FA Cup heartbreak again?

The year 2006 was supposed to be a maiden year for Central Park Football Club to participate in the FA Cup competition which was announced by FAS on 4 March 2005. We quote the following off FAS Web Portal,

“Entry requirements into the 2005 F.A. Cup competition have also been relaxed. For the first time, FAS-affiliated clubs are now allowed to take part in the tournament. The F.A. Cup was previously open only to clubs playing in the National Football League. Said FAS Director (Competitions) Mr Quah Kim Song: “We hope that by implementing these changes it will increase the level of competition in the National Football League, and also encourage wider participation from the many amateur football players in Singapore.”

The FA Cup preliminary rounds has been traditionally scheduled in March and till now, no news of team registration has been received. A quick call to the Competitions Executive reveals depressing news. This year rules for participation has been changed to only include Prime League and NFL teams. Last year announcement came too late since right after the announcement in the change of rules, the teams have already been drawn to play in the preliminary round and thus no affiliated clubs competed in last year tournaments. This year, the inclusion were totally scraped to the dismay of CPFC. The management is totally preplexed with the turn in events.

He said, ‘One year ago, wider participation was encouraged. The next, it was scrapped. So what’s the direction now? It just doesn’t make sense then since no teams outside of the NFL participated in last year competition due to the absurb timeline between when the announcement was made and the draw for the preliminary round.’

We just hope that our letter to the FAS President, Assoc. Prof. Mr Ho Peng Kee would reinstate affiliated clubs to compete in the FA Cup. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.