It was one of those days when the Sports Council Field Manager seemed to have his own set of rules to determine what an unplayable field looked like. Making a call to John Chia at about 1230pm (2.5h before SF) following some showers in the morning, he explained that the field was waterlogged and unplayable. Appeals to wait for the water to be dried up by the heat fell on deaf ears, as he claimed 'higher authorities' had made the call for such conditions. An email, a post on the blog, SMSes and WhatsApp messages were furiously sent out to inform as many people as possible.
Wanting to verify the Field Manager's claim of the pitch's condition, I took a stroll to Greenview Secondary for an 'inspection'. As the photos below attest, besides a small pool of water in front of one of the goals, the field looked dry and possibly even drier than some of the fields we've been allowed to play on in the past.
Side view of the field from just before the entrance
Top view of the field from the 9th floor of the HDB block
View of the field from behind the goal
Walking away from the school, I bumped into Adrian Tan, who was wondering where everyone else was. I had explained the situation and I guess many would not have thought the field booking would have been cancelled as it was hot and sunny since 1230pm. We walked to Pasir Ris Primary School to check out the 'Free-to-Play' field (Astro Turf) and found it to be open, with many from the Pasir Ris East community already there to kickaround. SMSes and WhatsApp messages were sent out to our players living in the East to see if they would be interested to have a kick and quite a number responded.
In total, 11 players turned up from the Soccer Community to have a kickaround with folks from the Pasir Ris East area. Steve, Choon Heng, Adrian Tan, Brian, Benny, Lester, Tim Loke, Daniel, Jingzhong, Lincoln and myself had a good run-out and it was unfortunate more could not join us as they had made plans following the original message to say the field had been cancelled.
We formed a team to play 'first to 2 goals win' and had a good time against some of the 'locals'. The Astro Turf pitch was excellent and there was even a 5-a-side Futsal sized pitch on the compound. Next time our Greenview field booking is cancelled, we'll stay on to play at Pasir Ris Primary.
Folks from the Pasir Ris East community
Adrian Tan and Choon Heng enjoying the Astro Turf
Daniel, Lincoln and Jingzhong after our run-out
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