Richard Bok Kok Chuan is a Singaporean 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 ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

and former football player at

SAFFC Warriors Football Club was a Singaporean professional football club based in Choa Chu Kang, Singapore, that played in the Singapore Premier League, the top division of football in Singapore. Before changing their name on 20 January 2013, they ...

. He is currently the head coach of ActiveSG Football Academy at Serangoon Centre. Richard is the most successful coach in the history of Singapore's S.League.Three cheers to Bok
''The Straits Times'', 18 November 2008 He has led SAFFC to winning the S.League title four times, in 2006, 2007, 2008
channelnewsasia.com, 15 November 2008 and 2009, as well as the

Singapore Cup The Singapore Cup is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic Singaporean football. Established in 1998, it is the foremost prestigious cup competition in the country. It is open to clubs in the Singapore Premier League. Since ...

in 2007, 2008 and 2012.List of Club achievements at SAFFC website
/ref> Richard also won the S.League's Coach of the Year award in 2006, 2007 and 2009. Richard has a AFC Professional Diploma Coaching License where he also holds an AFC Regional Instructor Course.

Club career

In 1995, Richard joined

Singapore Armed Forces The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) are the military of the Republic of Singapore, responsible for protecting and defending the security interests and the sovereignty of the country. A component of the Ministry of Defence (Singapore), Ministry of D ...

in the inaugural S.League season when the league was first started in 1996. In 1997, he suffered a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

which left him with blurred vision and ended his playing career.

Coaching career

SAFFC

After his stroke, Richard became an assistant coach at SAFFC for eight years. In May 2006, three months after the 2006 S.League season has started, SAFFC's head coach Peter Butler left after falling out with the club management and SAFFC's general manager Kok Wai Leong let Richard took over as caretaker coach. In the AFC Club Competitions, Richard led SAFFC to 2 quarter-finals in the

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2008 AFC Cup The 2008 AFC Cup was the fifth edition of the AFC Cup, played by clubs from nations who are members of the Asian Football Confederation. Qualified teams 20 Football team, clubs competed, including champions of the :National association football ...

. In 2009, he made history by leading SAFFC into the

2009 AFC Champions League The 2009 AFC Champions League was the 28th edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 7th under the current AFC Champions League title. The final was held at the Nati ...

group stages by defeating

PEA Pea (''pisum'' in Latin) is a pulse or fodder crop, but the word often refers to the seed or sometimes the pod of this flowering plant species. Peas are eaten as a vegetable. Carl Linnaeus gave the species the scientific name ''Pisum sativum' ...

of Thailand &

PSMS Medan Persatuan Sepakbola Medan dan Sekitarnya, commonly known as PSMS, is an Indonesian professional Association football, football club based in Medan, North Sumatra. It is one of Indonesia's most successful clubs. They currently compete in Liga 2 ( ...

of Indonesia in the qualifying play-off. SAFFC made Singapore football history by being the first team in Singapore to qualify for the AFC Champions League. In the 2009 AFC Champions League group stage,

were grouped with

J League The , commonly a.k.a. shortened to the , and officially known as the for sponsorship with Meiji Yasuda Life, is the men's association football league in Japan. It is responsible for organizing Japan's major professional football tournaments, in ...

champions

Kashima Antlers The are a professional association football, football club based in Kashima, Ibaraki, Japan. They currently play in the J1 League, the top tier of Japanese professional football leagues. The club has financial backing from Mercari, a Japanese ...

of Japan,

K-League K League () is South Korea's professional football league. It includes the first division K League 1 and the second division K League 2. Clubs competing in the K League have won a record total of twelve AFC Champions League titles, the top conti ...

champions

Suwon Samsung Bluewings The Suwon Samsung Bluewings () are a South Korean Association football, football club based in Suwon that competes in the K League 2, the second tier of South Korean football. Founded in December 1995, they have won the K League on four occas ...

of South Korea and

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...

