Chun Haw

Unbeatable Darren

 Resolute Jasper

Composed Jackson

Sublime Khim

Impeccable How Meng

Wonder Wayne

Hard-man Tjioe

Skillful Weilit

Booming Boon

Jiawei

Despite the vast disparity in age and numbers (think they had close to 20 young army boys in attendance) ARFC actually did very well in the first 30 mins. In fact, Blackburn could have given ARFC a shock lead but his long lob from 47 metres out was superbly gathered by their Peter Schmeichel-like keeper.

ARFC then conceded 2 goals in quick succession to trail 0-2 at half-time.

In the 2^nd half, ARFC collapsed due to exhaustion and almost all were struggling to even walk, let alone run.

ARFC then conceded 4 more goals. 0-6

In between those goals, ARFC also added in some comical moments especially from Derrick’s goal-kick from the 6-yard box to 6-yard box – the same 6-yard box of ARFC!!!!  J

Alvin then had a great chance to pull a consolation goal back after he wriggled past 3-4 defenders and faced their keeper alone. Alas, his low shot was saved by their flying keeper who came charging out with a diving save at full-length.

For this match, no voting is required.

Haron nets ARFC's 1500th goal in 2-1 victory

Playing again on another 1pm match but for the very first time at St. Gabriel’s SS, ARFC shrugged off a rather-insipid first-half display to edge out Brazilian Boys FC (but all Indians and no Brazilians at all) 2-1.

ARFC was supported by Melissa, Hee’s partner. Jinzhong also turned up to watch after his futsal tournament at East Coast.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper - Talisman Derrick

Right-back - Marauding Guoxiong

Sweeper - Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Stopper - Towering Toh

Left-back - Unbeatable Darren

Left-mid - Unpredictable Blackburn (captain)

Centre-mid - Influential Sebastian  

Centre-mid - Combative Ron

Right-mid - Nippy Kenny

Striker - Speedy Hee

Striker - Powerful Alvin

 

Subs:

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron (late)

Talented Chun Haw

Steely Tze Ern

Skillful Weilit

Jiawei (trialist)

Absent:

Resolute Jasper

Composed Jackson

Dynamic Soon

Sublime Khim

Impeccable How Meng

Dependable Jinzhong

Wonder Wayne

Hard-man Tjioe

Booming Boon

Just 77 seconds into the match, ARFC almost went ahead after Ron picked up a poor clearance 37 metres away from their goal. However, Ron fired high and wide.

Thereafter, ARFC strangely was subdued in its play and could not get its engine started at all for the first 20 mins. Thankfully, ARFC’s famed stingy defence, ably led by Elvis held firm

Toh then connected with Blackburn’s corner but failed to garner enough power with his header.

Mins later, Toh again put his head to Sebastian’s corner but glanced wide.

In the 20^th min, Tze Ern and Chun Haw replaced Blackburn and Hee respectively.

Mins later, Jiawei, Haron and Weilit came on for Kenny, Alvin and Sebastian respectively.

The first half ended goalless.

In the second half, ARFC played slightly better and Jiawei was really unlucky with his two shots. Particularly, his second shot looked to be headed to the top right-hand corner but their very big keeper put his left hand to it and touched over for a corner.

Kenny and Alvin then came back on and Kenny as particularly menacing.

Meantime, the opponents threatened with some direct runs at ARFC’s defence but ARFC’s defence gave nothing away.

ARFC finally took the lead in the 67^th min.  Haron received a ball from Chun Haw and then quickly released the ball into the path of the on-rushing Kenny. Kenny’s brilliant first touch took him way past their sweeper, and crashed in a rising cannon ala Thierry Henry that beat their keeper at his near post. 1-0 and this was Kenny’s 22^nd ARFC goal.

ARFC put the result beyond doubt after another piece of great work from Alvin. Alvin received the ball at the middle and released Kenny down the right flank, in an eerily similar move as Haron’s earlier. Kenny ran the ball down the right flank, pulled their keeper out, and squared the ball across goal for the unmarked Haron to steer the ball into the empty net for his 195^th ARFC goal. 2-0

Most significantly, Haron’s goal was ARFC’s 1500^th goal in its illustrious 22-year history!!

With 77 seconds to go, ARFC conceded a goal. 2-1

For this match, I want to pay special tribute to ARFC’s defence who really keep ARFC in the match. Probably due to the heavy downpour and cold weather, ARFC could not really get its engine started and also struggled with the ball. Luckily, Elvis and company was there to ensure ARFC’s win.

