By Les Tan/Red Sports
There are championship winners, and then there are championship winners.
Last year, Catholic High won the B Division Basketball Championship while Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) won the B Division Rugby Championship.
However, the Catholic High team played 18 games to capture their crown while ACS(I) played seven.
In basketball, 115 teams started the 2008 B Division Championship while in rugby, 21 teams took to the field last year. There were no zonal rugby championships and all teams went directly into the national championship.
In the case of Catholic High, they played 10 games in the South Zone Championship before they even played their first national championship game.
However, it’s not a straightforward comparison.
Only five players start in basketball, while 15 players take to the field in rugby. Rugby fans will rightly argue that coordinating 15 players on a field is a much tougher challenge than just five on a court.
Schools in Singapore pick their sports to focus on and the fortunes of both school teams reflect that. ACS(I) has focused on rugby since the 90s and while it does have a basketball team, it doesn’t make the national championship round. Since 1997, ACS(I) have won the B Division Rugby Championship 10 times.
However, in rugby, the championship title tends to change hands between a small group of schools – St Andrew’s, Raffles Institution and ACS(I). Since 1997, only St Andrew’s (’04, ’05, ’06) and ACS(I) have won the title.
Basketball is a core focus at Catholic High and the school has won the B Division Championship four years in a row (’04 to ’08). It doesn’t have a rugby team. The B Division Basketball Championship winners though are a more diverse lot with seven schools winning the title since 1997 – Catholic High (’05-’08) Anglican High (’04, ’01), Presbyterian High (’03), Chai Chee Secondary (’02), Yishun Secondary (’99), Jurong (’00, ’98), Assumption English (’97).
It seems schools decide what sports to focus on based on the probability of winning an honour, according to some Red Sports readers.
In St Andrew’s, football was dropped as a Co-Curricular Activity (CCA) in the 90s because the school wanted to focus on rugby.
Commented reader PK, “…the school admin at St Andrew’s decided during that time that soccer was not helping rugby as many soccer players were doing double duty – rugby and soccer. They felt that by closing soccer down, the rugby programme would improve…one reason might also be they felt that soccer could not win them any medals.”
ACS(I) won 10 championship titles in 2008 to finish tied with Hwa Chong Institution as a top boys school for sports, but only two of their titles came in team sports – rugby and cricket.
Cricket has even fewer schools competing than rugby – only ten will contest the 2009 B Division Cricket Championship.
ACS(I) has a traditional strength in water polo but, again the sport sees few teams – only seven teams contested the 2008 B Division Water Polo Championship.
However, focusing on sports where few compete gives a school the chance to pick up championship titles, something that Red Sports reader YC commented on.
“In general, Singapore sports is very result-oriented, many times to the detriment of actual sporting development. We give up long-term progress for short-term (or instant) results.”
“Why do we see more participation in basketball vs football (in result-oriented Singapore)? It’s a 5-man vs 11-man game. To win a soccer tournament, you need to invest a lot more athletes compared to basketball. The ‘head count saved’ for sending a basketball team could be very well ploughed into another sport with potential for more results.”
This may be why few schools are willing to endure the high-investment, low-return nature of rugby. In fact, 21 schools starting the 2008 championship is an improvement over earlier decades where as few as eight schools participated.
Rugby also isn’t a natural game for beginners, unlike basketball, which is more straightforward and requires less space for a pickup game.© Red Sports
correction: 6 teams participated in bdiv polo
@ yuan, basketballer:
“Every year, only 2-3 teams have a realistic chance of winning the rugby championship: ACSI, Saints and RI. Other than these three, the intensity of competition is woefully low.”
the intensity of competition is woefully low? i beg to differ. if everyone judged the intensity of competition based on the number of powerhouses, this would definitely give way to complacency. even though ACS(I) have won the championship title countless of times in a row, i do believe they are still training as hard or even harder than as any other team. why so? is it just because ‘the intensity of competition is woefully low’?
hell no. i don’t believe any rugby player in singapore, playing for that crest on his left breast, feels that way. rugby is not that simple. every player on the field reflects the school values, integrity, discipline. if anyone would dare get complacent just because ‘the intensity of competition is woefully low’, i believe he would get slapped so hard on his face, he wouldn’t dare to look himself in the mirror.
