D2D Sports’ first walking football meet in Singapore got off to a lacklustre start at Charis Turf last Saturday.
The plan started unravelling a day before the session, when someone pulled out for unknown reasons.
The person has since left the group. That opened the floodgates, as four others pulled out on the same day, at 10pm.
With just six players confirming their attendance, a couple of players suggested calling off the inaugural session, but that felt like admitting defeat, so we resisted.
One of them even suggested refunding the fees he had paid, despite costs that had been incurred to book the pitch. The pitch cannot be cancelled at the eleventh hour, either.
In response, I explained that we were still looking for more players and appealed to those in the group that didn’t respond.
On social media, I posted SOS posts on my profile and on some of the amateur football pages in Singapore, that we were looking for players.
I explained to the players as well that the show had to go on, even with six footballers. It is not ideal, but we can still play a three-on-three game in a smaller, modified playing area.
Coincidentally, on Saturday morning, my article on walking football was published on Twentytwo13, and the article was used to try and attract more players to join us.
Thanks to the article, I got another player to commit. He said he would ask some of his friends if they would be available.
At 1pm, the players who were keen to call off the session, did so. It came at an inopportune time, as I had just got another player in.
The whole experience left my facilitator, Lubis Ratno deflated, while I was upset at the withdrawals.
We pleaded for the players to return, but only one relented. In the end, six brave men were supposed to turn up, but one more player pulled out.
It was a forgettable day.
I told Ratno that the show had to go on at all costs. We had to show our audience on social media what walking football was all about.
He did a great job to get the players to do some dynamic warm-ups before commencing with a two-on-two match.
I was not able to attend the session, as I had to be at the Toa Payoh Stadium to provide in-house media coverage, ahead of Balestier Khalsa’s home match against Tampines Rovers in the Singapore Premier League.
I am very proud of Ratno and those who soldiered on. The participants were glad to see how the session was carried out.
For this coming week, there are only three sign-ups – including myself.
It’s always difficult when we start something new, but we need to persevere. If not this week, maybe next week we will have more sign-ups.
Slowly, we shall have a settled group of players. We’ve just gotta keep on walking.
This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Twentytwo13.
