Saying Goodbye Is Just So Hard to Do

Saying Goodbye Is Just So Hard to Do

I am going to "retire" from full time footy after 14th August 2010.

Saying Goodbye is just so, so, so hard to do. I intended to retire on 28th June 2010 but had to extend my "retirement" to "save" my beloved park. I look at it and it seems like it is declining. Hopefully it isn't, of course. It wasn't always that way.

I really hope that people will continue to play at the park. I love that park very much. I even consider it "my park", sometimes "the" park, and certainly many kids even think that it's my park. I've heard from three people already that people only play at the park when I am there. When I am not there, there aren't people going there. This state of affairs cannot continue. I am going to leave Singapore for England! Who's going to take leadership or ownership of the park when I go? Clearly someone, or some groups of people, must continue to play when I am not at the park.

I've set up a facebook page so that I can always keep in contact with my livelong neighbours, friends, enemies and football buddies, for as long as we can. (Of course, there are enemies. Not all the people who go to the park are lovely, friendly, intelligent or sensible people. An extremely small minority are total morons/idiots that I've no time to explain myself to. Most, however, are great and wonderful people!) I've already sent emails and collected facebook addresses.

Most importantly: For as long as I have gone to the park, I have always brought the ball. Sometimes other people also bring the ball too, which is totally marvellous. Now, this initiative must pass to the younger players who must always bring the ball - for our park really comes alive only with football, and without the ball there can't be a game.

I've heard all sorts of opinions and ideas on what happened and what can be done to save the football games at the park. Currently, only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays are there many players like in the good ole (old) days. However, once upon a time, there were people playing in the park every single day from Monday to Sunday, and there was life, and there was real vitality. No amount of talk, whether of opinion or ideas, can solve this problem.

Friends - neighbours, friends, enemies and buddies! Please come to the park whenever you're free. Bring more friends to play football.

Now, before I say goodbye, barely a fortnight before I "retire", I will have the customary reminder and memories of the good ole days. I used to go around 3 times a week - I still do - but from 14 August 2010 on, I'll only go about once a fortnight to once a month. (I will of course notify friends via SMS, email and facebook.) Here is a non-exhaustive list of the wonderful memories and the beautiful times I had at my beloved park - I played the Beautiful Game there for 15 long years:

1. M and I have known each other for about 16 years. We used to play pranks on each other a lot back then - I mean really back then - and when we discovered we had a common interest of football, we became good friends. We have remained good friends and neighbours still, till today.

2. My cousin N stayed at Joo Chiat and used to sneak out of his house to play football with us at the park. He often got into trouble with his mother for that! How many kids today would do that just to play football? We really loved the game that much.

3. Once, an old man invited us to play football (street soccer) at the Eunos CC competition - aka the Kampung Ubi Sports Carnival. Ronald was goalkeeper, and Shan, John and myself played outfield.

Ronald - unbelieveably and very luckily - scored our first goal from a goal kick!!!! I scored the second goal for our team by rolling the ball left and then pumping it in from close range and ran to the stands, filled with many Malay kids, and shouted LOUD AND CLEAR: GOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLL right in their faces and they cheered me on!

We lost 5-2 in the end.

[Note: my records show that. However Shan claims that, from memory, it was I who scored first and Ronald scored the second.]

4. There was a very enthusiastic Indian sailor called Santosh (I shit you not - I am not making these up) who used to rush down to play every Friday when I booked out from camp. He would kick and maul everybody wildly like a wild beast right out from the depths of hell! Hahahahahaha!

5. Wolverine once did a backflip when he was lying on the ground. He, from a reclining position on the ground, flipped up and with a whoooooosh landed on his feet, like a professional gymnast! Hahahaha I will always remember that for as long as I live.

6. My brother once got into a fight with T. I defended Shan and fought T. And then, in the words of M, like a bull R ran towards me and boxed me to the ground! Hahaha what a lovely brawl. R's lovely brother broke up the fight! Lovely brawl.

7. Another time, one of the small kids said to Shan: you won't always have your big brother to protect you. Today, Shan is bigger than me.

8. I used to draw symbols and stick figures to record all my goals. I played in the St Stephen's School team for less than a year, when one day I got injured and removed from the bench (I was substitute). I then played on and off in secondary school and played for the arts team in JC. I also played competitively for EDSM in the Catholeague for two years. Holy Cow!

By the way, I also once left an S paper History lesson because of football.

C K: Ms M, can Shawn play? We need him for the team as we're taking on the teachers now.

Ms M: NO! If Shawn leaves this room, he's going to be in big trouble.

Me: It's once in a lifetime, Ms M. Don't worry, I'll be back!

Ms Menon: Shawn!!! Come back this instant!!!

We lost (2-0) and I came back to the Humanities Room. She was STILL teaching the other 4 students. (If I remember correctly, we had 6 S paper students and 1 of them never turned up for classes.)

I sat at the back with my muddy boots.

Ms Menon: LOST HUH? Why do you guys even bother?

Other classmates: The bloody teacher's pet. She didn't even scold him. She was just swearing to throw him out of the classroom if he returned.


