Following the Singapore football team’s record-breaking and history-making 7-0 loss to Malaysia at the SEA Games on Thursday (11 May), tensions were understandably high and boiling over.
Netizens vented their outrage at the inexplicable humiliation of our football team and questioned the standards of the persons in charge, with a few of the arrows being directed at the Acting President of the Football Association of Singapore, Bernard Tan.
One netizen called out Tan and told him that he was not worthy of his paycheck and told him to resign from his position as head of the FAS, and Tan then issued a scathing response, challenging the netizen to come out and meet him face to face.
Tan said in his reply that he doesn’t get paid, and told the netizen that instead of attacking him online, he challenged the netizen to meet him face to face, which he said was a “one time offer”.
He then left behind his email and told the netizen to arrange the meeting, after which he will “delete” him.
The netizen then told Tan that he can’t “just leave Singapore fans in the dark, if things keep going like this, the game we love will die.”
Netizens and fans online were shocked and outraged by Tan’s response to the fans, comparing his comment as being similar to how people would ask their rivals to settle their problems outside through fighting (ie. “eh not happy 1v1 outside ah”).
Following the public outcry against his behaviour online, Tan posted on his account saying that emotions were running high at the time and that he regrets responding and said that he apologises deeply for what he did.
He said that he holds himself to a higher standard and that he is human and was hurting too, before setting his Instagram account to private and changing his profile bio to “sorry”.
