A Song in our Hearts

The season starts on Friday, and while I’m sure you’re all excited to see our beloved Sailors again, a part of me still feels a tinge of sadness that club legend Song Ui-Young is not going to feature this year, after his departure to Nongbua Pitchaya. So before we leave the past behind and bring you all sorts of content for the season ahead, let’s take one last look back.

Song’s first appearance for us was in 2012 (for Home Utd), and his last appearance for us was in 2022, so that makes it a decade of solid service for the club. Someone give the man a testimonial match!

During that time, he thrilled us all with his goals and assists, captivated us with the quality of some of his goals, and last but not least, he represented us fans on the pitch with his tireless running and constant battling.

This article has taken longer than usual to write, in part because I have been procrastinating, but also because how do you write something fitting for a club legend, something that does justice to the impact he had, and the huge hole he left in the heart of us fans? In the end, I decided that nothing is going to do justice to his legacy, but something is better than nothing, so here goes. Here is why we love our Singaporean Song.

End Product

What an unsexy and transactional title for the first reason we’ll miss our Korean-Singaporean superstar. We can’t run away from the truth though – a huge reason why we will miss him is because his numbers. His goals and assists will need to be made up by the rest of the team.

In our earlier article (written before Song’s transfer to Nongbua Pitchaya) talking about Kodai Tanaka’s transfer to the Sailors, I had this to say:

• You will see that [Kodai Tanaka] spent about 41% of the time starting on the left wing. This versatility may be good for us moving forward. Imagine him and Song interchanging positions between central striker and left wing, or between central striker and false 9 – a truly tantalising prospect.

Yuuuuuup, I apologise. Clearly, I jinxed it and now Song is no more. Why did I even write that in the first place though? Let’s take a look at the stats from the last 5 years, when he started being deployed in attack / attacking midfield.

Year	Games Played	Goals (G)	Assists (A)	G/A per Game
2018	26	19	4	0.88
2019	25	11	4	0.60
2020	12	9	0	0.75
2021	15	7	1	0.53
2022	31	16	4	0.65

Just drawing from the stats above, it is perhaps not a stretch to say that whenever Song is on the pitch, the Sailors are more likely to score. Bear in mind that 2021 and 2022 saw Song having to share his minutes with many talented teammates as the Sailors started stockpiling quality in every position.

However, whenever he was on the pitch, he was a threat. In our debut AFC Champions League campaign last year, many supporters in fact wanted to see Song play more than Kim Shin-Wook, and who could blame them? Song delivered the goods when it mattered most. He finished that campaign with 3 goals from 6 games, including 2 goals over K-League opposition Daegu FC.

I remember being in the stands in Buriram and cheering like a madman when Song looped a header over the Daegu keeper to open the scoring in what would eventually be an epic 3-0 win, the Sailors’ first-ever win in the Champions League. Part ecstasy, part shock maybe – he was doing this to K-League opposition!

But perhaps I should not have been so shocked – us supporters have a little nickname for Song. We call him “AFC Cup Song” because there’s some magic in continental football which seems to bring out the best in him. Who can forget how round after round, Song performed miracles in the AFC Cup, scoring a total of 8 goals in 10 games which eventually culminated in us winning the Zonal Finals against Ceres Negros FC. Filipino opposition, Indonesian opposition in hostile away grounds, under the lights at Jalan Besar Stadium – whoever, whereever, whenever, he did it all. He even scored in North Korea when he was still a South Korean citizen (gasps).

Back to Buriram, and the 2022 Champions League campaign. Song even repeated the trick against Daegu, scoring an improbable volley from long range to threaten an upset in our final group game where qualification for the knockout stages hung in the balance. Alas, it was not to be, as we were knocked out of the competition, and little did we know, that was the last we would see of Song in continental competition.

