Hello fellow Singaporeans!
Just an idea some of us here in Australia are talking about, but curious to hear some opinions from yourselves.
The 2012/13 season of the Hyundai A-league has probably been the most successful one to date. Large attendances, TV ratings, passionate crowds, improved quality of football, bigger name players such as Del Piero, Ono, Hesky etc... at the moment, there are only 10 teams in the A-league, but there is a desire to expand to potentially 12 or 14 down the track.
Since the Australian sporting scene is largely overcrowded, expanding to a 14-team competition in the long-term will require another team or two from outside Australia itself.
If you look at the S.League, due to the population constraints, you can imagine there will never be a "mega club" the likes of Urawa Reds (J.League) or Guangzhou Evergrande (CSL).
So in order to create a mega-club. What about the idea of maybe one or two teams from Singapore joining the A-league competition? So instead of having a population of 5 million supporting 10 different teams, you have a have a population of 5 million supporting 2 major clubs in a bigger competition. Perhaps to differentiate them (& to create a derby experience), one should be marketed towards the Singaporeans & the other marketed towards the large expat community?
Before the A-league, many people in Australia only ever supported the typical EPL, Serie A, La Liga (etc.) teams & we never supported the local competition due to their ethnic ties. With the introduction of the A-league however, more people than ever are showing greater passion towards their local team than compared to the team they support abroad.
The team I support is the Western Sydney Wanderers, a team created in 2012, yet probably have the most passionate fans in the competition right now! Check out some of the fan videos below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b7EAm-LQmM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDzt1TYnHCQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAbVlo4J7hQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6rfg8grypk
Would be great to hear some feedback!