Tampines Rovers FC
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| Full name | Tampines Rovers Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Stags | ||
| Short name | TAM | ||
| Founded | 1945; 72 years ago | ||
| Ground | Our Tampines Hub | ||
| Capacity | 5,000 | ||
| Chairman | Desmond Ong | ||
| Manager | Jürgen Raab | ||
| League | Singapore Premier League | ||
| 2017 | S.League, 2nd | ||
| Website | Club website | ||
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Tampines Rovers Football Club, commonly known as Tampines Rovers or simply Rovers, is a professional football club based in Tampines, Singapore, that competes in the Singapore Premier League. Nicknamed "The Stags", the club was founded in 1945 and settled on its current name six years later. Their home ground is currently at Our Tampines Hub, where they had been since 2017, after six years playing away due to the construction of their new stadium.
Tampines Rovers has won major trophies in Singapore, including the Singapore Cup and the Singapore Premier League. They have won the national league championship eight times, the Singapore Cup thrice, the Singapore Premier League five times and the ASEAN Club Championship once. The Stags are known for boosting a considerably high attendance at home and away games.
Tampines Rovers is one of the wealthiest football clubs in Singapore. They were previously sponsored by Hyundai and Komoco Motors until 2016 season, ending a 15-year association. It is also one of the more widely supported football clubs in Singapore, with the Stags being known for boosting a considerably high attendance at both home and away games. Its main rival is Geylang International, with whom they contest the Eastern Derby.
History
Several football enthusiasts from Tampines decided to form a football club in 1945. After many name changes, they finally decided on "Tampines Rovers" as the official club name. The Stags spent the 1950s and 1960s competing in the Singapore Amateur Football Association League, where they were among the top teams, until they were placed in Division II of the newly formed National Football League in 1974. 1975 was a watershed year for Tampines, as they were promoted to Division I after winning all their league matches and reached the President's Cup final, where they lost 0–1 to the Singapore Armed Forces Sports Association in front of a national record crowd of 30,000. They continued to challenge for honours for the next decade, reaching another President's Cup final in 1978, then emerging as national champions in 1979, 1980 and 1984. The Stags were relegated to the second tier in 1988, but under a new management team, won their league in 1994, and were one of eight clubs selected to compete in the newly formed S.League.[1]
However, Tampines did not finish higher than sixth place in the first six seasons of the S.League. In 2002, the Stags secured the services of Malaysian coach Chow Kwai Lam,[2] who guided them to the Singapore Cup and two fourth-place finishes.[3] Under the next coach, Vorawan Chitavanich, Tampines achieved the S.League and Singapore Cup double in 2004.[4] The following season, they successfully defended their S.League title, were named the 'S.League Team of the Decade' and became the first Singapore team to win the ASEAN Club Championship.[5] The Stags were Singapore Cup champions in 2006, but finished runners-up to SAFFC in the S.League.[6][7] The Stags was also the champion of S-League in 2011 and 2012. They were also runner-up in the 2012 Singapore Cup after losing 1–2 to SAFFC.
2016 season
Signing 9 Lions XII players, Tampines Rovers FC began with 6 unbeaten matches in the S.League. In February Tampines Rovers FC started with the 2016 AFC Cup.[8] Tampines Rovers FC finished second place in Group E with 10 points. Leaving the Red Giants behind with 2 points' difference. The round of 16 was won with 10 men by Tampines Rovers FC versus Mohun Bagan by a late goal in the after extra time 1-2. This was also V. Sundramoorthy's last match before taking on the Singapore national football team job as care taker. V. Sundramoorthy's successor was his Assistant coach Akbar Nawas. He was appointed to be the next head coach of Tampines Rovers FC followed with 8 straight wins and 28 goals. Tampines Rovers FC started the 2016 RHB Singapore Cup with a double win playing Global in the quarterfinals. Global had an unbeaten score in the whole of 2016 season. The Stags will face their AFC Cup rivals Ceres from their group stage were they draw and lost a match and let them finish 1st in the AFC Cup 2016 group E.
