Commentary: Singapore football just doesn’t feel the same – without the crowds or drums

SINGAPORE: You know there’s a different electricity in the air if you’ve ever been to a pre-coronavirus live football match.

There’s the waving of flags and banners, raucous singing and chants, even the rhythmic banging of drums.

There’s a brass band that follows the England national team around the world, though fellow fans don’t always welcome it.

And who can forget the incessant buzzing of the vuvuzela at the South Africa World Cup in 2010, even through our television screens?

So when the Lions kicked off the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup on Sunday (Dec 5) with a 3-0 win against Myanmar, cheers filled the stadium. Or as much as 7,588 safe-distanced spectators could in National Stadium built to hold 55,000 people.

Perhaps an extra level to the atmosphere was missing. The “SingaBrigade” – a fervent group of about 150 Lions’ fans, a red-shirted fixture at the National Stadium whenever Singapore plays – was absent.

The group was peeved they could not bring in two drums due to pandemic measures, in addition to the high ticket cost of S$25 for each adult.

The group wrote on their Facebook page that “drums are considered musical instruments and can transmit the virus. How? We don’t know” and were refused even with the assurance that fans would remain masked as they did for the AFC under-23 Asian Cup qualifiers.

It was also a pity that they weren’t at the Lions’ stunning win over the Philippines on Wednesday.