Sunday, March 29, 2015

Memorial Match for founding father, Mr Lee Kuan Yew


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)


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