2017 season
In view of the financial woes faced by the club during the 2016 season, drastic measures were taken before the start of 2017 season. These would include cut in players and technical staff's salaries, shutting down of fruit machines to name a few. Club chairman, Mr Krishna Ramachandra had decided to make sweeping changes within the club to avoid the same issues happening as last season. The 3 foreign imports from last season, Billy Mehmet, Jordan Webb and Jermaine Pennant had been released from the club with them joining Brunei DPMM, Warriors FC and Bury FC respectively. The club had also ended their 15-year association with their long term sponsor, Hyundai. A significant number of the playing staffs had also left the club as well, notably Hafiz Abu Sujad who left the club for Thai Division 2 side, BBCU F.C.
The club had signed a trio of foreign young players to replace the 3 that had departed the end of last season. They would include former Ceres FC utility player, Son Yong Chan, Japanese Teenage winger, Ryutaro Megumi and former Croatia U17 International, Ivan Jakov Džoni. They too did sign a couple of local free agents last season. Notable local signings would include Singapore National Team Defensive Pairing, Madhu Mohana and Daniel Bennett from Warriors FC and Geylang International FC. The most notable one would be the sudden resignation of coach Akbar Nawas who left the club just 1 month before the start of the season and was replaced by former Garena Young Lions Coach, Jürgen Raab.
They took on Global FC in the AFC Champions League Play-Offs this season and lost to them 2-0, which meant that they would be playing in the AFC Cup this season where they finished as quarter finalists last season.
Midway through the season, club chairman, Mr Krishna Ramachandra had announced that he would be stepping down as chairman of the club. Citing commitment issues as the reason. He stayed on as club chairman to assist in FAS in the auditing and settling the accounts of the club prior to the date of his official step down (22 August 2017). On 30 August 2017, Mr Desmond Ong had been confirmed by FAS as the new chairman of the club and had also appointed a totally brand new committee for the club moving forward.
2018 season
The club will start their 2018 season with an AFC Champions League Play-Offs against Bali United. To ensure the job security of the players, Tampines Rovers started the initiative to offer longer term contracts to their players. They have 3 models of contracts for their players. The first kind of contract is that the players would be able to get a set increment at the end of every year. Second kind of contract (mainly for the U23 players) is that there would be a year-end review at the end of the season to decide on the amount of increment. The last kind of contract is that their salary would be the same for the duration of the contract. Most of their players are securing a 2-3 year deal with the club.
Despite agreeing to a 3-year deal, the club has allowed midfielder, Shahdan Sulaiman, to go on a season-long loan to Melaka United, in view of long-term benefits for both clubs and the player. Some of the national players in the club had also moved on to play in overseas leagues as well. Thus the club had signed quality replacements to fill in the shoes for the players who had departed the club for other clubs. The club had also retained the services of Japanese midfielder, Ryutaro Megumi for the 2018 season. They had also brought back Canadian winger, Jordan Webb from Warriors FC to fill up the foreign quota of the team. The club has also signed quite a number of young players (mainly from the National U20 Squad and Tampines Rovers Prime League) to fill up the minimum quota of U23 players needed in the team for the new season.
The club has signed a 2-year technical sponsorship deal with Danish Sportswear Company, Hummel in a deal worth S$100,000 per season. They would be providing the club with their Home, Away, Third Jerseys, as well as the training and team wear. They would not be having any main jersey sponsor in this upcoming season as the management had decided that the word "Hormat" (Respect in Malay) would be emblazoned across the chest for the upcoming season. They had debuted their new home jersey during the AFC Champions League Play Off against Bali United. The away and third kit would be revealed in Feb 2018. The club would be facing Johor Darul Ta'zim, Persija Jakarta, Sông Lam Nghệ An in the AFC Cup 2018 after failing to advance from the Asian Champions League 2018 Play Off game. Their first game would be on 10 February 2018 against Sông Lam Nghệ An.
The club has also announced partnership with local private football academy JSSL Singapore. JSSL would look into the development of youth players from Under-6 to Under-14 age categories. The best players from the U6 to U14 categories would than be fast tracked to the stags U16 and U19 teams in the club's Center of Excellence and ultimately the first team. JSSL Singapore's General Manager, Gavin Lee has also been assisting Head Coach, Jurgen Raab in the first team matters as Assistant Coach.
Club sponsors and partners
The club has managed to secure many sponsors for the upcoming season. However, in view of the club management vision, none of them would feature on their jerseys this season. The club had decided to print the word "Hormat" which means Respect in Malay at the front of their jerseys this season.