“Every year, only 2-3 teams have a realistic chance of winning the rugby championship: ACSI, Saints and RI.” i am definite that these three schools which you have stated are, regardless of the intensity of competition, are training hard, pushing themselves to the limit. because they themselves do know that everyone has their shot at the championship. nothing is definite. the ol’ rugby ball is not round.
every rugby team in singapore now, is training 100% to compete against each other. not only ACS(I), RI, SAS, but not forgetting schools such as SJI, BTSS, EVG, in fact every single school that’s competing. you get complacent, you slack off, you get slapped in the face. that’s a fact. that is ‘realistic’.
so please, don’t go shooting your mouth just to glorify the sport of your choice. you want it, you fight to earn it, you retain it. if not, there’re others out the who want it more badly than you do. just because ACS(I) have been winning the championship titles, doesn’t mean that other schools are not slogging their guts out to bring pride and glory to their alma mater. know your stuffs.
and to all schools out there competing in the NATIONAL SCHOOLS RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIPS U-17 POLICE CUP 2009 right now, all the best. to those who are injured or sick, recuperate well. eat well, rest well, hydrate well. and may the best team win. (:
les,
nice column. love it, very provocative.
actually, a few days back. i was having this conversation with my friend about acs i not doing well in basketball. now. i thought we came to a conclusion to why it is such.
firstly, we need to understand why they have such an edge over everyone else. like china who has a vast amount of population to choose from. single-ed schools has more guys/girls to choose from.
secondly, financially they’ve got the means to prep their athletes up to help them achieve maximum performance.
thirdly, because they are such a ‘big time’ school. based on reputation they are able to attract ‘big time’ talent to their school. they don’t even have to go out to get them, this talents offer themselves to them. that’s how ‘big’ they are.
using this theories i would go on a whisper to say rugby is a WAY more difficult sport to win. cause really, basketballers? you are not really going up against the best athletes those boys schools has to offer, they are off playing other sports. i mean if acs i were to concentrate on basketball, they would CAN the rest of the team. same would go for st andrews and raffles – period.
Hi ghee,
If I remember correctly, ACS(I) just missed making the second round of the B Division South Zone Basketball Championship.
Well, if ACS(I) wants to try, I’m sure the likes of basketball powerhouses like Catholic High, Anglican High, Presbyterian High, Jurong and Unity will be waiting for them. It would be fascinating to watch.
Raffles Institution already has a credible bball programme. They usually get into the National Championships.
@admiration
Certainly your points about the ACS success stories are without a doubt.
It just tickles my mind, and I am sure the minds of neutral sports fans, whether or not ACS is capable of producing a team to compete in the more popular sports in Singapore like football and basketball.
Beating 21 teams to a championship is quite different from beating out 110 teams for a title.
Hi Les,
ACSI can certainly, and had proven to be able to compete not only at the highest school levels, but at national and international arenas. They had produced some of the best atheletes in swimming, water-polo, rugby, squash, just to name a few.
Even as a nation,with much more talents and resources to tap on, Singapore has chosen to concentrate on a few selected ‘core’ sports. And these are usually the ones that would secure the medals. Schools are but an integral part of the larger society.
ACSI has long been synonymous in sports excellence in rugby, swimming, water polo, tennis, squash, bowling.
Many of the nation’s best is a prodct of ACSI.
In the non-sports arena, ACSI did Singapore proud yet again by winning 2 World Championships Titles for the Odyssey of the Mind 2008, against 800 teams from around the world. This is no less demanding than a physical sport.
Than theres the various Olympiads wins.
Clearly, ACSI is a school that not only excels in ‘certain’ sports, but in diversed disciplines.
Thanks for chipping in Rhino and Marvin.
