Singapore vs Phl: Azkal photo sparks word war

MANILA, Philippines - What started out as a call to action for Singaporeans to support their national football team turned into a word war with Filipino Azkals fans.

A goal.com report in Yahoo! said a newspaper snapshot with a red X mark was posted on the Facebook page of KallangRoar.com urging fans to attend the home game of the Singapore Lions in the ongoing AFF Suzuki Cup semifinals.

“Dear fans, if you love Singapore football, please start buying tickets early. Say no to another mini Manila. Share this to your fellow Singaporean football fans. #sgfootball,” the photo caption said.

According to the report, the photo is a Straits Times article which showed the huge turnout of Azkals fans during the Singapore-Philippines friendly in 2011.

The same turnout of home-and-away fans happened again earlier this year when the Loyola Meralco club played against the Lions.

“It is not the problem of the visiting Filipino fans if you can’t fill your home stadium with your own fans. The real issue I think is the lack of interest of Singaporeans in the S League because they’d rather watch the Premier League. Let a thousand flowers bloom,” Paul Lucero, an Azkals fan, explained.

Some Singaporeans, on the other hand, have asked the government to intervene by controlling ticket sales.

“Can someone with the authority do something about it? Should restrict the ticket sales to Singaporeans only, Filipinos only can purchase balance tix on game day,” Azza Azman said.

The first game of the AFF Suzuki Cup semifinals will be held at the Rizal Stadium in Manila on Dec. 8 while the next match is scheduled at Jalan Besar Stadium in Singapore on Dec. 12.

Earlier this year, both countries were featured in a survey, which tried to measure how citizens felt about their lives.

Singapore was named “the world’s most emotionless society” while the Philippines topped the list of most emotional.

According to US pollster Gallup, respondents from more than 140 countries were asked to evaluate their life on a scale of zero to 10 and answered questions such as: Did you feel well rested yesterday? Were you treated with respect all day yesterday? Did you experience enjoyment, physical pain, worry, sadness, stress and anger?