I think you bring up a valid point. There is no widespread culture of attending sports events, unfortunately. The reasons for that I am sure, are as numerous as the number of entertainment options open to the average Singaporean.

Did you take part? I wasn’t there. I went and took part in the Sprint Aquathlon at Sentosa.

Sorry for this rant, but I need to get this off my chest.

Went to watch the Criterium race yesterday, and was shocked how weak the local spectator support was. Daresay that expatriates and OCBC corporate VIPs constituted most of the spectators.

I know not many S’poreans are into cycling, but surely there must be tens of thousands of road cycling (not MTB) and tri enthusiasts in S’pore. To get a crowd of a few hundred for such an event is a disgrace, IMHO.

Why are locals so unwilling to support as spectators (not even asking them to volunteer)? It isn’t too far away, it is free, it doesn’t take more than 1-2 hrs, and the pro standards are way higher than what we typically see in the local tri events.

To me, participation in any sport goes hand in hand with supporting it as a spectator. That’s how the sport grows in terms in broadening the base, government support and corporate sponsorship. Ultimately, we can’t complain as a sporting community if events don’t come our way in the future. Cos we deserve it.

We can bitch all we want about why we don’t have the pro-standard athletes, and blame the government for not spending enough or spending it in the wrong places (i.e. ‘foreign talent’). But ultimately, we as a sporting community have to share the blame cos we have not shown enough support on the ground.

My apologies for this long message. I don’t know what the solution is. But I know we don’t deserve to host good / better world-class events, or better local national teams and players, at the current miserable levels of spectatorship for events.

thecatman