“…we were knocked out on penalties, of all things. It was cruel.” – An interview with the St Andrew’s Junior College footballers (Part 4)

Interview by Les Tan

Earlier this year, the St. Andrew’s Junior College football team went unbeaten all the way to the semi-final of the A Division Football Championships before they lost to Meridian Junior College in a penalty shootout.

Remarkably, the SAJC team only had three players with B Division experience, yet they showed an ability to play intelligent, beautiful, passing football which warmed the heart of neutral fans.

In 2006, SAJC made it to the semi-finals and lost 0-2 to Victoria Junior College. In 2007, SAJC made it to the semi-finals again, this time meeting MJC. A 0-0 stalemate at the end of regulation time brought on the dreaded penalty kicks and MJC prevailed 4-3.

SAJC had their hearts broken again this year in 2008 when, after outplaying MJC to lead 2-0 in the semi-final, MJC came back to equalise and force extra-time. MJC’s equalising goal was a controversial penalty two minutes from the end of regulation time.

The game then went into penalty kicks with no further goals in extra-time and MJC prevailed 2-1 in penalties for a 4-3 overall win.

The SAJC squad is one of only two teams (the other being VJC) that went through the preliminary rounds unbeaten in the 2008 A Division Championship season. Their only loss over 90 minutes was a 0-1 defeat to Anglo-Chinese Junior College in the 3rd/4th placing game through a freak own goal.

The SAJC team shows that Singapore does have football talent but most of them don’t go on to play for Singapore in age-group or the full national team. This team has shown a brand of football that would stir hearts and ignite passion, such is their raw but obvious talents. If they played for Singapore, there would be long lines for tickets to watch them.

Red Sports caught up with the players for an interview.

Jeremy Ong of SAJC scored a wonder goal in the 2007 A Division Football Championship (see video below). It’s the type of goal you watch and go, “Amazing!” And then you watch it again. Only a cynic will say he didn’t intend to shoot and that it was a pass gone awry. It was a shot and boy was it a beautiful one. Here is his story.

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Hi, my name is Jeremy Ong. I love soccer. Soccer has been a big part of my life since young. My only CCA has been soccer and nothing else.

One thing constant about SAJC soccer is the team spirit. Although there may be minor grievances amongst players, it is only natural to have this in every team but aside from these, everybody considers the team a band of brothers.

Here's my journey as a player in this team.

I joined SAJC soccer in 2006 and managed to feature in most games as a left back. The team made it to the semis with VJC to overcome, however, we bowed out 0-2. The next year, the team made it into the semis again to meet MJC. It was a tough match, both sides were even with not many clear chances.

It was no surprise that it came to a penalty shootout and our hopes of a final were dashed after two misses with MJC scoring all except one saved. It was devastating that the sheer amount of sweat and blood poured into the season was not to be rewarded.

The next season was promising with lots of potential as most of the first team from team 2007 would be in the 2008 team as well.

However, personal tragedy struck on 27 Nov 2007 when I tore my left medial cruciate ligament (MCL) while playing a friendly match for the team against a Portuguese club side in Malaysia.

Initially, the doctor gave a diagnosis of a four- to six-week break on the sidelines. However, after two months, my knee was still unstable. And a visit to the doctor crushed my hopes of a swift recovery.

He said not only my MCL was torn, my ACL and meniscus had suffered damage and I would not be able to recover in time for the A Division. Actually, not at all. I might not be able to play soccer at all due to the extent of damage.

I was scheduled to take an MRI scan a few days later to confirm the diagnosis. I was disappointed. However, somehow I had a peace which allowed me to continue hoping for a healing although I was prepared to support my team from the sidelines.

A few days later the results came out and I have to Thank God that the doctor was wrong. This doctor handles some national team players so for him to get the diagnosis wrong seemed miraculous to me.

I managed to recover and feature in about half of the games in the whole season as injuries and illnesses plagued me. I played in the semi-final against MJC and it was a match I will never forget.

We took a 2-0 lead and the highlight was the second goal which to me was almost the nail in the coffin for MJC. This was the best semi-final match as a team in three years but somehow things turned from a dream to a nightmare.

Shortly after our second goal, MJ pulled one back from a free kick which I supposedly conceded. Subsequent video replay showed the MJ player banging me and falling on me. Not a good call.

Then near two minutes from time, the unimaginable happened.

MJ were awarded a penalty and they equalized. It went down to penalties and our two best kickers, Irwin and Billy, saw their penalties saved, with mine hitting the bar.

Nathaniel missed and we were out.

Again.

On penalties.

I couldn't believe our incredible luck or lack of it.

After all our hard work, our attempts to play fluid football, we were knocked out on penalties, of all things.

It was cruel.

Related stories:
Part 3: "I dislocated my knee. It popped right out of the socket." An interview with the St Andrew's Junior College footballers
Part 2: "The highlight was the 4-0 win over RJC." – An interview with the St Andrew's Junior College footballers
Part 1: "The loss to MJC was a total kick in the teeth." – An interview with the St Andrew's Junior College footballers