Certainly this is not a straight comparison and there is no clear answer.
Some sports have a long heritage in the schools concerned and the whole school is oriented around that sport.
Every school has to choose what to focus on because there is no way to do well in all sports, especially team sports.
and referring to Water Polo and Swimming, the schools which generally are successful have their own pools i.e. ACS & RI
These schools such as ACS, RI & St Andrews don’t just compete in sports such as rugby, cricket, water polo etc because the competition size is smaller than other sports but because they have a long history in these sports in Singapore. This is why these 3 schools still remain dominant in Rugby across the A/B/C Divisions. The help from old boys and years of exeperience does give them the edge over neighbourhood schools, who at most, have 10 years of experience and usually no help from old boys. There are, of course, some success stories such as Pioneer, Unity & Montfort (all of which have produced players who have gone on to represent Singapore at U20 or Senior team level).
Let’s us not forget about the actual physical requirements required for Basketball and Rugby/Football. For Basketball, all you need is a court (indoors or outdoors) whereas for Rugby/Football, you need a full size grass field. As a rugby coach, a patch of grass will only teach the basics of the game such as passing or tackling but you need a full size field to allow your players to practice their plays/tactics.
I think it’s pretty interesting that we have so little teams participating in some sports, yet we excel so well at them. Water Polo is a very good example, 7 teams only with the title being dominated by ACS. More than half the national team members that represented singapore,the defending champions for SEA games, in the past 30 years have ACS blood or heritage…
On the other hand, we have a sport like basketball, where we have over 50 teams participating in 4 different zones, slugging it out round by round , just to get into the nationals.It might be harder to win the championship per se. Yet, basketball is a sport that we have hardly won a medal in the SEA games or at a regional level and they are hardly recognized.
I also remember a time when some schools would bring an entire team full of foreign talents from china, i think it was chung cheng was one of them then. They had an full squad 5-6 China girls that stood at 1.8m avge, easily 10-20cm higher than our local girls. Yet they failed to win a single school title. They played against a very gutsy NYGH team who were much shorter, less experienced and they lost! In fact, the China girls were sent back in abject humiliation amidst public scrutiny, which was really awful. And and, i remember a certain local basketball star appearing on a channel 8 program and then he just faded into obscurity too!
The bottom line is, despite the amount of money, effort that we have put in Basketball, it has failed to flourish time and time again unlike the various other sports, such as netball, which is “similar” in nature to it. We are ranked in the top 15 in the world for netball but how about B-ball? We have basketball courts everywhere in the heartlands of Singapore, but not netball courts or water-polos for the matter. What exactly is wrong with Basketball in singapore? I am truly puzzled.
Actually les, ACS(I) has actually represented Singapore at the World National Minis Rugby Championships. The youth world cup of rugby. They took on the best schools from the best nations in the world and emerged champions in the U13 and U14 category. I suppose that proves that they can take on the best in the WORLD and still triumph. The amount of teams that took part surely numbered more than 80. Just thought you might like to know.
Ah, that’s interesting to know. Do you know how many games they played to win the U-13 and U-14 categories at the world championship?
Every year, only 2-3 teams have a realistic chance of winning the rugby championship: ACSI, Saints and RI. Other than these three, the intensity of competition is woefully low.
As for basketball, we have 2-3 teams alone in the South Zone who have a chance for gold. Spread it out across four zones and we’ve got probably 10 teams (or so) of championship caliber.
Looking at it this way, and not in the way of manpower/recruitment difficulties, the basketball season is definitely of a higher level of competition intensity and hence, would surely be “harder to win”?
St Andrew’s won the B-Division Rugby Police Cup thrice instead of twice since 1997; in year 2004, 2005 and 2006.
St Andrew’s have a football team now since 2005 or 2006, anyway, St Andrew’s last won the C-Division Football in 1987.
St Andrew’s won the B-Division National Cricket 6 times since 1996, and the C-Division for 3 times since 1996.
