Young fans dazzled by their LionsXII heroes

SINGAPORE - She was the first to arrive at the LionsXII Celebration Dinner with her parentson Sunday night, and positioned herself right next to the players' tables.

And once the players reached the Gayatri Restaurant at Orchid Country Club, 11-year-old S Kirthana was the quickest off the mark in a hunt for the autographs of her heroes.

Said the Admiralty Primary School pupil: "They work as a team to score goals, and it makes me proud to be Singaporean, because they are the only Singapore team playing in the MSL, and they won."

"My father makes me finish my revision and all homework before I'm allowed to go to the Jalan Besar Stadium to watch games, and I remember my first match - that 1-1 draw with Selangor. I met my friend there and we screamed and shouted till we lost our voices."

Her mother, Vijayarani, said that the present crop of players remind her of the 1980s, when the Malaysia Cup dominated the local football scene.

Said the nurse: "In the 1970s and 1980s, I used to watch the Singapore team in the Malaysian League, and I can still remember many things, like that Sundram bicycle- kick goal (8-0 win over Brunei in 1993)."

"And these days, you can hear people screaming from their homes when these boys play and score. It really reminds me of the old days."

Nur Fatenan, 12, and her 8-year-old brother Mohamed Fadlil were similarly awed in the presence of their heroes.

"We were so excited about being able to meet the players that we couldn't sleep last night, we were awake till midnight," said Nur.

"My favourite players are Shahril Ishak, Baihakki Khaizan and Faris Ramli, but when I grow up, I want to be like Faris."

"I still remember that goal he scored against Pahang - that's my favourite goal of the season," said Fadlil, who with his sister, scoured the restaurant for the autograph of every single player on both a scrap book and a ball.

Like Fadlil, kids at void decks, and street football courts across the island are mimicking Shahril, Bai, even Isa Halim and Shahfiq Ghani and calling themselves by those names.

"When we were growing up playing football at void decks, we wanted to be Fandi, Sundram and Malek Awab. And it definitely feels funny that now kids are recognising us and using our names," said Shahril.

"Don't get me wrong, it feels great that some kids say that they're inspired by Shahril Ishak. But it's not just me, it's all of us in the team, and this inspires us to want to do more for Singapore football."

Baihakki is still coming to terms with how his LionsXII teammates have managed to work their way into the hearts of so many.

"It is something that I didn't think would happen - not so fast and not so strongly," Baihakki told TNP.

"But it was the same for us when we were kids, all this started as dreams while we were playing football at void decks. We had belief and we put in a lot of hard work to get to where we're at today, and this makes it all worthwhile."

"Hopefully, we will have the same positive effect on kids as the older players had on us," he added.

"We have created history, and now we're looking to make more when the Malaysia Cup competition starts in August."

shamiro@sph.com.sg

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