The Grand Old Lady takes a bow

I guess the time has come to finally say goodbye to the Grand Old Lady, who for the many fanatical fans of the Singapore team during the days of Singapore’s participation in the Malaysia Cup, was the holy ground of football, to which they could be mesmerised by the magic of their football idols who carried the hopes of a nation, hungry for the taste of success that seemed for a while to elude the national team.

The grandstand of the Grand Old Lady.

The newly constructed stadium, opened in 1973 and was the most modern in South East Asia.

The “Boys in Blue” or the “Lions” as the national team was called had narrowly lost to South Vietnam in the semi-finals of the first major football competition to be played at the stadium after it was opened in 1973, and had not won the Malaysia Cup since 1965. Crowds of Singapore fans, packed the terraces for the first season of the competition in which Singapore’s home matches were played at the stadium, with as much as 70,000 people who literally shook the stadium with the sound of voices cheering in unison as tens of thousands of pairs of feet stamped on the terraces generating a thunderous reverberation of noise that came to be known as the “Kallang Roar”. The Kallang Roar was certainly instrumental in Singapore’s home form, and success soon came in the 1977 campaign. By then, the capacity of the stadium had been scaled down to 55,000, but that didn’t have much impact on the roar.

The gates that Singaporeans from all walks of life passed though as one Singapore.

The stadium was the place where Singaporeans from all walks of life came together as one, the terraces hosting a microcosm of Singapore. There, we were all Singaporeans, where we could forget the ethnic labels that serve only to keep us apart. There, we all spoke the same language, expressed the same emotions, and cheered as one united Singapore. I suppose it was fitting that the stadium in her old age, became a venue for the National Day Parades, where again, we could act as one Singapore.

The terraces were often packed with up to 70,000 fanatical spectators during Malaysia Cup matches in the 1970s.

We have been anticipating the day she will say goodbye to us, it was meant to have been a day some three years ago, but the old lady resisted, and came back to life for a while. This time, it does look that it is for real, and from the sound of it, demolition would begin after the Youth Olympic Games in August, as the old stadium makes way for the long delayed Sports Hub. So farewell my lady, and thanks for the wonderful memories you have provided over the years.

Masses of Singaporeans young and old were provided the opportunity with the construction of the stadium to follow the successes and disappointments of the Singapore football team.

Views in and around the stadium that would soon not be seen again:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The National Stadium was opened in 1973 by Mr. Lee Kuan Yew.

Advertisement