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Tuesday, 9 February 2010
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Raptors Football Club
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Team WebSite: http://www.raptorsfc.com/index.html
Description: Following introduction is written by Han Ming, one of the key founders of the club alongside Ah Siau and Botak. Han Ming is now working in United States while the latter two are enjoying fatherhood. However, the social/amateur football club has preserved since its inception as we look forward to celebrate our 10th season in 2006 led by our club manager, Chew... The Origin of Raptors Football Club It is interesting to trace the history of RFC because without doing it, one simply would not understand the intricacies of the formation of this club. The origin of Raptors dates back to 1980s (really!) when a lot of us were still in secondary school. There was then a group of keen soccer enthusiasts who refused to accept the fact that Anglican High didn't (and still doesn't!) have a football team. So this group, (including Lester, Meng Hock, Kian Lye) formed their own team and started playing basketball court soccer. It was by chance that I heard of this group and it was by force that I badgered my way into the team. After a little while, they accepted me as a part of this team and it was then that I thought it would be good time to bring in some of my gang. Botak and Ah Siau were subsequently 'recruited' as future stars. We gradually grew aware that the basketball courts limited our skills and experience. We needed more width and depth. Our unofficial leader, Lester decided then that we should form a team and start challenging other teams in a real soccer field. Of course, we needed a name then. And I, in my infinite wisdom (large doses of sarcasm included), wanted to name the team after a small electronic pinball machine. Amazingly, all of them agreed. I could only guess that "Galastro" sounds simply Italian. The years following the formation of Galastro were full of games, mostly victorious though disastrous once in a while. I think all of us would agree the team enjoyed good cohesiveness and camaraderie. All of a sudden, there was a blank; I had flown to the States for 4 years of education. Trickles of news about the team came once in a while but I never really knew how well it was doing. I could only assume that it would continue in the great health that I had known it. I only discovered how wrong I was when I came back. There was no more Galastro when I came back. In fact, both Ah Siau and Botak were not playing soccer anymore and Lester had gone for overseas studies in Australia. However, slowly I learned that there was, in fact, another strong team that has absorbed some of our former best players. When I came back, I was invited to join them in their soccer duels. This team is so strong that they won almost every game (at least when I was playing for them. Well.., I am sure it wasn't due to me because I was mostly playing a defensive role). Although the winning sensation was great, I truly felt that something was missing. I realised that one of the big factors was that a lot of my friends are not in the team. I decided to talk to some of the former Galastro players and also any of my friends who have heard of the word 'soccer' before and asked them if they would be interested in joining me. The response wasn't really that overwhelming because a lot of them either already has a team or didn't want to play anymore. The pain of forming a new team was so intense that I guess this must be the reason that I greatly appreciated all the players who have played for us before. After one or two months of hard persuasion, we finally got a bunch of players together (some of them are reluctantly dragged there, like my cousin). We don't even have jerseys earlier because I didn't know how long this motley bunch of players were going to last. Let's face it. In terms of mutual understanding, some of us don't even know our own player's name that we resorted to calling each other "Hoei!" during the game. In terms of fitness, some of us couldn't (and I guess still can't) complete a 1km run. And what about the team's reputation? Well, I don't think we had a reputation at all! I remembered that there was even a team who refused to play with us because we don't have jerseys. Frankly, when we finally started playing regularly, I can't remember how many games that we lost before we won our first game. I can't remember how many fields we played in before we settled down at Khatib Camp. Nevertheless, some of us amazingly persevered and kept doing it. Ah Siau, for example, was extremely enthusiastic about buying new jerseys that he took all the effort to source for them and make sure that each of us looked proud in our new jerseys. Slowly, we settled into a routine a year after the formation of the team. We still don't have a team name then but at least we were enjoying ourselves and winning games too. Luckily for us, a few new faces turned up for our team and unfortunately too, some of our friends left because they realised that they could not cope. One of the key players that joined us later was Lester, captain of Galastro. His presence has definitely added more organizational zeal and it was to his credit that we now have a team name, a team barbecue and a team yearbook. I can only see better things for the team in the future. Bravo to the players who founded the team. Let's play on. Han Ming - 1997, written for our first celebration.
Team Honours: Play-off winners for Division 6 in season 8.
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