The Football Association of Singapore Premier League was a semi-professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

league competition held in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

between 1988 and 1995. The Premier League succeeded the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

Division One as the top tier of the Singapore football league structure. It was replaced by the S.League in 1996.

History

The

Football Association of Singapore The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) is the governing body responsible for the administration of football in Singapore. Established in 1892 as the Singapore Football Association (SFA), it is the oldest football association in all of ...

(FAS) entered a representative team in the

Malaysian League The Malaysian League, also known as the M-League ( Malay: ''Liga Malaysia'' or ''Liga-M''), is a terminology used to describe the professional football league in Malaysia. The terminology was mainly used to describe the league and its divisions ...

and

Malaysia Cup The Malaysia Cup (), formerly known as Malaya Cup, is an annual football tournament in Malaysia, held at the end of the calendar year. The cup was first held in 1921. Despite its prestige and popularity as the country's oldest cup tournament, i ...

competitions up to 1994. The Singapore team's participation in these competitions was the main focus of most Singapore football fans at the time, and the local league was generally considered to be a fairly minor competition. The Singapore league season was usually held fairly early the year, and many of the Singapore players in the Malaysian competitions also played for clubs in the local Singapore league. Eight clubs - Hwee Seng SC, Jurong Town FC, Changi CSC,

Armed Forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a ...

, Tampines Rovers, Tiong Bahru CSC, Balestier United RC and Geylang International - were selected to contest the inaugural season in 1988. The dominant team in the FAS Premier League was Geylang International, which won the league six consecutive times from 1988-1993. In 1989, Tyrwhitt Soccerites joined the Premier League. In 1993, the start of the league was postponed from January to June. In 1994, in a bid to add some spice to the Premier League and generate increased fan interest, two teams from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

were invited to participate – the Perth Kangaroos and the Darwin Cubs. However, after confirming the participation of the two Australian clubs, the FAS then decided to withdraw all the players in its Malaysian League team from participating in the local league that year. This considerably weakened the strength of the local clubs. Perth Kangaroos won the Premier League that year without losing a game, and the Darwin Cubs finished second. The experiment did not succeed in bolstering fan interest. Halfway through the season, Perth Kangaroos' management company, Global Football Australia, declared bankrupt and handed over control of the team to the Soccer Association of Western Australia. As a result, Perth Kangaroos was disbanded after the end of the 1994 season. In 1995, the FAS unexpectedly decided to withdraw the Singapore team from the Malaysian League. Most of the players on the

Singapore national football team The Singapore national football team represents Singapore in the senior men's international football. It is organised by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), the governing body of football in Singapore, which is affiliated with the Asi ...

had been due to play in the Malaysian League team. It was therefore decided that the national team should play in the 1995 Premier League competition as a stop-gap measure until the establishment of the S.League the following year. The national team is restricted to the first 16 players on the team, no foreign signings and not entitled to the league's prize if they won the league. Tickets are not charged for all matches except for the national team's matches held at the

National Stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football ...

. The initial matches of the Lions drew lots of fans, with thousands of fans attending its matches but interest waned after the Lions beat all the clubs one-sidedly. In August, Darwin Cubs pulled out of the league due to financial problems. The season ended with the Lions on top of the league but the winner of the league was Geylang International who was placed second as the Lions was not eligible as the winner. The Premier League was disbanded with the formation of the professional S.League in 1996.

Clubs

Premier League champions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fas Premier League Defunct football competitions in Singapore Football in Singapore Football leagues in Singapore

History

Clubs

Premier League champions

See also

References