Friday, March 03, 2006

Important notice.

Dear All

I truly apologised regarding the late sms to inform you of the cancellation of the training session. I hope I can make it clear as to the reasons why the trainings have been cancelled so often recently.

As everybody is well aware, the club has been successful in the previous tournament (ESPZEN Weekend Morning League). This was due to partly the training sessions conducted by Wak Ansari. To those whom are new to the team, Wak is an accomplished coach in the local soccer scene and have brought many local clubs to experience progress and success. He is a qualified AFC 'B'Licence Coach and for many years was involved in the National Youth Squad. Players that had been under his charge ranged from current national players like Aide Iskandar and former Singapore stars like Fandi and V. Sundramoorthy (in SAFSA). Due to his experience, we now see players like Fuad, Fariq and Raimi maturing as players and the team gelling to become a squad to be reckoned with. (in the amateur scene of cos)

Unfortunately, we have been seeing a dip in the attendance during trainings lately. Most of the players cited work commitments. To have an effective training session, we need to have the majority of players attending. You cant have a training session when there is only 5 or 6 players attending only. We are not competing in a 5 aside tournament here.

Do take note that Wak is not paid a single cent. He is just doing it as a social responsibility to the development of local soccer. You can just put it as for the love of the game. For an AFC B Licence coach, the rate would be about $50 per training session. Therefore, please imagine this scenario:

Wak, who is about 60 years of age, wakes up in the morning at 6 a.m. and reaches work by 7 a.m. He is retired and works as a stall helper. He reaches home at 3 p.m. and rests for about 2 hours. He then rides on his old scooter to Farrer Park which is about 30 minutes journey. He then sees 5 players on the field, half of whom are not in the first eleven. He sees no reason to train as there is no way he could show set plays and movement and positioning. The time and journey is wasted.

That goes to the other players as well, who have made the journey to Farrer Park only to see a few players attending the training sessions. I understand that we are not a professional club. The players are not paid, and therefore there is no contractual obligation to the club to attend training. However, there is a moral obligation to attend as at Mandai United, respect is one of the values that the Club upholds. Respect the team, respect fthe coach, respect fthe players, respect our opponents ...respect feveryone.

Due to the circumstances, the training during weekdays are cancelled. We will therefore train on Saturdays, 5 pm to 7 pm at the open field near Khatib MRT. Hopefully, I can get my school field for the training sessions in the future.

I hope we can see an increase in the attendance and also team morale.

Sincerely

Rafiano
El Presidente
Mandai United Sports Club

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Silat FC Friendly Soccer League 2006 match report..26/2/2006 vs France F.C.

Dear All

Just wish to put on record the Club's deepest appreciation to the following members for sharing in the contributions to make our participation in the league possible. Sham, Guy and Cheang each have made a contribution of $50 towards the payment of the Registration Fee. Richard and Peter have also agreed to co-share the payment and I will be collecting the balance in good time.

Mandai started the first of their 14 matches with a convincing win over France F.C. The score was 3-0 in the first half and ended at 7-0. The scorers were Sazali (4), Richard (1), Nik (1) and Zahari (1).

The $100 match fees were borne by the players. 14 players each contributed to the pool. There was a shortfall of $30 which was prepaid by Cheang.

Therefore I hope we can request some of us to defray the shorfall. Cheang has already volunteered to pay another $5. Kindly respond to this appeal if you can assist.

Finally let us continue to remind ourselves not to place too much pressure on those that are unable to contribute to the pool -especially those that are facing financial difficulties and those that are schooling.

Btw..enjoy the pictures...courtesy of Khairul...and fyi...I spent 3 hrs uploading it.

Cheers and have a nice day...

P.S. Please attend the training on Thursday and Saturdays...

Yours truly

Alfredo de Rafiano
El Presidente
Mandai United Sports Club
14...Justice Okonkwo Posted by Picasa
Flight of the Icarus... Posted by Picasa
Our new recruit..from India..M.Mano..showing how to do the Bhangra.. Posted by Picasa
Hafizul Abu Hanifa...from Malaysia..making his debut for Mandai United Posted by Picasa
Nik...too fast for the camera... Posted by Picasa
Nik scoring in his debut.. Posted by Picasa
Medic!!!! Posted by Picasa
another newcomer...Zari Litmanen from Sweden Posted by Picasa
The two newcomers...Justice Okonkwo from Nigeria and Nik Aziz from Kelantan, Malaysia.. Posted by Picasa
Whats that all about? Posted by Picasa
Sattalee Sattaporn...Thai super striker from Pattaya.. Posted by Picasa
One for the scrapbook... Posted by Picasa
LOndon bridge is falling down..falling down... Posted by Picasa
Skill and Poise... Posted by Picasa
Chia Sun Park full of concentration.. Posted by Picasa
2 v 1 Posted by Picasa
The perfect stance when executing a goal kick Posted by Picasa
the ball is mine... Posted by Picasa
The perfect squat... Posted by Picasa
Gd Day Mate.. Posted by Picasa
The Terrific Trio.. Posted by Picasa
Oi!.the referee is not part of our team.. Posted by Picasa
ooops....i miss the ball... Posted by Picasa
The stalwarts of the defence...Botak and Rafiano.. Posted by Picasa
Richard doing the twist... Posted by Picasa