On 28 March 2015, ARFC was supposed to play
a special Memorial Match as a tribute for our founding father Mr Lee Kuan Yew
at The Float@Marina Bay. Due to the huge crowd, however, the police force
required the venue.
Thankfully, ARFC managed to find a replacement
venue at the SIA Sports Club from 4 to 7 pm.
Prior to the match, all players (with the
exception of Toh, Haron and Hee as they were late) drew a deck of poker cards
to determine which team they would be in.
The white team is (in order of draw):
1.
Ismail
2.
Tjioe
3.
Kenny
4.
Robin
5.
Khim
6.
Tong
7.
Daniel
8.
David
9.
Huiming
10.
Chun Haw
11.
Kiat
12.
Jasper
13.
Blackburn
14.
Haron
15.
Toh
16.
Hee
The black team is (in order of draw):
1.
Derrick
2.
Darren
3.
Jinzhong
4.
Guoxiong
5.
Eng Lai
6.
Dominic
7.
Soon
8.
Alvin
9.
Sebastian
10.
Elvis
11.
Ron
12.
How Meng
13.
Weilit
14.
Wayne
15.
Tze Ern
Both teams and their family members took a
group photo with the tribute banner to Mr Lee Kuan Yew.
Prior to the kick-off, all players and
family members also observed a minute of silence.
The BLACK team drew first blood when Alvin
put Tze Ern through on the left flank. Tze Ern’s cross was met by Soon whose
header struck the cross-bar. Wayne reacted quickest to the rebound by simply
slotting home. 1-0
The WHITE team soon fought back. Khim’s
reverse pass foled the BLACK’s defence and Kenny capitalized by turning and
firing home a rocket. 1-1
The BLACK team then earned a contentious
penalty after Guoxiong was upended by Ismail though Guoxiong appeared to have
no chance of keeping the ball which was headed out anyway. Derrick stood up but
his penalty was disallowed by the referee as Derrick had broken his run-up
momentum. In the re-take, Alvin easily dispatched the penalty. 2-1
The WHITE team then grabbed its 2nd
equalizer from Robin. From a goal-mouth melee, Robin turned back the clock to
show his predatory instinct by squeezing the ball home. 2-2
The BLACK team regained its lead from yet
another lucky decision from the referee. From a high ball, the ball struck
Huiming’s hand and the referee awarded a penalty though the handball was
totally unintentional. Sebastian stepped up and sent Ismail the wrong way. 3-2
The BLACK team then appeared to have the
result to bed with a 4th goal. How Meng exchanged wall-passes with
Sebastian before crossing to Tze Ern who made no mistake from close-range. 4-2
In the 2nd half, the WHITE team
gained some hope when Hee beat Derrick at his near post with a rising shot. 4-3
The WHITE team then equalized for the 3rd
time in the match when Haron took full advantage of a defensive error to place
the ball home. 4-4
Both teams then conjured to miss some
glit-edged chances. With both teams tiring, chances and errors were really
aplenty.
In the penalty shoot-out, Hee (WHITE) was
the first to step up and scored. 1-0
Sebastian (BLACK) ensured parity when he
beat Ismail for the 2nd time from the spot though Ismail got a hand
to it. 1-1
Chun Haw (WHITE) then scored. 2-1
Elvis (BLACK) was then denied by a superb
full body-length flying save from Ismail. 2-1
Kenny (WHITE), who was probably the
best-performing player in their team, then saw his spot-kick saved by Derrick.
2-1
Alvin (BLACK) then lifted his penalty to
the top right-hand corner. 2-2
Robin (WHITE) followed Kenny’s fate when
his kick was pushed out by Derrick. 2-2
Derrick (BLACK) then slotted past Ismail
3-2
Blackburn (WHITE) then showed Kenny and
Robin how it is done when he sent Derrick the wrong way with a “ai zai ai zai”
kick. 3-3
It was then left to Darren (BLACK) to
snatch victory with a decisive kick. 4-3
Special thanks to all family members who
turned up to support.
Special Special thanks to all ARFC warriors
for contributing generously to the team.
Special Special Special thanks to these
sponsors:
1.
Tze Ern (banner - $200)
2.
Tjioe (referee fees - $100) - $10 goes to club funds
3.
Haron (ball - $120)
4.
David (ball - $120)
5.
Ron / Tze Ern (drinks)
6.
Derrick (jersey sponsor)
