Story by REDintern Christy. Pictures by REDintern Zhijia and Les Tan.
An MJC player shoots at goal while Harold Foo of RJC defends. The shot went wide. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Tampines Sports Hall, Wednesday, July 23, 2008 – In a closely fought match between two floorball giants, Raffles Junior College (RJC) ultimately dashed Meridian Junior College (MJC) hopes of a second crown when they won 2-1 in the final of the A Division Boys Floorball Championship.
Meridian Junior College started the game fiercely, eager to retain their title as defending champions. However, RJC, runners-up last year, were also hungry for the gold medal.
In the first period, both teams started out fast and furious to get an early lead. RJC had their chance 8 minutes into the game in a goal melee. MJC goalkeeper Lionel Boey (#30) managed to save the ball between his legs. Even though the ball was saved, RJC Dylan Lee (#9) did not stop and dug the ball out and tapped it into the unguarded goal. It was indeed a controversial goal which MJC contested but to no avail. The game was now 1-0 in RJC’s favour.
The second period started with strong attacks from MJC as they looked for an equalizer. Perhaps due to nerves, MJC just could not get the ball in. It was heartbreaking for the MJC bench and supporters to see all the near-misses from the usually accurate MJC players. MJC were given an opportunity for a power play but they were unable to capitalize on the numerical advantage given.
MJC must have known this was not their lucky day when an MJC shot that was on target was blocked by an RJC player who was stepping in the penalty box. Alas, the referees did not spot that foul and the game went on as usual. With neither team able to score, it remained 1-0.
Left with only fifteen minutes to overcome the odds, the pressure piled on MJC in the third period. It didn’t help that RJC’s Anandraj (#15) managed to score a second at the 06:31min mark with a stunning shot which eluded MJC goalkeeper Lionel Boey (#30). With less than ten minutes left on the clock and MJC’s attacks effectively stopped in their track by RJC’s defenders, MJC decided to field 5 players without a goalie.
MJC proved that they could defend just as well with their #3 making a heart-stopping save. With less than 5 minutes and MJC still two goals down, MJC must have thought that luck was on their side when the referee awarded them a penalty. The MJC crowd roared with joy and anticipation. MJC “luck” did not last as after further consultation with the other referee, the penalty was changed to a free-hit instead, disappointing the MJC crowd. Although MJC captain Glendon Phua (#20) managed to close the gap when he knocked in an unstoppable shot in the 14:06min, it was way too late for MJC to stage a comeback.
Although the win is shrouded in controversy, credit must be given to RJC for having worked well tirelessly to defend against MJC who finished top of the league table with the most number of goals scored.
“It was not a nice feeling to go all the way to the final and ultimately not be able to defend the title,” commented MJC captain Glendon Phua (#20) when asked about the match.
RJC captain Harold Foo (#7) remarked after the game, “Winning was not the first and foremost thought for us – it is more important for the team to have worked as one Raffles Junior College and give their best.”
Zuliham of RJC has his shot blocked by an MJ player. (Photo 2 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Di Qiang (#7, MJC) passes the ball on while Dylan Lee of RJ defends. (Photo 3 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)
Zuliham of RJ takes the ball into the corner. (Photo 4 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)
RJC celebrate their controversial first goal. (Photo 5 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)
Aaron (left) and Jing Xiong (right) of RJC vie with an MJ player for a loose ball. (Photo 6 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)
Glendon Phua (#20, MJC) chases down Jeremy of RJC. Glendon scored MJ’s only goal of the game. (Photo 7 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)
Nelson of RJC shields the ball from an MJ player. (Photo 8 © Teo Zhijia/Red Sports)
Calvin Chang (MJC,#17) gets tackled by Lee Soon Yoong of RJC. (Photo 9 © Teo Zhijia/Red Sports)
Anandraj s/o Tamilagan (RJC,#15), scorer of the second goal for RJC. (Photo 10 © Teo Zhijia/Red Sports)
RJC players celebrate after Anandraj s/o Tamilagan (RJC,#15) scores. (Photo 11 © Teo Zhijia/Red Sports)
Chong Shyang Long (MJC,#22) chases down Lee Soon Yoong of RJC. (Photo 12 © Teo Zhijia/Red Sports)
RJC players celebrate their win over MJC after the final whistle. (Photo 13 © Teo Zhijia/Red Sports)
RJC captain Harold Foo is overcome with emotion at the win. (Photo 14 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)
RJC players receive the cheers of their schoolmates. (Photo 15 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)
RJC celebrate at the final whistle. (Photo 16 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)
RJC congratulate each other… (Photo 17 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)
… while MJC contemplate what might have been. (Photo 18 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)
MJC’s Low Li Wei urge the MJC supporters to cheer for the team. (Photo 19 © Teo Zhijia/Red Sports)
The delighted RJC supporters. (Photo 20 © Teo Zhijia/Red Sports)
Team VJC finished fourth. (Photo 21 © Teo Zhijia/Red Sports)
Team YJC finished third. (Photo 22 © Teo Zhijia/Red Sports)
MJC floorball team. (Photo 23 © Teo Zhijia/Red Sports)
RJC captain Harold Foo lifts the hard-won trophy. (Photo 24 © Teo Zhijia/Red Sports)
Champions – Team RJC. (Photo 25 © Teo Zhijia/Red Sports)
More pictures in the gallery.
