Samba soccer : fan culture and national mythology

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the attempts to build a uniquely Singaporean football culture that was prompted by the birth of the S-League in 1996. Before the formation of S-League, Singapore had achieved qualified successes in the ASEAN and Malaysia Cups on the regional and local levels which helped to maintain a sizeable following. With the breakaway from Malaysia Cup at the end of 1994, Singapore football was at risk of decline and irrelevance as Malaysia Cup was the main competition that Singapore contested in on an annual basis. However, efforts from the local football community, government and players proved invaluable to the continuation of Singapore football in the infant stages of the new league as could be seen from the articles published by local football magazines like GOAL! and SAMBA SOCCER and newspapers of The Straits Times and The New Paper.