Warriors (Singapore)

Warriors FC is a professional football club in Singapore, currently in abeyance, which was originally formed in 1975 as the Singapore Armed Forces Sports Association (SAFSA) football side to offer competitive football to those serving in the armed forces.

The team enjoyed great success in the old National League as they lifted the Presidents Cup in their first year. The feat was repeated in 1978 as well as the league title. In 1981 SAFSA lifted the league crown without losing a single game.

Another President Cup was collected in 1984, and once again two years later to complete another ‘double’ along with the National League. In 1990 the club progressed to the newly formed S League, where they were one of the eight founder members.

As Singapore Armed Forces FC, the club won the S League in 1997 and 1998, with Jure Ereš and Mirko Grabovac playing starring roles at the time the club played their home games at Jurong Stadium. The Singapore Cup was added in 1999 with a 3-1 win against Jurong FC along with a league runners-up place.

The team returned to the final the following season but went down 1-0 to big rivals Home United. However, they made no mistake in the league, lifting the 2000 title as Grabovac put away the goals. Second place followed in 2001 as Kiatisuk Senamuang starred with the club moving to Choa Chu Kang Stadium.

The 2002 season ended in further glory and league title number four as Therdsak Chaiman weighed in with the prolific Grabovac in putting away the chances. A runners-up spot in the league campaign of 2005 was the sign of greater things to come.

Richard Bok arrived as Head Coach in 2006, leading the side to the league title in his first season at the helm with Aleksandar Đurić and Ashrin Shariff forming a fine forward partnership. The championship was retained in 2007.

The season also saw a run to the quarter-final of the AFC Cup, where Shabab Al-Ordon of Jordan prevailed over two legs. The Singapore Cup was won after a 4-3 victory over Tampines Rovers. The trophy was retained in 2008 as Woodlands Wellington were defeated 2-1 after extra time.

This was a time of great dominance for the club, as the league and cup double was completed as Đurić continued to bang away the goals. The team also reached the last eight of the AFC Cup once again, this time losing to Al-Nahda of Oman on aggregate.

The club became champions of the professional game in Singapore for the eighth time in 2009 which saw them become the country’s first representative in the AFC Champions League, prior to Đurić moving on to Tampines Rovers.

Mislav Karoglan led the league scoring charts in 2011, as his side finished third. Another Singapore Cup triumph followed in 2012, with Tampines Rovers being defeated 2-1 in the final. On 20^th January 2013, Singapore Armed Forces changed their name to Warriors FC.

 

Bok resigned before the start of the 2013 season. He had enjoyed an amazing spell at the club with his replacement V. Selvaraj lasting just a few months before the appointment of Alex Weaver, who quickly found his feet in the role.

The league was won once again, in 2014 as Nicolás Vélez and Miroslav Pejić scored the goals while Hassan Sunny proved hard to beat in goal. The club was forced to decamp to Woodlands Stadium for the 2015 season as Choa Chu Kang Stadium was being used for the SEA Games.

Razif Onn took over as manager at the end of the season as the side entered something of a slump by their previous high standards. The 2016 campaign saw several managerial comings and goings with Karim Bencherifa, Jorg Steinebrunner, and a returning Onn all having spells in charge of the team.

An improved fifth place in 2017 was matched twelve months later after former fans hero Mirko Grabovac was appointed as manager in the first season of the rebranded Singapore Premier League. 

Jurong East Stadium where Warriors played their 2019 season home games

The club changed venues to Jurong East Stadium for the 2019 season as standards of required facilities were heightened, while under new team boss Azlan Alipah, as the team completed the season in seventh place with Jonathan Béhé top scoring. Warriors also went down 4-3 to Tampines Rovers in the cup final.

Warriors were omitted from the Singapore Premier League in 2020 on instruction by the Singapore FA owing to a poor financial situation at the club which had debts for previous unpaid salaries. They re-applied for the 2021 season but were rejected. 

My visit

Wednesday 29th October 2014

It was just after lunch on a scorching humid day in Singapore. While I was loving the adventure of a day's ground hopping, my body was rapidly beginning to hurt as I alighted from a train on the SMRT at Yew Tee in the furthest northeast of the island.

Choa Chu Kang Stadium looked just that bit too far on foot, so I was delighted to find that the 307 bus would drop me right outside. As with all my venues for the day, there was a gate open as the main arena backed onto a sports complex.

The only real spectator facilities came by way of a fantastic, raised stand which had a soaring curved arched roof, rising over the centre section. The pitch was surrounded by an athletics track. Any other room for fans was by courtesy of flat open standing. It was another venue with a sign warning any competitors to suspend their sport when the lightening siren sounded!

Behind the stand was a modern swimming complex and facilities for tennis, basketball, badminton as well as a gym and dance studio. Areas for eating and drinking were also provided along with sports shops. It really was yet another example in Singapore of how community sports facilities should be.

I took the short walk around the corner onto the main Choa Chu Kung Drive to await the next 307 bus down to the station of the same name. I was ready for more serious rehydration.

Unfortunately owing to an IT disaster on my return to the UK, I lost most of my pictures from Singapore, so several images on this page have been downloaded from the internet.