Technical Sponsor:
- Main Kit Sponsor:
- 1996-1999: Star Cruises
- 2000-2015: Hyundai
- 2016: Hyundai, Nogle
- 2017: Nogle, Yellow Cab Pizza Co
- 2018: ANA Courier Express - The club will have the word HORMAT emblazoned at the front of the shirt. Thus sponsors will be featured at the back of the shirt
For the 2018 season, the club had managed to secure sponsorship and partnerships with the following organizations: True Yoga.Fitness, ANA Courier Express, AUTOINC EUROSPORTS, TRS Forensics, JSSL Singapore, ORIENT, GATORADE and Our Tampines Hub
Crest and colours
The club selected the stag as its animal mascot as the animal is a symbol of wisdom, its antlers are associated with the tree of life and in Chinese culture, it is a symbol of virility. The club's colours are predominantly yellow for its Home kit, with a mixture of black, blue and white for its away colours.[9]
Stadium
The Stags' home is currently at Our Tampines Hub, which has a seating capacity of 5,000. It is located on the same grounds as their previous home, Tampines Stadium.
In 2011, their previous home ground, Tampines Stadium, was demolished for the construction of Our Tampines Hub. They then relocated to play away at Clementi Stadium from 2012 to 2014 and at Jurong West Stadium from 2015 till the first half of 2017.
On 28 July 2017, Tampines Rovers had their first match at their newly-opened stadium against Brunei DPMM FC and won 2-0, signifying the return of The Stags to their spiritual home after six years.[10] That match saw a crowd of 4,676 fans.
Supporters
Tampines Regional Library is the unofficial supporting group for the club. There is no official supporting group for the club. They are known to be one of the quietest team in the S.League. In dedication to the library facing towards the stadium, they are also known for its fanatic story lines and books of history towards the club. They will bring identity card and yellow bags to borrow some reading materials after the match. They mainly wore yellow football Scarf and yellow football jerseys to represent the beloved colour of the club. As most stadiums does not have a library inside, they will only appear at home matches.
Players
Current squad
- As of 14 July 2018[11]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Out on Loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Club officials
Management
- Chairman: Desmond Ong
- Vice Chairman: Lee Lung Nien
- Honorary Secretary: Nicholas Hunter
- Honorary Treasurer: Ian Lau
- Committee Member: Nicholas Narayan, Leong Wing Kong
- General Manager: Desmund Khusnin
Reference:[12]
Technical staff
- Team Manager: Leonard Koh
- Head Coach: Jürgen Raab
- Assistant Coach: Gavin Lee
- Assistant Coach: Sugunan Perianan
- Goalkeeper Trainer: William Phang
- Sports Trainer: Shafiq Tahir
- Sports Trainer: Premjit Singh
- Sports Trainer: Gurnaya Singh
- Sports Trainer: Kumar Krishnan
- Kit Man: Goh Koon Hiang
Reference:[13]
Team managers
Managers (Head coaches)
- Chiang Boon Seng (1997-1998)
Honours
Domestic
League
- S.League: 5
- National Football League Division One: 3
- 1979, 1980, 1984
Cup
- Singapore Charity Shield: 4 (record)
- League Cup: 1
- 2014 (Plate Winners)
ASEAN competition
Performance in domestic competitions
| Season | League | Pos. | P | W | D | L | GS | GA | Pts | Singapore Cup | League Cup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996-1 | S.League | 8th | 14 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 18 | 27 | 12 | ||
| 1996-2 | 7th | 14 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 10 | 28 | 8 | |||
| 1997 | 6th | 16 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 22 | 38 | 15 | |||
| 1998 | 6th | 20 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 41 | 40 | 29 | Group Stage | ||
