| Clubname: | Singapore Xin Hua Sports Club |
The Singapore Xin Hua Sports Club is a semi-professional football team that currently competing in the Singapore National Football League Division 2. It was founded in 1911 as a local football organisation in Singapore which was initially set up to promote football amongst the Chinese community in colonial Singapore.
In 1911, the Straits Chinese of Singapore formed the Straits Chinese Football Association (SCFA).[1] The various Straits Chinese clubs in Singapore who already had a football team were in the SCFA while all other clubs were encouraged to join. The SCFA would regulate the football matches and be an authority among the football clubs. While the SCFA lacked a playing ground for clubs to play matches, the Fairy Dale Cup was held with eight teams competing.[2]
In 1913, Lim Boon Keng became the president of SCFA.
During Japanese occupation of Singapore in World War II, the SCFA was disbanded. After the war in 1945, the SCFA was revived with an election of the council members[3] and renamed as Singapore Chinese Football Association (SCFA).[4] [5]
In 1947, Choo Kwai Low founded the Malayan Chinese Football Association (MCFA) with SCFA as a member.[6]
In March 1970, SCFA changed its name to Singapore Chinese Football Club (SCFC). It was reported in May that according to Choo, due to MCFA's new general deputy secretary, who happened to be an assistant registrar of Johor's registry of companies, MCFA was warned by the registry of companies for breaking a law for having SCFC, a non Malaysian club, as a member.[7] As a result, SCFC left MCFA.
SCFC was renamed as Singapore Xin Hua Sports Club.[8]
In 1982, SCFC hosted the MCFA cup and won the competition, beating Selangor 2-0.[9]
In 1987, SCFC decided to accept the invitation to play in the MCFA cup having last played in the final of the 1982 MCFA cup.
In 1985, the Singapore Chinese Football Club formed the Tyrwhitt Soccerites, which players consisted of different races, to participate in the National Football League (NFL).[10]
In 1987, Tyrwhitt Soccerites won the NFL Division II Champions and was promoted to Division I.[11] They won the Division I in the first year and was promoted to the FAS Premier League. However they ended up last in the Premier League in their first season in 1989.
From 1989 to 1990, Tyrwhitt Soccerites was sponsored by German sports brand, Puma.
In 1994, the club signed Australian coach Michael Urukalo,[12] Australian striker Abbas Saad and Croatian goalkeeper, Sandro Radun.[13]
In 1995, the club indicated interest in playing in the Premier League for the 1995 season.[14] Football Association of Singapore (FAS) gave the club a day to confirm that it had resolved its financial troubles which the club was unable to, resulting in FAS refusing the club's participation in the league.
Katong Football Club was an affiliated football club of SCFC.[16]
An amateur football team was formed in 2007 and took part in Singapore's amateur football organisation ESPZEN's Sunday League.[17] Most of its players are Chinese footballers and are well trained. The team won the Dixy Cup Johor in 2008 and was runner-up the next year in 2009.
The SCFC regularly send its members for friendlies and tournaments throughout the region of Asia and the Pacific. Tournaments include the annual Evergreen Cup for football veterans. The 9th Evergreen Cup was hosted by Singapore in 2005.
The basketball team was formed in 2016 to play in the National Basketball League (NBL) Division 1.[18] In its second year playing in the NBL, it won the Division 1 championship in November 2017.
Today, the SCFC involves itself in a number of grassroots and regional activities. These include:
Established in February 2007, the SCFC Academy is targeted at youth of all races living in the region of Singapore. Training is conducted by Asian Football Confederation qualified coaches and ex-Singapore internationals.
The SCFC Academy maintains a unique approach towards training. Character development of its players takes equal, if not more importance than technical football skills. A strong emphasis is also placed on the players' academics. Players are known to have been barred from training if they do not do well at school, and parents are very much involved in the progress of their children in the Academy.
Unlike clubs with youth academies or centres-of-excellence, the Academy's aims are to develop their players to be good enough to represent their own schools, and not necessarily SCFC.
The Academy currently trains boys in the under-18/16/14/12/10/8 categories, with about 40 players in each senior and junior side.
Since its establishment, the Academy's players have done well, winning several local and regional tournaments. Some of their players have also gone on to play for the schools such as the Singapore Sports School or even join the S.League.
SCFC supports the development of Singapore football in the community. In addition to the SCFC Academy, the Club also maintains a school outreach programme.
The club coaches football teams of primary and secondary schools each year. To date, the club has provided coaching for:
Over the years, SCFC has established relations with several football organisations in Asia and the Pacific, especially with overseas Chinese football organisations in the region.
Affiliated football organisations hail from: