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Duric wins Player of the Year
Syahrom Sulaiman
info@sleague.com
SAFFC, for the second successive year, grabbed all the headlines yet again when the 13th NTUC Income – YEO'S S.League Awards Night took place at the Orchard Hotel Ballroom on Tuesday night.
The Warriors led the nominations for the Awards ceremony but in the end, the club won three awards – one was the POLAR Fan Club of the Year and the other two went to the Warriors’ Aleksandar Duric.
Last year Duric bagged four awards but this year he had to be contented with two – the RHB Top Scorer Award and the NTUC Income Player of the Year.
In winning the NTUC INCOME Player of the Year Award though, the striker had set a precedent by becoming the first ever player to retain the award after winning it last year.
The one big surprise for the night, though, was when hot favorite Richard Bok, who guided the Warriors to their third consecutive S.League title, did not win the MIKASA Coach of the Year Award.
Instead, the award was given to Albirex Niigata FC (S) coach Hiroaki Hiraoka. Under Hiraoka’s guidance and stewardship, the White Swans managed to grab seventh spot – which is a feat in itself considering the relatively young and inexperienced players that he coaches at the club.
The S.League fraternity turned up in full force to support the award nominees as well as letting their hair down after yet another successful S.League season.
Hosted by Justin Ang and Vernon A, otherwise known as Muttons on the radio station 987 FM, and Mediacorp artiste Michelle Chong, the trio entertained everyone with their signature wit and humor.
FAS President and the Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee then went on stage to deliver a short speech. One of the key points that he made was the great progress that the foreign teams had made this season – special mention was given to the Super Reds.
Perhaps it was fitting that the first award of the night went to Khairul Amri as he clinched the YEO'S Young Player of the Year title.
As he received the award on stage, the Tampines Rovers’ striker let out a loud bellow and as he was interviewed later on, one can understand the reason for his uncontained excitement.
Khairul exclaimed, “Finally! It’s been three years in a row that I have been nominated for this award and I guess it’s third time lucky. Finally, I win this year.”
Not one to rest on his laurels, the 23-year-old underlined his ambitions for next season. He said, “Hopefully, I will do my best for Tampines Rovers next year and help them to win the championship. Who knows, if we do well next season, I hope I can get nominated in the Player of the Year category.”
Besides SAFFC, Woodlands Wellington scored big on the awards night as well when two of their representatives, Park Tae Won and Abdelhadi Laakkad, grabbed the S.League 100 Goals and TIGER BEER Goal of the Year awards respectively.
Laakkad scored an amazing overhead kick against the Young Lions, a result of the hard work that the Moroccan had puts in during every training session.
Whereas for Park, trying to recall the most memorable goal out of 100 that was scored in a span of eight seasons turned out to be an easy task for the Korean.
He said, “If I had to single out just one goal, it would have to be the one that I scored against Gombak United last season.
“I scored with a scissors-kick and the goal was nominated for goal of the year,” said the skilful midfielder.
If the Rams’ duo knew how to entertain spectators on the pitch, then the awards night also threw up some top-notch entertainment on the stage as varied acts such as JazzKids, acapella group Budak Pantai, Irene Ang’s standup comedy and magicians JC Sum and ‘Magic Babe’ Ning dazzled the crowd in between the award presentations.
TODAY newspaper also scored a double achievement when reporter Shamir Osman won the AVAYA-J&J Story of the Year while photographer Koh Mui Fong snagged the SINGAPORE POOLS Picture of the Year award.
Former S.League player T. Aravinthan won the NTUC INCOME Referee of the Year award while Home United striker Kengne Ludovick got the YEO’S People’s Choice award.
It had been a bittersweet season for the stocky striker. Ludovick explained, “I might have won the award because I think people like to see the way I play. But then again, we (Home United) did not get any trophy this season.
“I will pressure myself to play at a higher level and hope that I can help my club to win the championship next season,” he said.
The Super Reds might not have won the S.League title despite their exciting attacking displays which have entertained the fans all season.
Nevertheless, they did win the SINGAPORE POOLS Fair Play award and coach Jeon Kyeong Joon was adamant that the Koreans did not settle for anything less when they won this particular award.
He said, “I am always grateful to win any award. Everytime we go out onto the pitch there’s always a Fair Play placard to remind all the players.
“Therefore, we are honored to be recognized for the number one rule in football. I have always stressed upon my players to conduct themselves as professionals and make sure they behave in accordance to the rules,” Jeon pointed out.
It is perhaps heartening to know that despite society’s mentality of “winner takes all”, there’s still people like Jeon who understands that there are still many things in life that has a higher priority besides winning.
Congratulations to those who won the awards. But, to those who did not win the award, or to all those who are not even nominated – be it players, trainers, physiotherapists, in short the unsung heroes – you are all winners on the night. And may you all continue to be winners come 2009 next season.
NTUC INCOME-YEO'S S.LEAGUE AWARDS NIGHT WINNERS
NTUC INCOME Player of the Year
Aleksandar Duric (Singapore Armed Forces Football Club)
YEO'S Young Player of the Year
Khairul Amri (Tampines Rovers Football Club)
MIKASA Coach of the Year
Hiroaki Hiraoka (Albirex Niigata Football Club Singapore)
RHB Top Scorer Award
Aleksandar Duric (Singapore Armed Forces FC)
SINGAPORE POOLS Fair Play Award
Super Reds Football Club
NTUC INCOME Referee of the Year
T Aravinthan
CERTIS CISCO Assistant Referee of the Year
Jeffrey Goh Gek Pheng
TIGER BEER Goal of the Year
Abdelhadi Laakkad / Woodlands Wellington Football Club (vs Young Lions on 23 February @ Woodlands Stadium)
POLAR Fan Club of the Year
Singapore Armed Forces Football Club
AVAYA-J&J Story of the Year
Shamir Osman (Today) - "No Panic As Dark Clouds Loom"
SINGAPORE POOLS Picture of the Year
Koh Mui Fong (Today) - "Super Reds Flying High"
YEO'S People's Choice Award
Kengne Ludovick (Home United Football Club)
100 S.League Goals
Park Tae Won (Woodlands Wellington Football Club)
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