| 1999 | 10th | 22 | 4 | 8 | 10 | 25 | 39 | 20 | Quarter-finals | ||
| 2000 | 7th | 22 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 30 | 27 | 27 | Quarter-finals | ||
| 2001 | 6th | 33 | 14 | 6 | 13 | 60 | 55 | 48 | Group Stage | ||
| 2002 | 4th | 33 | 16 | 11 | 6 | 67 | 39 | 59 | Winners | ||
| 2003 | 4th | 33 | 17 | 3–2 | 11 | 63 | 40 | 59 | Quarter-finals | ||
| 2004 | 1st | 27 | 20 | 3 | 4 | 76 | 29 | 63 | Winners | ||
| 2005 | 1st | 27 | 18 | 3 | 6 | 77 | 35 | 57 | Semi-finals | ||
| 2006 | 2nd | 30 | 16 | 9 | 5 | 70 | 42 | 57 | Winners | ||
| 2007 | 3rd | 33 | 24 | 5 | 4 | 77 | 32 | 77 | Runners-up | Quarter-finals | |
| 2008 | 4th | 33 | 20 | 5 | 8 | 66 | 37 | 65 | Third Place | Quarter-finals | |
| 2009 | 2nd | 30 | 16 | 8 | 6 | 47 | 25 | 56 | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | |
| 2010 | 2nd | 33 | 21 | 6 | 6 | 68 | 30 | 69 | Runners-up | Quarter-finals | |
| 2011 | 1st | 33 | 25 | 3 | 5 | 71 | 25 | 78 | Quarter-finals | Third Place | |
| 2012 | 1st | 24 | 16 | 4 | 4 | 49 | 24 | 52 | Runners-up | Semi-finals | |
| 2013 | 1st | 27 | 17 | 5 | 5 | 59 | 36 | 56 | Preliminary | Quarter-finals | |
| 2014 | 3rd | 27 | 14 | 6 | 7 | 42 | 32 | 49 | Third Place | Group Stage | |
| 2015 | 2nd | 27 | 14 | 7 | 6 | 44 | 25 | 48 | Quarter-finals | Group Stage | |
| 2016 | 2nd | 24 | 15 | 4 | 5 | 50 | 28 | 49 | Runner-up | Semi-finals | |
| 2017 | 2nd | 24 | 17 | 3 | 4 | 48 | 20 | 54 | Quarter-finals | Group Stage | |
| 2018 | Singapore Premier League | -- | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- |
- The 1996 season of the S.League was split into two series. Tiger Beer Series winners Geylang United defeated Pioneer Series winners Singapore Armed Forces in the Championship playoff to clinch the S.League title.
- 2003 saw the introduction of penalty shoot-outs if a match ended in a draw in regular time. Winners of penalty shoot-outs gained two points instead of one.
Performance in AFC competitions
- AFC Champions League: 4 appearances
- AFC Cup: 9 appearances
AFC clubs ranking
- As of 1 Dec 2017.[15]
| Current Rank | Team | |
|---|---|---|
| 71 | | Tampines Rovers |
| 72 |  | Erbil SC |
| 73 |  | Shanghai Greenland Shenhua |
| 74 | | Central Coast Mariners |
| 75 |  | Persipura Jayapura |
References
- ↑ Malathi Das and Palakrishnan (1996), "S.League: the kick-off", Singapore Professional Football League Pte Ltd, p. 50
- ↑ Fariq Rahman, "Kwai Lam helming S-League club", The Malay Mail, 11 April 2002
- ↑ "Tampines Rovers beat Jurong FC 1–0 to win Singapore Cup", Channel NewsAsia, 14 October 2002
- ↑ "S.League champs Tampines make it double with Singapore Cup win", Channel NewsAsia, 3 October 2004
- ↑ Alvin Foo, "Tampines are S-League Team of the Decade", The Straits Times, 21 November 2005
- ↑ Atsushi Fujioka, "Singapore – List of Champions", RSSSF, 8 November 2012.
- ↑ Erlan Manaschev, "Singapore – List of Cup Winners", RSSSF, 8 November 2012.
- ↑ "2016 AFC Cup Competition Regulations" (PDF). AFC. 28 November 2015.
- ↑ "S.League: the kick-off", p. 18
- ↑ hermesauto (28 July 2017). "Football: Over 4,600 fans cheer Tampines Rovers' homecoming". The Straits Times. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
- ↑ "Tampines Rovers FC – Team Players 2017". S.League. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
- ↑ "Management – Tampines Rovers FC". Retrieved 8 September 2017.
- ↑ "Staff – Tampines Rovers FC". Tampines Rovers. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
- 1 2 Dan, Guen Chin (28 April 2014). "Rafi Ali to lead Tampines Rovers". Today.
- ↑ "AFC Club Ranking (1st December 2017 )". globalfootballranks.com. Asian Football Confederation. Retrieved 1 December 2017.