9. On 7th October 2005, Friday, it is recorded in this book I am holding that I scored 8 goals -

shot straight at keeper, shot a long shot, shot a low hard shot, Sam bundled my shot in, I stole Shan's goal, I ran right and shot left, I tapped in from behind the goalkeeper, I dribbled into the goal.

But I think my personal record was: on 3rd May 2006, Wednesday, well I told you we played on weekdays too, I scored ELEVEN GOALS! :) Lovely. Brendon, Joseph, and Wesley were among the opponents and are pictured inside my notebook! Admittedly they were young players way back then and I was still young, fast and agile. Today, if I score more than 5, it's a screaming fantastic miracle.

10. Some gangsters once threatened Joh at the park, trying to steal his bike, and I came over and threatened them back. When one of them held my collar and tried to pull me over, I even smiled and said very loudly: "You're gangsters, and pulling my collar - what would my brother and cousin say? Maybe you want to talk to them when they come round the corner. Moreover, I think the police would want to have a talk with you if I went to them!" Hahahaha I can't believe it they bought it.

Joh got his bicycle back. I went to bat for him over his stupid bicycle, but at least I am a good friend and got it back for him.

11. My brother and I once nearly cried when it rained and we couldn't go to the park to play football. Despite the torrential downpour, we disobeyed our parents and sneaked out to play football in the rain... two of us plus Eden and Sam!!

12. I heard that Sam, Eden and Jeremy fell into bad company? But the thing is that I remember them as being very young guys who loved to play football and were rather talented (except Eden, who played goalkeeper).

13. I have never headed the ball except once. We played in the field near the playground, with the big tree and the bench marking the goalposts. M passed a high ball to me, and I headed it into the goal. This was the first and last time I have ever headed the ball.

Actually, I didn't intend to head the ball. It hit my head and went in! [My brother says it was unintentional luck.]

14. In that very same game, I remember lobbing the ball over the keeper's head as well! Beautiful goal.

15. Who can remember Ah H, also known as Xiao Gua, the sepak takraw kid? Well, as the saying goes, "Who can do, do; those who can't do, teach". I am only an above average football player, but I thought Xiao Gua would make a talented player. I taught Xiao Gua how to play football with a generous dose of pushups, scolding, and watching... I kid you not - football videos from Champions of Brazil and the EPL. Once, he had no shoes, so I gave him an old pair of my football shoes. He improved rapidly after that!

In the end, he went over to the Dark Side... to play basketball.

16. The beautiful game had its beautiful characters, colourful chaps, with correspondingly amazing nicknames -

Wolverine, and his favourite jersey with long sleeves (and a whole host of other "memorables")
Xiao Gua, and his antics
Adriano, and his terrible skills
Nesta (I kid you not), and his defending
Zorro, and his speeding
Fofo, and his vulgarities along with his interesting parallel life as a PIANIST, for God's sake
Shan, and his advanced cheating methods
CXJ, and his enthusiasm
Akmal, and his misses and near misses
Romario, and his small size
Da Ge, and his goalkeeping
Officer, whose real name I've only just learnt DAYS ago
Buddha, who's actually Edmund
Jimmy/ Jims, who's actually not called Jims
Razzle Dazzle, who's damn funny and always does his razzle dazzle
Frank Lampard, the small boy
Firhan, the small kid who was "professional"
Khairul, the nutcase... but a very sweet kid
Brendon and his little fat neighbour, who used to swear a lot
Zamorano/ Zamo, and his antics
Uncle, and his backheels and "Scorpion"
VJ's cousins: the "little spider" and Mascherano
Gordon, and his stepovers
No. 9, and his Burmese gang of footballers - did you know that No. 9 was a MONK?!
Thunderpants/ Thundershark, and his cute PANTS!

17. And the more normal, more human, less colourful folks, who were

Jay, Shang, Jia Yin, Lawrence, Jeremy, Gabriel, Ryan, Yy, Yy's brother, Joey, Louis, Anton, Amos, Chengs, Ben, Alvin, Other Ben, Other Ben's Indian pal, Nic Lim, Tat, John, Kirit, Shoban, Shenal, Rasydan, Azik, X B (aka officer), Ivy, Heng (Brian), Harry, Sid, Marcus, Joseph, Ahmad, Joel the Great, Ah Ming, Kaimin, M, M's relative, T, R, R's brother, Sam, Eden, Wesley, Wesley's bro, Hongyi, Lam, Kambeng, Brendon, Bryan, Keenan, Foxtrot Sergeant, and a couple more others whose names I've missed but whose faces remain firmly etched forever in my memory.

OK, maybe not all the folks above were perfectly normal, balanced people. Hahahaha!

There you have it. Some of my fondest memories and thoughts about the park that I love. Time just flies.

This has to be the longest blog post that I have ever written in my semi-"professional" blogging career (professional just means that you get paid to do your hobby), but it's been a lovely, long walk down memory lane. Thank you for walking down memory lane with me.

Goodbye, my park. I miss you already!

Anything that interests me!

PS Most of the names we call them are nicknames, and some of them are their real names. Real names have been amended to ensure anonymity :)