These are the voting results:

Kenny – 21 pts;

Ron – 20 pts;

Chun Haw – 14 pts;

Guoxiong – 9 pts;

Blackburn – 6 pts;

Derrick & Haron – 5 pts;

Toh – 4 pts;

Elvis, Tze Ern & Darren – 2 pts.

Congratulations to Kenny & Ron for winning $10 and $5 respectively.

ARFC concedes last-grasp goal to draw 2-2

Playing again on another 1pm match at the exact field as last week, ARFC failed to build on its victory after conceding a last-grasp goal to draw 2-2 against Court FC, a very determined Chinese team.

ARFC was watched by Rachael, newly-minted partner of Derrick.

ARFC also welcomed back Elvis and Darren.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper - Is (Haron’s BIL)

Right-back - Resolute Jasper

Sweeper - Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Stopper - Towering Toh (captain)

Left-back - YY (guest player)

Left-mid - Nippy Kenny

Centre-mid - Unbeatable Darren

Centre-mid - Unpredictable Blackburn

Right-mid - Talisman Derrick  

Striker - Speedy Hee

Striker - Powerful Alvin

 

Subs:

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Jiawei (trialist)

Absent:

Talented Chun Haw

Combative Ron

Steely Tze Ern

Composed Jackson

Influential Sebastian

Dynamic Soon

Sublime Khim

Impeccable How Meng

Skillful Weilit

Dependable Jinzhong

Marauding Guoxiong

Wonder Wayne

Hard-man Tjioe

Booming Boon

ARFC was missing all the recognized centre midfielders for probably the first time in its illustrious history. Hence it was no surprise that ARFC started off slowly and was dominated by the opponent from the start but the ARFC managed to repel their attacks without much worry. For this, Darren deserved most credit as he worked tirelessly in the middle of the park.

Although ARFC managed to prevent the opponents from taking the lead in the early exchanges, ARFC was also unable to carve out any real openings.

Poor refereeing decisions almost led to a free for all brawl but the teams managed to calm their players down and the captains had a quick talk with the referee. Fortunately, the game was able to resume and for the rest of the game, there was no ugly tackles dished out. Kudos to both team’s sportsmanship.

Jiawei and Haron came on for both Derrick and Alvin respectively.

ARFC conceded from a penalty 0-1.

Kenny almost supplied an immediate response with a rocket-like shot ala Robin van Persie.  However, their keeper made himself big and managed to block off the goal-bound attempt. 

The score at halftime was 0-1.

In the second-half, Blackburn moved to left back and Kenny took his place in centre-mid with Alvin also joining Haron in spearheading the comeback.

The break did wonders as ARFC came out of the dressing room with all guns blazing. 

Within minutes from the restart, Jiawei floated in a corner and Haron came flying in trying to connect with the ball ala Sami Hyypia but was wrestled to the ground, giving the referee the easiest of decisions to point to the spot. Blackburn stepped up and possessing the coolness of Andreas Brehme and power of Ruud Gullit, blasted the ball home that almost burst the net for his 129^th ARFC goal. 1-1

ARFC took the lead in the 77^th minute after Kenny was fouled outside the box. Despite being a trialist, Jiawel showed tremendous courage to shrug off all regular ARFC set-piece takers to take the free-kick.  Jiawel did not disappoint as he expertly dispatched the ball that curled past their wall, dipped a little and nestled nicely into the bottom corner of the goal ala David Beckham that left their keeper clutching thin-air. 2-1 and this was Jiawei’s ARFC debut goal.

However, ARFC’s joy was short-lived as with virtually the last kick of the match, the opponent stabbed the ball home following a corner to force a 2-2 draw.

These are the voting results:

Kenny – 13 pts;

Haron – 12 pts;

Darren – 10 pts;

Toh – 9 pts;

Elvis – 6 pts;

Blackburn – 5 pts;

Jasper – 3 pts;

Derrick – 2 pts.

Congratulations to Kenny & Haron for winning $10 and $5 respectively.

New Jersey ruling (wef 08 Sep 2013)

Dear ARFC warriors,

By now, all of you (except Tjioe) would have collected our new jerseys.

As explained, Derrick has very generously partial-sponsored our new Adidas jerseys and in return, I think we should help to spread his company's name.