No more “AFC Cup” Song, and now, no more Song at all. This leaves us dangerously thin should we see an injury or severe loss of form for Kodai Tanaka. Abdul Rasaq has shown shoots of promise in his appearances for Young Lions last season, but he is a raw talent with 5 goals in 19 appearances for Young Lions. It would be unrealistic and unfair for the Sailors to rely on him should something happen to Tanaka.

Bangers, bangers, bangers

Alright, a slightly less transactional title this time. Song has over the years scored some absolute bangers – and in important matches too. Don’t just take my word for it – check out this compilation video we put together to highlight some of the ridiculous goals he scored.  

Once again, I will remind you that there is good reason to call him AFC Cup Song (hint: all the goals highlighted were from AFC competitions).

Even in this small sample of goals we picked out, you will see that it consists of a left-foot banger from range, a right-foot banger from range, a looping header, and a placed finish after running past a whole bunch of defenders. A lot of variety for someone who is not just a goalscorer! An out-and-out striker would be pleased if he had such diversity in the goals he scored.

The sheer quality of those goals captivated us. The crowd always went mad. Friends of mine who are only occasional fans still remember every detail about where they were when Song scored X goal. They can remember who they were with, their reaction, the crowd’s reaction, the players’ celebrations, the result – although maybe they cannot remember how many beers we had at the bar after the game. No exaggeration to say that Song’s goals cost us money because we always partied like there was no tomorrow.

We will miss the bangers for sure. Once again, do yourself a favour. Go watch that Youtube video. We tried asking Song to pick his favourite out of those goals, but we have not heard back yet. Perhaps, he too is having trouble picking just one.

Heart – The Fans’ Representative on the Pitch

We will miss his goals, we will miss the quality of his goals, but most of all, I think we will miss his heart.

You know that old cliché – fans will get behind you even if you are having a bad game, as long as you run your guts out. Well it’s a cliché because there is an element of truth to it (wow another cliché there, in-cliché-ception).

Song was a player who was easy to support. Supremely talented, but still always running his bloody socks off. As a fan, especially when the chips are down, it is easy to blame the players who have stopped running and who look defeated. Sometimes it is a perception thing, and players who have a languid style of play tend to get unfair criticism because of the perception that they are not trying their best.

With Song it was easy to tell he was trying his best though – he never stopped running and never stopped scrapping. How many times have you seen Song sprinting to close down an opponent, or tackling an opponent and then running up the other end of the pitch to try to make something happen? Even when he gave away a foul by launching himself bravely into a challenge that he was very unlikely to win, we cheered because he showed the fight that we want to see. Seeing players play like they really care generates excitement for us fans.

Fans are stuck in the stands and the only thing we can do is chant to encourage the players However, it can get tiring, and it should not be a one-way thing. The players also need to give the fans something to shout about. When we see Song putting in the hard work on the pitch, we feel energised. When we watch him play, we feel like he is a much more skilled version of us, running his heart out for the team because he truly cares about the result.

Song’s fighting spirit was also echoed by Aqhari Abdullah and Abdil Qaiyyim when we spoke with them last year. They laughed and warmly remembered how even in training, Song would be very aggressive in physical challenges, and would immediately put his arm out to block off his teammates when he was trying to retain possession. They both agreed that he took training very seriously – so what we see on matchday is not him just putting up false pretences for the fans. It is just the way Song is, and we freaking love him for it.

Bye-Bye Song

Now that Song is no longer an LCS player, there is nothing but positive feelings for him. We have seen him grow in the last 10 years, seen him change his role from being a box-to-box midfielder to a free-floating support striker / centre-forward banging in the goals, seen him become a Singapore citizen, and seen him lead us to glory.

We will miss him and I am sure we all wish him well in his Thai league adventure, but something tells me his story at LCS isn’t completely over. Who can rule out a return to LCS in the next few years maybe?

Till then, there will always be a Song in our hearts.

Written by Eddy Hirono, Artwork commissioned by SailorFanTalk, done by @kickoffart_

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