December 21, 2023

In this SailorFanTalk special, we have a guest writer, Tan Chin Heng! Chin Heng joined The Crew and SailorFanTalk in Korea for our clash against Jeonbuk, and then extended his trip to take in a K League 2 match. Here he writes about his experience and what lessons can be applied to the SPL scene. “Football is nothing without fans”. Familiar words that have been uttered by many, most notably by former Celtic / Scotland manager Jock Stein and Manchester United legend Sir Matt Busby. As we ride off into the sunset of the 2023 SPL season, we have an opportunity to take a step back and move our focus off the pitch to look at the most important aspect of football – the fans. Images of empty stadiums in the Covid-19 era may still be fresh on our minds, and that hollow feeling of watching games without any noise in the stands reminds us that fans really are an indispensable part of the beautiful game. A Fan Watching the Fans As an avid groundhopper, I’ve had the pleasure of visiting stadiums and watching football in over a dozen (and counting) different countries, and the most memorable moments I have witnessed at games have been off the pitch. I have seen thousands of Hibernian fans jumping in unison while singing their hearts out at an away European tie while 8-0 down on aggregate, 70,000 fans erupt in joy as Bruno Fernandes scored a late penalty against Nottingham Forest to complete an improbable 3-2 comeback, Spurs fans singing late into the night at Camp Nou after scoring a last-gasp equaliser against Barcelona to send them through to the Champions League knockout rounds. From the hallowed grounds of Old Trafford to the waterlogged pitch at Toa Payoh Stadium, whenever I go to a game I usually spend a good chunk of time observing the hardcore fans rather than watching the football itself, because the fan culture makes all the difference in a matchday experience. Over the course of this ACL campaign, I also had the privilege of attending all 3 LCS away games with the Crew. I travelled to Hong Kong as one of the winners of the contest held by the club, and to South Korea and Thailand on my own to meet up with the Crew over there. I think all those who travelled to our away games can agree that we have taken valuable lessons from watching fans of other clubs and countries in action, and we wanted to take what we learnt and apply it to the SPL because we realized it’s not just about the football, but the quality of fan culture in Singapore as well. Saying Annyeong to Anyang In today’s article, I am taking you to our second ACL trip in Korea. Not to the Jeonbuk game (that 3-0 loss has since become a repressed memory buried deep in my consciousness), but to Anyang, a city just south of Seoul with a population of 600,000. A few of us extended our trip after the ACL game and were staying in Seoul for the weekend. Being football fans, we naturally wanted to check out the local league. I remember being a little bummed that there were no other K League 1 games near Seoul that Saturday, so after a bit of research we “settled” on watching K League 2 (the second tier of Korean football) instead, as there was a game at Anyang which is about a 45-minute subway ride away. As we made our way to Anyang Stadium on match day, I was not expecting much from the game. For context, Anyang were playing against Seoul E-land FC at the tail-end of the K League 2 season. Both teams had hardly anything to play for, at best Anyang had an outside chance of making the promotion playoffs if they won all their remaining games and a bunch of other results went their way. In essence, this game was pretty much a dead rubber and I was expecting perhaps a few hundred fans, a small stadium, a flat atmosphere. Never have I been so wrong. Matchday As we walked up to the main gate of Anyang stadium, we saw the first signs that we were in for a special matchday experience as we were greeted by a wave of purple everywhere, the home colours of Anyang FC. Right beside the stadium entrance was a well-stocked merchandise booth and a ticketing counter fully decked in purple, with hundreds of fans in their purple home jerseys getting ready to enter the stadium. After taking some time to sort out our tickets and raid the merchandise booth, we walked through the entrance gate and were greeted by two giant inflatable mascots in sight just beyond the gates dressed in the home jersey. The first surprise was the atmosphere that we immediately felt once we entered the stadium. It didn’t feel just a football game – it felt more like some sort of festival. Anyang Stadium was not a ‘proper’ football stadium, so it also had running tracks along the perimeter of the pitch. However, stands were built on the running tracks along the two long sides of the pitch for fans to be closer to the action, and the remaining area of the running tracks housed the giant mascots, food trucks, and an area for kids to play some football-related games. It seemed like a perfect way for friends and families to spend a Saturday evening. We took some photos, got some fried chicken from one of the food trucks, and settled down into our seats to soak it all in. The next surprise came as we approached kick-off. Like many of the clubs in Korea, Anyang had a pre-game song they would play on the big screens before the players came out of the tunnel. Just as the music started blaring on the speakers, the stand holding the Anyang ultras sprang into life. Dozens of flags waving in