Hence, all of you would be required to wear the new jerseys (either red or black) to our matches (wef 08 Sep 2013).

Any warrior who did not do so would have to pay a token fine of $10.

Hope this is fine (no pun intended) with you.....

Cheers!

Chun Haw led ARFC to 5-3 victory

Playing in a rare kick-off time at 1 pm, ARFC edged past BeHappy FC 5-3 on the back of an inspiring performance from Chun Haw and Kenny.

ARFC was watched by Winnie, Melissa and Joy, partners of Chun Haw, Hee and Kenny respectively.  Wayne also arrived midway through the first half but did not play due to his injury.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper - Impeccable How Meng

Right-back - Resolute Jasper

Sweeper - Unpredictable Blackburn (captain)

Stopper - Towering Toh

Left-back - Sublime Khim

Left-mid - Nippy Kenny

Centre-mid - Dynamic Soon

Centre-mid - Influential Sebastian

Right-mid - Talisman Derrick  

Striker - Speedy Hee

Striker - Powerful Alvin

 

Subs:

Talented Chun Haw

Combative Ron

Steely Tze Ern

Composed Jackson

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Jiawei (trialist)

Calvin (trialist)

Absent:

Skillful Weilit

Unbeatable Darren

Dependable Jinzhong

Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Marauding Guoxiong

Wonder Wayne

Hard-man Tjioe

Booming Boon

ARFC easily dominated the early exchanges with Kenny particularly eye-catching with his penetrative runs down the left flank. Alvin and Hee also harassed their defence non-stop.

In the 7^th min, ARFC took the lead. Khim latched on to a loose ball from the left and executed a reverse inside pass to the central area just outside the penalty box. Sebastian came from deep and whipped in a half-volley that was parried by their diving keeper. Hee reacted quickest to the rebound and lifted the ball past their keeper for his 91^st ARFC goal. 1-0

Strangely enough, ARFC struggled after taking the lead and was really indebted to How Meng when he produced a top-draw finger-tip save to tip a long-range shot over the bar. Fantastic goal-keeping.

How Meng also displayed an assured pair of hands when he twice held on to their fierce free-kicks.

At the 20^th min mark, Haron and Tze Ern came in for Alvin and Hee, and Kenny moved upfront to partner Haron while Tze Ern took over the left-mid position.

Shortly after, Chun Haw and Jackson came in for Derrick and Jasper respectively, and then Ron replaced Sebastian at centre-mid.

ARFC doubled its lead when Soon pierced through their middle and laid the ball to Chun Haw who came sliding in with a shot that almost burst the net for his 21^st ARFC goal. 2-0

Chun Haw’s goal also moved him to 21 goals with Kenny, Jiong Jiong and Hock.

In the 2^nd half, trialists Jiawei and Calvin took the right-mid and right-back position respectively.

ARFC then conceded a penalty. 2-1

ARFC restored its 2-goal cushion almost immediately. Sebastian’s free-kick was floated nicely to the danger area near the edge of the 6-yard box and Toh got a nice glancing header. The ball hit the upright and fell kindly to Haron who simply rolled the ball into the empty net for his 193^rd ARFC goal. 3-1

ARFC then conceded a goal. 3-2

ARFC then conceded another goal. 3-3

At this juncture, Sebastian had to quickly replace the trialist Calvin at right–back with Jasper before more calamitous defending sets in.

Khim also returned at left-mid to stabilize things.

ARFC regained its lead after a superb flowing move that started from its own half. Khim played the ball from left to Tze Ern and then to Sebastian who passed to Chun Haw on the right. Chun Haw’s delicious cross from the right was picked up by Alvin. Alvin’s first touch was overly-heavy and the ball looked to be smothered by their keeper. Incredulously, their keeper somehow allowed the ball to squirm under his hands and the ball slowly rolled over the line. 4-3 and this was Alvin’s 208^th SARFC goal.

ARFC got lucky again after Kenny’s venomous right-wing cross was missed by their sweeper. Haron gleefully lapped up the ball and placed the ball into the exposed net for his 194^th ARFC goal. 5-3

These are the voting results:

Chun Haw – 32 pts;

Kenny – 19 pts;

Haron – 11 pts;

Khim & How Meng – 7 pts;

Tze Ern – 6 pts;

Derrick – 4 pts;

Sebastian – 2 pts;

Ron & Jackson – 1 pt.

Congratulations to Chun Haw & Kenny for winning $10 and $5 respectively.