runners-up

Shanghai Shenhua Shanghai Shenhua Football Club () is a Chinese professional football club based in Shanghai, that competes in . Shanghai Shenhua plays its home matches at the Shanghai Stadium, located within Xuhui District. The owner of Shanghai Shenhua is ...

of China. The club finished last in the group with 1 point from a draw against Shanghai Shenhua played at the

Jalan Besar Stadium Jalan Besar Stadium, officially the Jalan Besar ActiveSG Stadium, is a football stadium located in Kallang, Singapore. The stadium is part of the Jalan Besar Sports and Recreation Centre, a community sports facility that includes the stadium as ...

in Singapore. In 2010, Richard led SAFFC to their 2nd successive

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...

group stage by defeating

Sriwijaya Srivijaya (), also spelled Sri Vijaya, was a Hindu-Buddhist thalassocratic empire based on the island of Sumatra (in modern-day Indonesia) that influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important centre for the expansion of Buddh ...

of Indonesia 3–0 at Jalan Besar stadium in Singapore and won the qualifying play-off final in Singapore against Muangthong United of Thailand on penalties. This time, they were grouped with

Gamba Osaka is a Japanese professional association football, football club based in Suita, Osaka Prefecture. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The club's home stadium is Panasonic Stadium Suita. They form a ...

of Japan,

Henan Jianye Henan Football Club (), currently known as Henan F.C. Jiuzu Dukang () for sponsorship reasons, is a Chinese professional football club based in Zhengzhou, Henan, that competes in . Henan plays their home matches at the Hanghai Stadium, located wi ...

of China and again Suwon Samsung Bluewings of Korea. This time round, Richard led his team to their first ever away point with a draw in Henan against

, thus equaling the one point they had in 2009. But they went one better with their first ever historical

win on 13 April 2010 at the Jalan Besar stadium with a 2–1 victory over

. Thus finishing 3rd in the group ahead of big team of

. This campaign put

and Singapore football on the map in Asia football. At the end of the 2012 S.League season, Richard left the club after being at the club for 17 years after 217 games in charge as head coach.

Singapore U16

On 31 May 2014, Richard was appointed as the Singapore U16 head coach.

Singapore U22

In January 2015, Richard was appointed as the Singapore U22 head coach.

ActiveSG Football Academy

Bok is currently Head Coach Serangoon Centre with ActiveSG Football Academy.

Personal life

Richard has stated that he supported

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

side

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and his favourite player was

Ian Rush Ian James Rush (born 20 October 1961) is a Welsh former professional association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. He is regarded as one of the best strikers of all time and one of the best Welsh playe ...

and

Kenny Dalglish Sir Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish (born 4 March 1951) is a Scottish former association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time as well as one of Celtic's, Liv ...

Honours

As coach

* S.League:

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

: 2007, 2008,

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

* Singapore Community Shield: 2008, 2010 * S.League Coach Of The Year: 2006, 2007, 2009

Notable feat

East Playoff Winner : 2009, 2010 *

Groups stage : 2009, 2010 *

AFC Cup The AFC Champions League Two (abbreviated as the ACL Two or ACL2) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. It is the second-tier competition of Asian club football, ranked below the AFC C ...

quarter-finals: 2007, 2008 * AFF Asean Club Championship quarterfinals: 2003 (as Caretaker Coach) *

Coaching records in all competitions

All Competition as of 1 November 2012

References

5. http://www.goal.com/en-sg/news/3883/features/2012/10/24/3462955/one-on-one-the-man-who-came-in-from-the-dark-richard-boks 6. http://www.todayonline.com/sports/football/who-might-be-next-lionsxii-head-coach {{DEFAULTSORT:Bok, Richard Singaporean men's footballers Singapore men's international footballers Singaporean sportspeople of Chinese descent 1969 births Living people Singaporean football managers Singapore Premier League managers Warriors FC managers Men's association football players not categorized by position