Comparing Basketball and Rugby, I find that rugby is more difficult to win. I made my judgement base on the scores difference between the Rugby Powerhouses (St Andrew’s, RI, ACSi) and other schools, most schools are defeated with a score difference that is more than 50.
Ah. Thanks for pointing out that saints won it three times since 97. My mistake.
haha hey! interesting, but i personally feel that there’s no need for such comparison lah.. haha. but still, well done! (:
It just tickled my mind. It’s not a straight comparison of course and never can be because they are two different sports.
But certainly, it would be interesting to see if ACS(I) can ever compete at the highest school levels in sports where there are 80 or more schools participating. So far, they have had no outstanding football or basketball team in recent memory. If ever.
Hi all – once again a very thought provoking article Les!
I don’t think its fair to compare as you said ,some sports are easier to pick up than others, and realistically, baskteball and football are much more popular among youths in Singapore than rugby, and hence much easier for schools to get players to play and train. Rugby for example is stil very much seen as a extremely rough sport (although it has been proven not more rougher than football in terms of injuries) and most parents discourage their players to pick up that sport. As you have pointed out, 20 teams in 2008 is much more than in previous years and the Singapore rugby union has done a great job in that respect.
Basketball and football however are very accessible sports. Almost every estate has either a street soccer court or a basketball court. Every school has a football field or grassed area to play football. That makes it easier to recruit. Adding to the fact that professional basketball and football is more widely followed, and you have base for more schools forming teams to play. That being said, how many of these games are quality games? With the likes of cat high who from rumours ‘import’ asian scholars to play basketball – the competition landscape is just like rugby, with more teams.
Yes, quality games are fewer at zonal level for basketball, PK. You are quite right.
As for Catholic High, I don’t think any in their squad are Asian scholars. They are Malaysians who have to pass a test so that they can cope with the Singapore educational system. I was told that one kid turned a spot in Catholic High because he decided the Singapore system was a bridge too far for him. I think it had to do with the fact that we teach in English.
u welcome,les,
Actually u can go to http://www.jurongsec.moe.gov.sg/ to get all the National School BBall Championship results for the last 20 years(for both C/B boys and girls top 4 positions)just click on the quick links =^..^=
Yes, I got some info from there for the PAST CHAMPIONS page we have on Red Sports. You can see in the nav bar at the top of the page.
is beach volleyball considered a team sport? it should be
yeah and beach vb onli need 2 ppl!
Oh yeah! Forgot about that. I also remembered another one that’s smaller than basketball – sepak takraw. Only three people there.
Hi Kar-Teck, Critter#33,
Yes you’re both quite right. It’s not comparing like for like.
I just found the stat that Catholic High had to play 18 games to win while ACS(I) only had to play seven interesting.
Also, rugby needs 15 players – I can’t think of a bigger team sport. Basketball only five. I can’t think of a smaller team sport.
So the contrast is also interesting.
I would have included football except that I don’t get much football info and so can’t look into that sport.
hi,there’s some mistake on who has won the National BBall tittle since 1998 for B boys-it should be …jurong(98,00).yishun sec(99).Anglican High(01,04).Chai Chee(02)Presbyterian(03),Cath High(05,06,07,08)..
Changkat Changi and RI never won any B tittle during this period but do won the National C div on 1998(Changkat Changi),2001(RI).thanks
Aiyah. I am really cock eyed.
Thanks for pointing out my mistake, Justin. Much appreciated.
Having taught in a neighbourhood school that once tasted some success in both sports, I can safely say that winning in either is never easy. Practicing for a basketball game is surely easier than getting your rugby boys together for a practice game and I agree that it is always harder to coordinate a larger team. however, we are not talking about fielding teams that can simply play.
Catholic High has an immense amount of resources invested in it’s basketball program since 2004 when they decided to focus in BBALL and changed their old coach (who was there since the early 90s).
Winning in any team sports is never easy, to compare 2 sports like this is also never fair…
To compare across various sports is not a comparison of like for like.
I think to win any sport competition is hard because of the elements involved (schedule, team morale, injuries … and luck).