Sepaktakraw differs from the similar sport of volleyball in its use of a rattan ball and only allowing players to use their feet, knee, chest and head to touch the ball.

So we got tickets for that and drove out to Singapore Expo where the event would be hosted. Again, security was very tight with metal detectors. Not sure what kind of crowd Sepak Takraw normally attracts. When we were there it barely attracted anybody. We specifically went for the final of the day, but even then, it was hardly 50 spectators and we soon found out why.

The Sepak Takraw hall

The show surrounding the game was well organized, yet there weren’t many spectators – this is the Thai team

Turns out there are different disciplines of the sport. There is a action-oriented, competitive version where you drop kick the ball over the net (which is what we wanted to see). And then there is the not-so-competitive variant called Chinlone (originating in Myanmar) that we happened to catch. Remember playing hacky sack in high school? Was kinda fun, right? Remember watching others playing hacky sack? No? Right, because that was boring.

Yea, so Chinlone consists of two team separately passing the ball in a circle with the team winning that can complete more circles in 2×10 mins. Long story short, Thailand dominated the final against Malaysia and won 264-200.

The Malaysian team lost…

…against the Thai team…

…in a game which was very clear from the beginning.

Time was running out until the kick-off to the big football game at 8.30pm so we hopped into a taxi over to Jalan Besar Stadium. With Myanmar playing, we expected a full house and were not disappointed. In fact, it was so full that the stand that we were booked in was full already and we were directed to another stand.

A packed Jalan Besar Stadium

National Anthem of Myanmar

Myanmar fans during the national anthem

While I won’t go into details of the game, here are my take-aways:

• Myanmar fans make up a fantastic crowd – the stadium was sold out (8’000) and I would say at least 7’000 were cheering on Myanmar
• We were wearing Myanmar jerseys and got numerous high-fives – our sector was really excited to see foreigners support their team. We must haved been photographed over 50 times
• 80 minutes into the game, some fans started going around with big plastic bags collecting the trash. Really? Yes, really. I wouldn’t say the stadium was spotless when we left it, but quite close to it.
• Philippines as the underdog scored the first goal after 10 minutes… and ended up losing 5-1 in what was a one-sided but exciting game

Myanmar about to score

The game’s over – 5-1 Myanmar!

All in all a great evening. While we’ll probably give the next Chinlone sessions a pass, we bought tickets for Myanmar’s last group game against Cambodia.

• Brunei
• Cambodia
• Indonesia
• Laos
• Malaysia
• Myanmar
• Philippines
• Singapore
• Thailand
• Timor-Leste
• Vietnam

While some of the sports are rather international (such as football), there are some very SEA specific sports on the schedule, for example Sepak takraw (stay tuned for more on that).

Since I live right next to one of the football venues, the Jalan Besar Stadium, I couldn’t pass up to catch a game or two.  Unfortunately I was too slow to buy a ticket for the Singapore games. The first match I went to see with some friends was Philippines versus Cambodia, generally ranked as the weakest two teams of the group (the other three teams being Singapore, Myanmar and Indonesia).

We sat on the Filipino side of the action, along with about 200 hundred supporters. Football is generally not the most popular sport in the Philippines and accordingly the fans weren’t was well organized as other teams. The Cambodian community not being very big in Singapore, the stadium was far away from full. Security was (almost) as tight as at a high-risk game in Europe with metal detectors etc deployed and no alcohol served.

A rather empty Jalan Besar Stadium

In the first half the Philippines started out weak and then further deteriorated. The game went in one direction only and the half-time score should have been higher than 2-0 for Cambodia.

Filipino supporters while it was still 0-0

The Philippines came back a bit stronger but didn’t manage to turn around the game and ended up losing 3-1.

The first half went mostly in the direction of the Filipino goal…

… and the second half mostly continued where the first half left off at.

The Cambodian fans celebrating their fans

The game is over – 3-1 for Cambodia

While some of these might not attract a lot of fans in the stadium here, you’d be surprised at the number of viewers online (all games are broadcast via Youtube). This is the number of viewers for Myanmar vs. Indonesia 12 hours after the game finished:

That’s right – over 170’000!

Getting to Larkin meant once again crossing the Woodlands checkpoint and after my recent experience, I wasn’t too keen on that. And this time round things did go a lot smoother. After a non-stop bus ride to the border, we quickly cleared immigration on both sides and soon found ourselves at the Larkin Bus Terminal. From there it is a 15mins walk to the stadium. Unfortunately tickets cannot be bought online but they were still selling them at the stadium for either MYR30 (€8) for the grandstand or MYR10 (€3) for open seats. Naturally we went for the latter.

JDT vs Kelantan F.C., 18.04.2015

Fans tend to go to the stadium fairly early and when we got there around 90mins before kick-off, the stands were already quite crowded. It was quickly evident to us why it is worth to go early: inside the stadium barely any food was sold but outside there was a large night market for food and (original and original-copy) merchandise. After filling our stomachs and making sure we blend in with the latest fan gear, we entered the stadium. Malaysian hospitality was great and we managed to get great seats. The game started soon after a prayer and the singing of the regional anthems of Johor and Kelantan. The stadium seemed to be more or less sold out and there was also a large crowd of Kelantan supporters. The JDT fans kept completely quiet when Kelantan was singing their anthem which was a sign of mutual respect.

Food and merchandise before the game

Stadium view

The Grandstand

JDT fans

While last week’s 0-0 was not the most exciting game I had ever seen, this week’s match proved to be much better. Kelantan was up 0-1 after 10mins which was a bummer. However by half-time JDT managed to turn the game around and was up by 3-1! Needless to say the atmosphere was great and we decided to make our way over to the main block of JDT supporters, a large group that basically celebrates the team nonstop for 90mins.

In the main fan sector

Celebrating the 3-1 victory over Kelantan F.C.

We didn’t end up watching much of the second half (which was fine since no further goals were scored) but instead had a great time celebrating with the fans and trying to learn some of the Malay chants. We were all impressed by how vibrant the stadium was and at the same time completely peaceful. Since no beer is sold, everyone was completely sober – a sign for me that the ban on alcohol for some games in Europe shouldn’t necessarily dampen the excitement of the fans.

To give you an idea of what the atmosphere was like, here’s a video of JDT fans in the national stadium in Kuala Lumpur:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQiKIftRJjM

Getting back to Singapore was hassle free although it does take time. By the time we were back at the Larkin bus terminal around 11.15pm there were still busses across the border and although there are no queues at immigration at this time of the day, it wasn’t until shortly before 1am that we were home.

Great experience and highly recommended to any football enthusiast!

This past weekend they played against Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT), the team based across the border in Johor Bahru. While the Lions’ stadium is usually not that well visited, we expected there to be a number of fans coming over from Malaysia for the game.

Jalan Besar Stadium

Getting tickets was straight forward and cheap at S$8 per person. We decided to join the Johor fans this time and were not disappointed. Getting into the fan sector was not so easy as we had to prove that we are truly supporters of the guests and also had to show our IDs.

Ticket

The atmosphere was great and while the quality of the game was not at Bundesliga level, it still made for a very enjoyable evening.

JDT fan sector

View of the game

We were the only mat salleh (Malay for caucasian) in the block and ended up making friends with one of the fan groups. So now we are invited to join them for JDT’s next home game against Kelantan FA in Johor Bahru. While tempting, hopefully crossing the border will be easier this time round.

By the way, the game ended 0-0.

Snack during half-time (Tiger beer now sporting the retro design for SG50)