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| Tuesday, 9 February 2010 |
| It's now 1:01 PM in Singapore |
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| TEAM DETAILS: |
| Home Kit: |
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| Away Kit: |
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| Third choice kit: |
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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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