By Andre Yeo

THEIR intentions were good - to help the community bond through soccer while setting a Singapore record.

The event was a 24-hour soccer marathon last weekend aimed at youths to get them to spend their time meaningfully.

When fewer teams signed up than expected, the organisers decided to go ahead, but with a reduction in the prize money.

Now one irate participant in the marathon has complained to The New Paper about the way it was organised.

His biggest grumble was how the prize money had been reduced by half, with the winners only finding out about it on the day itself.

The Tampines West Constituency Sports Club (CSC)had organised Singapore's first-ever 24-hour soccer tournament from 4pm last Saturday till6pmon Sunday.

The seven-a-side competition was held at the Tampines Stadium, home of S-League club Tampines Rovers.

The Tampines West CSC later issued a press release saying that it had got into the Singapore Book of Records for organising the event.

Tampines West CSC chairman Dick Hui, 51, said the tournament had four categories - open (no age limit), under-18, under-13, and recreational.The last had no prize money.

The participant, an engineer who declined to be named, claimed the teams were not informed that the prize money for the open category had been reduced.

He said the first prize was reduced from $1,000 to $500; second prize from $500 to $300; third prize from $300 to $200; and fourth prize from $200 to $100.

He told The New Paper last night: "When you organise something, you must have the prize money ready. They promised something, they did not deliver it."

He said his team, Orion, had finished second in the open category.

Mr Hui confirmed this and said the prize money for the open, under-18 and under-13 categories had been reduced due to poor participation.

But he clarified that the fourth prize money in the open category was reduced to $150, not $100, as the complainant had claimed.

He also said that teams were invited to a meeting on 3 Nov where they were informed of the changes in prize money.

Mr Hui had planned for 48 teams in the open category, but only 15 signed up. Each open team, with a maximum of 10 players allowed, paid $100 to take part.

He said most of the teams attended the meeting after they were notified by phone or SMS. Only one person objected to the prize reduction during the two-hour meeting.

"I told him he was free to withdraw. But nobody withdrew at the end of the meeting," Mr Hui said.

The complainant claimed that his Orion team was not told of the meeting.

He said the organisers had put up banners and posters to publicise the original prize money.

"The event was fun except for this incident which overshadowed everything," headded.

Mr Hui said the organisers had to work under the People's Association guidelines and could not incur too big a deficit when organising sporting events.

They had planned to absorb a loss of $5,000, but they were short $8,000 in the end. He said they had to pay for eight referees, a private ambulance and medic. And it cost $4,900 to use the stadium over two days.

See it through

He said they decided to proceed with the marathon as they had paid for the stadium and also wanted to see the event through.

Mr Hui said the event was aimed at getting football players to come together to enjoy themselves in an S-League stadium which they might otherwise not have the opportunity to do.

It was also a chance to get youths to take part in something fun, he added.

A total of 508 players from 51 teams took part.

Mr Hui said each match was originally scheduled to last about seven minutes. But the poor turnout meant that each match was stretched to 15 minutes.

"So they enjoyed longer games and I am sure they got their money's worth," he said.

Mr Abdul Rahman Shariff, 40, a social worker, knew about the reduction in prize money but decided to take part for fun, exercise and recreation.

His team played a total of four matches but didn't make it past the first round.

"Taking part in the marathon is really not about the money. Anyway, how long can $500 last you?" he said of the first prize money.

andrey@sph.com.sg

This article was first published in The New Paper.