Sunday, July 15, 2007

Today in History...[16th July 1977]

30 years ago on this day, our Singapore Soccer Team walked onto the National Stadium pitch to face one of the biggest clubs in world soccer- Arsenal Football Club. The Singapore team were the reigning Malaysian Cup champions and were hosting the Metro Quadrangular Championships in July 1977, featuring Celtic, Arsenal & Red Star Belgrade. The Singapore team boasted Singapore legends like Quak Kim Song, Edmund Wee & 'Gelek King' Dollah Kassim. Also in the team for the night, was our very own Ronnie Liew.

In the recently featured article 'When Giants Roamed at Kallang' in the TODAY newspaper, this occasion came in #25 in the top 34 moments of the National Stadium's glorious history. Headlining the article was a photo of Ronnie trying to shoot past the Arsenal keeper (click on image below). The caption for the photo reads "Singapore’s Ronnie Liew found Arsenal keeper Rimmer too big an obstacle and the Gunners ran out comfortable 5-1 winners at the Metro Quadrangular Championship in 1977."

Now 30 years on, Ronnie is still as enthusiastic about soccer as he was then. In a recent chat with him, Ronnie shared about his exploits on the right-wing for the National Team and how his speed as a school sprinter served him well in that position. Playing with some of the household names mentioned earlier was also an experience. He recounted how hard training was in the 'old days' when drills were conducted over and over again to make sure that everyone got the basics right. He remarked that these days, wannabe footballers sometimes don't put in enough effort on the basics and want short-cuts to success.

We thank God that in Ronnie, we have someone with tremendous footballing experience to mentor our young footballers and to lend valuable insight when we play competitive matches. We might not see Ronnie on the right-wing very often now, but regardless of where he plays, we know that his contribution to our team will be immense. Thanks Ronnie for allowing this day in history to be shared with all of us here @ the PMC Soccer Community!

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