USE2321: Examining Local Lives

A/P Barbara Ryan

Oral history

The Legend of Singapore’s Seven-a-side

I visited Shankar at his home in Chua Chu Kang on 6th February 2019. As I walked into his HDB flat, I

almost couldn’t take my eyes off the trophy shelf which easily had over 25 football championship trophies.

Some were so tall that they could not even fit within the shelf and stood tall beside it on the ground.

Although some trophies’ labels had faded away, most trophies bore the name of either a community club in

Singapore or that of a Singapore politician who organised the event. Such a huge collection of trophies could

only imply one thing - Shankar was once a local football legend.

As I took a seat at the dining table beside the shelf, Shankar, while looking at his trophies with pride started

narrating his story - “First time I started playing Football was in Malaysia already. Primary school when I

was 9 I start already…”. Shankar was born in 1967 in Muar, Malaysia where he spent the first 16 years of

his life. Even as a boy, he loved Football and played as a mid-fielder for his primary school, Sekolah Rendah

Kebangsaan. “Football my favourite. All people, my kampung all football. School also all my friends play

football” he continued.

Seven-a-side was the most popular form of football back then where each team would consist of only 7

players and 2 reserves. Shankar spent every evening playing Seven-a-side in the open fields of his kampung

with his friends and brothers. When he finished Secondary 3, he decided to drop out of school in search for a

job to support his family of 9 brothers and 3 sisters.

He moved to Singapore to work for an oil company in 1983, a time when the country was going through

drastic reforms under the iron fist rule of Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew. Even when burdened with full-time

employment, Shankar used to find time for football. He recounted, “In Singapore I start work. Then in

evening we go play football also. Evening we go play football…umm.. Jurong Park. We Singapore don’t that

that kind of field. And…under the block. After that I start playing for Seven-a-side. That time Singapore all

Seven-a-side only, famous in Seven-a-side”

Seven-a-side was perhaps the most popular sport of the time. According to Shankar, there used to be at least

two Seven-a-side tournaments organised by Community Centres and politicians every month. “That time

Sembawang, Ayer Rajah, Boon Lay, Yishun, Kim Seng CC. Kim Seng CC that I time I straight three years

champion. All places got seven-a-side” listed Shankar as he remembered all the places that he once used to

compete at.

Each team had to pay about SGD 100 to participate and the winning team would take home SGD 300-400. In

those days there weren’t as many modern stadiums as there are now in Singapore. So these matches often

used to take place in open grounds such as Hang Jebat (at One-North where the Mediacorp office stands

today) and Farrer Park fields. When asked about his views on the closure of the fields, Shankar replied,

“Singapore like that la [laughter]. Cannot complain. Singapore cannot do anything. That’s why they now

they all go play street soccer.”

After moving to Singapore in 1983, Shankar started playing for his brother’s Seven-a-side team, the La Plata

Juniors (named after Adidas La Plata, a famous football boots line). They used to train on the weekends at

Jurong Park and the Teban Gardens. However, not long after his father fell ill and so Shankar went back to

Malaysia to look after his father. While there, he joined his state team and played for the Muar FA Cup. He

also used to frequently drive to cities such as Pagu and Labis to participate in Seven-a-side tournaments.

Shankar says he was well on his way to become a national player from Johor to compete in the Malaysia Cup

if not for a tragic accident that Shankar recounts with regret -

“At 87 I injure. If I not injure, I never come back Singapore. You can never see here. Because the

referee my teacher. That time ah, my coach and my referee is a my teacher. They support me a lot. If

that thing don’t happen to me, I would go until Johor FA also. Go for Johor in Malaysia Cup. I got

chance to go there. In Singapore, in any country, if you leg injured… means ah your life gone.”

Despite his injury, Shankar continued playing for another year during which his team played for the FA Cup

and the Gresik Cup. However after his father’s death in 1988, Shankar decided to move back to Singapore

once again to work.

Yet, Shankar and football were inseparable. He often calls himself “crazy” for not having given up on the

sport. Soon after he moved to Singapore, instead of playing for his brother’s team, he decided to form a new

team of his own which he named the Season Boys. Shankar assumed the role of Manager and second reserve

player on the team - “I put there Manager, my name. Yeah so Manager-Player. Then on the nine players,

number nine is my name. When I no enough people then I just go in.” He also sponsored and coached his

team.

