So what does the flag mean?

By Les Tan/Red Sports

When people who aren’t sports fans start talking about what happened before the Singapore-Liverpool game, you know it has hit the national consciousness.

For those who have been out of touch, here is a recap.

Before the start of the Singapore-Liverpool game, the announcer said, “Welcome to Anfield!” Never mind that we were at the National Stadium, the scene of some of this young nation’s more meaningful and historic moments in sports. That first insult to the national identity was followed by another one, this time with our President in attendance.

After President S.R. Nathan was introduced to the players, the Liverpool anthem, “You’ll Never Walk Alone” was played even though there was an agreement between the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) and the not-so-subtly named organisers, the Profitable Group, not to play any anthems.

The FAS took minutes at the meeting, showing them as proof that there was such an agreement. When told this by The New Paper, Steve McMahon of the Profitable Group was quoted by the New Paper as saying: “Is my signature on a contract? There’s no contract.” (National Anthem only for international matches; The New Paper, Saturday, August 1, 2009).

The organisers had earlier also left some fans disappointed when, just a week before the actual game, they announced that Steven Gerard was not coming to Singapore. The New Paper showed that Steven Gerard’s court date of July 20th was announced back on April 3rd, about three weeks before the Profitable Group announced Liverpool’s visit to Singapore on April 22nd. (Why the ambiguity over Gerrard?; The New Paper, Wednesday, July 22, 2009)

So for the fans who paid $88, $188, $388 (corporate suites for companies), all they wanted was a chance to see Liverpool. And so they should. But we argued on this site (This is NOT Anfield) that everyone would have been better served if FAS had trotted out a token Singapore selection side to face Liverpool. After all, nobody was paying to see the national team.

The contention that we should have had the “Majulah Singapura” played at the game to match the Liverpool anthem is misplaced. It was not an international game. Playing the national anthem would be at best unnecessary, at worst, disrespectful.

Were the Singapore Liverpool fans not patriotic, as some say? That too is a silly assertion. Again, they paid good money to be there, wanted a good time and made sure they did. That was their right. It was not a test of their patriotism and it shouldn’t be.

The singing of the Liverpool anthem, standing pitch side, was an electrifying experience. It was so nice to hear 45,000 people singing a beautiful song. Ordinarily – and those who read this site know my bugbear – the only thing 45,000 Singapore football fans know how to shout with one voice is usually a Malay swear word. The contrast couldn’t be more stark.

If anything, the sight and sound of so many Singaporeans singing meaningfully with one voice shows what we are capable of but such a sporting culture takes time to build.

The Liverpool game was a commercialised, concert-like event. It was best treated as such from start to finish.

So let’s keep our flag separate and not made an extra in somebody else’s theatrical production.

Our national flag means something to us and we want to see it treated right.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ7i-Ydlapg