'Salesmen' needed at the top at FAS

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I could not agree more with Mr Michael Ang York Poon who argued that the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) should admit its failures and stop highlighting minor positives as signs of progress ("Broader definitions of football success breed mediocrity"; Sunday).

The truth is that we are ranked below the likes of Afghanistan and Palestine, which do not even have a professional football league.

Another truth is that the attendances at our professional football league pales in comparison to that of Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

While I agree with Mr Ang that Singapore still lacks the potential to consistently match the Asian giants, I would go one step further and suggest that the key to our success is to have personnel - at all levels - with the right qualifications and experience.

At the top level, we need people like City Developments managing director Kwek Leng Joo, who was the S-League's chairman back in the 1990s, and former FAS chairman N. Ganesan.

To a large extent, the people in the top seats at FAS have to be polished salesmen who must be able to persuade not only the customer to buy the product, but also convince that customer to promote the product to other friends and relatives.

Not everyone can be an effective salesman and I wonder if our current football administrators have the necessary attributes, including strong interpersonal skills, needed to succeed.

It is strange that FAS does not seem to be able to attract top talent from the private sector - despite the fact that it is the most-supported sport in this country.

It is even more baffling that FAS is unable to attract sponsors to pump in real money - and not in-kind sponsorship deals, while other national sports associations, especially table tennis, are able to announce such deals once every few months.

And have we even succeeded in marketing the profiles of our players, whether through endorsement deals or working with renowned agents to take them to top Asian or European leagues - like how Thailand, Indonesia and even Malaysia have done in recent years?

The truth hurts, but in reality, we are nowhere near our regional neighbours, be it on the field or even in terms of marketing and operations.

The earlier we conduct a reality check and bring in top talent across all divisions within FAS, the better our chances of making improvements to the game which has stagnated since the 1980s.

Andrew Chan