i think it should be spelt ZULILHAM instead of zuliham. yea.
YOU HAVE DONE SJI PROUD HAROLD FOO! CONGRATS
Oraetlabora the best is yet to be
hey all indeed it was a thrilling match and congratulations to rjc for winning the title, not forgeting mjc who made a worthy opponent. I just would like to comment on (RJC,#2)Zul for his contributions to the match. He’s an amazing player and should play at higher levels. 😉
As a yjcian, i also would like to extend my congrats to the YJC floorball team (girls & boys) for finishing 2nd & 3rd respectively. Superb effort. It has been a great season and im sure all JCs will come back stronger next year. Cheers. 🙂
hi everyone. i managed to be down for the finals that day, and i must say that firstly, it was a very exciting final, not one of those walkovers we sometimes see. 2 strong teams always make for an exciting final.
congrats to rjc for winning the title, the hunger they showed on the pitch was undeniable and they put up a really strong fight against mjc. after a year of hard training, they deserve their success.
having said that, let’s not forget that mjc is a very strong team as well and at this level, the ball’s round and the game can go any way. mjc never gave up till the final whistle and that speaks volumes about their fighting spirit. to mjc, thanks for being such worthy opponents and for being gracious in defeat. i truly hope that relations between the 2 teams will be one of mutual respect and not hate. just my 2 cents worth.
No he’s right, Jun Wei. There were errors in the folder names. I named it 08 when it should have been 07.
Three folders were misnamed. Sorry for the confusion.
Photographer, what makes you say that? I think Uncle Les was there at the game itself together with our intern Zhijia.. How could it be that he posted last year’s photos? Uncle Les didn’t shoot at last year’s floorball season (2007).. 😀 And Red Sports didn’t exist in 2006.. I can verify his presence at the game. In photo 13, you can see him popping out of the crowd and into the court, wearing the RED t-shirt with a camera in his face. 😉 The photo was by Zhijia and she only joined us this year…
I have a feeling that you have “believed” wrongly. 73 responses (with many the players themselves) to this article and they have not mentioned anything. Maybe you can double check? 🙂
uncle les, I believe you posted the wrong pictures up. They were picture of either the year 2006 or 2007 batch. Definitely not this year’s 2008 finals. Thank you for the update but please do change it ya? Thank you. Much appreciated 🙂
well done mj, loved that match. really lucky to have been able to catch it.
i am a sportsman and i have experienced many controversial decisions in my life and i have a specific hatred for a certain ref that i am sure cost us several championship winning games already.
however, in life, we must learn to take ref decisions in our stride because nothing can change their calls and it’s sometimes their calls that causes teams to win or lose. that’s life, deal with it.
and i hope people will stop bickering about whether rj or mj deserve to be champs, because both teams would’ve made great champions in my opinion. but the fact remains that rj won this match and 10, 20 years down the road, people will not remember who won the match, but instead you guys will only remember the kind of team spirit and camaraderie that you people shared.
so lay off each other, and great job to raffles!