The Season Boys used to train on every weekend unless they were participating in a Seven-a-side

tournament. More than often they would meet La Plata Juniors at the semi-finals or finals during these

tournaments as Shankar describes - “The Season Boys ah, every I play they never win cup. Only third and

second only. Every final I meet my brother team. Sometimes I meet semi-final. I know my brother team. They

give my team anger, my team cannot play”.

Shankar also describes how through the late 80s and 90s, some teams used to use “illegal” methods to win

tournaments. Shankar claims that many teams used to rely on a traditional form of black magic called

Mantar. Intrigued by the idea of black magic, I asked him more about it and he shared an example -

“Once the opposite players just go out, see the- talk to the coach, then come in ah they change

the jersey. Then my friend tell me, my friend is very close to me. He know about black magic. That

time I playing for defender. Last match, my friend call me. He ask me urine, urine on the field.

Because he know already. The guys change the jersey he know got something wrong. Got black

magic already. He ask me urine. My players all no dare because if urine in field , red card”

Some teams used to bring in pork to the grounds if the opposing team comprised of mostly Malay players.

Gang fights amongst the teams were common. This is also why the government and politicians were getting

less and less supportive of Seven-a-side tournaments. Slowly other forms of football like street soccer and

five-a-side started to get more popular. Even today, street soccer continues to be the most popular form of

football in Singapore.

In an attempt to break his team’s never-ending losing streak, Shankar changed his team’s name to K.G

Shakti. By now he was married with two children (K and G in K.G Shakti are initials of his first two
children). The players were the same. The only difference was a new name and a new jersey. But to his

surprise, there was a drastic improvement in his team’s performance after the change. No longer were they

being crushed by La Plata Juniors or any other teams using “illegal” methods to win. K.G.Shakti went on to

win several Seven-a-side tournaments all over Singapore from the late 90s to early 2000s.

In 2007, after winning the his last Kim Seng CC tournament, Shankar decided to retire to spend more time

with his family. Most of teammates went back to Malaysia and started their own families. His brother’s team,

the La Plata Juniors, is still one of the most well known names in local football today. They competed in the

international Seven-a-side tournament which was held at Padang (City Hall) and also were chosen to

represent Singapore at an international tournament in Argentina in 2011. Shankar’s third son is an active

street soccer player.

Despite having injured his leg irreparably in 1987, Shankar still continued to play football for 20 years after

the incident. He supported younger players by accepting them in his team and sponsoring and coaching

them. Even today, Shankar continues to guide and support the local football in Singapore. Shankar may have

left the field but he probably will never leave the game.
POST-SCRIPT

Finding a subject: My first pick was a server/dancer at a very shady Bangladeshi club in Clark Quay

because I wanted to cover her story about how she’s almost ended up in prostitution. The club was closed

during the CNY break. I interviewed a friend who shared his opinions about Lee Kuan Yew during the

interview but I was not entirely satisfied with that. So, I took a chance and waited until Thursday evening to

interview Shankar because he was not free earlier. That left me with only one day to finish this paper.

The interview: Frankly, it was very difficult to interview Shankar.

- He had a preconceived notion that I was there to ask him about only his football career.
- He spoke with a very strong Singlish/Minglish accent. I too had to code switch to Singlish too to make
him feel more comfortable.

- His answers to even open-ended questions like “how” and “why” usually did not last beyond two
sentences. I constantly had to probe further to get him to keep giving out more details.

- I also experimented and improvised a lot along the way. For example, I tried get him to elaborate more by
just keeping silent even after he was done with his response to subtly suggest that I am looking for more

information about the topic.

- There was no chronological structure in the answers even after my questions tried to impose one. A lot of
information was repeated and scattered throughout the interview.

All this made it difficult use direct quotes in the write-up because Shankar brought in things and left out

details he would eventually come back to later.. To not significantly affect the flow of reading, I had to juggle

between using direct quotes but not too many for the same point.

Inspiration: I think The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye probably had more influence on this essay than any

other reading in class. I tried to cover the life of an individual (although not fictional) and in the same fashion

that Sonny Liew does - by differentiating between the narrative (the interview) and the narrated event (the

story). I try to switch between the two to remind the reader that this in fact is an interview and and the same

time I try to present Shankar’s story in an easy-to-follow, chronological manner.

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