Raffles Institution Soccer 1978

As I start my 31st year in the teaching profession, I cannot help but reminiscent on the past events in the schools that I have taught in.

The first day of my teaching career was on 3rd Jan 1978 when I reported to Raffles Institution at Grange Road, after completing my NS in June 1977. The school had its PreU classes then. The first ECA I was assigned to was soccer. Mr Puhendran, the sports head then, told me that I would be working with Mr Alfred Chen, a stout guy who was with RI since the Bras Brasah days.

The first year was a wonderful year. I did not know what to expect. I was told to be with the boys while they were training and these trainings were very regular and long. The Pre U boys were captained and trained by Auyeong Pak Kuan who was already playing for the Singapore youth team. I remembered the holiday camp in school. Every detail was taken care by the boys. As teacher, we just followed and encouraged them along the way. Besides the training in school, they also went for runs at East Coast Park.

The single mindedness that they went about the training and spirit of the team shone through during the year's tournament. Everyone wanted to play and it was unavoidable that someone had to be on the bench.

That season, the boys won the national title. On the day of the final, I remembered that some teachers were giving odds on us winning big. The boys did not disappoint when they trashed Geylang Serai VI 5-1 at the National Stadium.

To this day, some of the boys still meet together regularly to play the game. Annually, for the past four years, the Ortega Cup series against SJI was also revived.

Newspaper report on the Final 10 May 1978

Straits Times Report 11th May 1978
The RI team : Ong Wee Chye (Goalkeeper); Fred martins, Kalidas Karuppiah (Azlan Shahrir), Emran Yusof, Chang Yeh Hong, Au-yeong Pak Kuan (Captain), Marc Tan Eng Teng, Tan Kin Keong, Yuan Chee Onn, Hayer Annuar, Clifton Foo
Beat Geylang Serai VI by 5-1 (Scorers : Clifton Foo (45th) Au-yeong (46th, 50th & 55th), Emran Yusoff (63rd)

Most memorable moment at National Stadium

10th May 1978, nearly 30 years ago, that was the most memorable moment that Raffles Institution’s soccer team had ever experienced. It was lean 6 years for RI in the soccer arena until 1978 when its post secondary team reach the pinnacle of school soccer by beating Geylang Serai Vocational Institute 5-1 and this was one of the few finals that was played at the vast National Stadium. Of course, after that, captain Au-yeong Pak Kuan (standing 3rd from right) continued to grace the National Stadium pitch as he captained the National team as an outstanding defender. Emran Yusoff (standing 6th from right) had some successes in playing for clubs. Fred Martins (standing 8th from right) represented Singapore in hockey and cricket. Marc Tan (back standing 2nd from left) turned out to a successful Horse racing tipster for New Paper.

The atmosphere at the National Stadium was undescribably surreal. Busloads of RI pupils turned up and their white (with many green skirts as there were Pre U girls) filled the stadium with their lusty RI cheers (they still exists today) which rose to its peak when RI scored the first goal at the start of the second half and then crescendoed up when the team received the Rodrigues Trophy (what happened to it?). The team then was very confident as they have beaten GSVI in the preliminary rounds and have had gone through a week’s in-camp intensive training during the March holidays. I was very fortunate enough to be there, on the team’s bench as a rookie assistant teacher in charge of RI soccer. To this day, when the players meet annually for the revived Ortega Cup against SJI, this final is one which all of them cannot forget. Of course, for me, it was a once in a lifetime experience and I have to thank the boys for making it happened.