Just to let you know, there are additional pictures from the final that have been uploaded in the gallery:
http://redsports.sg/gallery/
Have fun looking at them!
dear floorballer**,
u are absolutely inaccurate in saying all other schools except mj cheered for rj because i am from tjc floorball girls team and my team was cheering for mj. get your facts right.
and putting down mjc like that is really rude, i tink u own them an apology. but not having the courage to even post your real name, probably also means u dont hav the guts to admit your mistake and apologise.
i would advise you to start using your real name in your comments, and if u happen to really be a floorballer n r jst sour tt u lost to mj before, take up a new sport n stop being a DISGRACE to floorball and give us floorballers a bad name here on redsports or in fact, anywhere you go.
all floorballers here would appreciate your effort.
well done to both teams who have put up a great fight for e championship title. the match was totally breath-taking. thr r players with great potential from both teams, which made the game even more exciting.
I think photo 8 suppose to be the RJC player using his body to shield the ball from the MJC player…Yupps
@floorballer,
I think your putting down of the mj team/school itself is uncalled for. the guys finals was truly as spectacular match and both teams had a pretty much equal chance of winning, from my PoV. it was just a matter of which team managed to convert chances into goals given both teams’ strength. well done to mj and of course rj!
@klinck
we have like 3 hockey players and 1 club player. no combined schools players…. so the rest are pretty new to floorball
to self-proclaimed floorballer.
seriously, no teams will be so cocky to print shirts showing off the double championship thing. i felt the mj players are all very gracious about the game, and definitely showed great acts of sportsmanship. please reflect upon your own words.
and if you are really a floorballer, i think you got thrashed by mj and bear grudges, and thus these kind of words actually came out from you. shame on you, really.
I think the MJC floorball team is really admirable.. Their graciousness and unity are evident both on court and off court..
@floorballer
“Anyway, it is sad to hear that the double champs shirt mj printed this year can’t be worn at all.”
Well it’s none of your business whether they are able to wear it or not.
“I feel that this article is weirdly biased towards mj”
Did you take social studies in secondary school before? or at least primary school? Every match in sports has its own controversies. It can’t be avoided.
“Next, they have all underwent courses and would be more appropriate to decide what is a foul, and it just isn’t right to comment on the the referee’s decision or them missing out a call.”
LOL. It just tells me how much are you into sports. We are not supposed to question the referee on their decisions but we can COMMENT on them. I’m not a floorballer, but I know what it is like to be in that situation.
And of course, I’m an MJ student. I definitely want my school to win, but the fact is that RJ won and we can’t change that. I still think both teams have done very well; they have shown their true spirit, no matter what, both teams deserve the same amount of commendation and DUE RESPECT.
And to Glendon, great job, I know you had to skip lessons for a good cause ;D
And to other floorballers, great job too! You guys have done the school proud 🙂
Cheers
@random person
i believe rjc have a large no. of experienced hockey players and several club players.
i think RJC did a trully trully fantastic job considering they have no club players (i think?).. 2,13,15 and the goalie should really consider play at higher levels as well. congrats rjc
i realli nv regret ponning sch jus to see tat exciting mj vs rj match.. congrats to rj nevertheless but i cant help for siding wif mj yah.. well, i believe mj will be back strong next yr to fight back for their champion but at the same time, rj will also be back stronger, defending their champion.. lucks to all.. including other jcs who oso have the potential to win the champion title..
jus wan to add on, “MJC proved that they could defend just as well with their #3 making a heart-stopping save.” i have to say for sure, that is the perfect move i’ve ever witnessed.. cheers to zai hui #3 from mj.. =]
n the to self-claimed floorballer, jus wanna asked, are u realli a floorballer? u’re realli a disgrace to the team u belonged to. if u realli love floorball, i will advise u to quit before greater humilation fall upon ur team becuz of u..
well floorballer , do think before u say something next time .
anw , kudos to rjc floorballers , u guys played well and deserved the championship 🙂
to mjc floorballers , u guys had a fantastic season but well , it just wasnt meant to be , hold ur heads up high as u guys played well , showed mental and physical strength and overcome a few tough situations together as a team (eg when u guys were 2-0 down against vjc and when u guys were 2-0 down to rj)
nevertheless , u guys are winners XD
BAIK AFIQ , haha XP