Sengkang Punggol FC

Football club infobox
clubname = Sengkang Punggol FC


fullname = Sengkang Punggol Football Club
nickname = The Dolphins
founded = 2006
ground = Hougang Stadium
Hougang, Singapore
capacity = 3,400
chairman = flagicon|England David Rowe
manager = flagicon|Singapore Robert Tan
league = S.League
season = Last Season
position = 2007, S.League, 11th
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pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=_thinblacksides|pattern_ra2=|leftarm2=FF0000|body2=FF0000|rightarm2=FF0000|shorts2=FF0000|socks2=FF0000

Sengkang Punggol Football Club is a professional soccer club which was formed to play in Singapore's S.League in 2006. The club is a merger of two clubs who played in the S.League in past years – Paya Lebar Punggol Football Club and Sengkang Marine Football Club. The club plays its home games at the Hougang Stadium, where both Paya Lebar Punggol FC and Sengkang Marine FC had previously been based.

Sengkang Punggol finished runners-up in the inaugural Singapore League Cup competition in 2007.

S.League Record

* 2007 - "Sengkang Punggol:" 11th place
* 2006 - "Sengkang Punggol:" 11th place
* 2005 - "Paya Lebar Punggol:" 10th place
* 2004 - "did not take part
* 2003 - "Sengkang Marine:" 8th place
* 2002 - "Sengkang Marine:" 8th place
* 2001 - "Marine Castle United:" 11th place
* 2000 - "Marine Castle United:" 11th place
* 1999 - "Marine Castle United:" 12th place
* 1998 - "Marine Castle United:" 11th place

Singapore Cup Record

* 2008 - "Sengkang Punggol:" First Round
* 2007 - "Sengkang Punggol:" Quarter-finals
* 2006 - "Sengkang Punggol:" Quarter-finals
* 2005 - "Paya Lebar Punggol:" First Round
* 2004 - "did not take part
* 2003 - "Sengkang Marine:" First Round
* 2002 - "Sengkang Marine:" 4th place
* 2001 - "Marine Castle United:" First Round
* 2000 - "Marine Castle United:" First Round
* 1999 - "Marine Castle United:" First Round
* 1998 - "Marine Castle United:" First Round

Singapore League Cup Record

* 2008 - "Sengkang Punggol:" First Round
* 2007 - "Sengkang Punggol:" Runners-up

History

Marine Castle United Football Club, one of Sengkang Punggol's predecessor clubs, was formed as in 1981 by residents of Marine Parade, with the initial aim of playing in 7-a-side tournaments, which were very popular at the time. The club's name arose after Newcastle United FC of England visited Singapore in 1981. With all the team's members being residents of Marine Parade fans of Newcastle United, they decided to name their club Marine Castle United FC. cite web |url=http://www.spfc.com.sg/history.htm |title=Overview/History |work=SengKang Punggol FC Official Website |accessdate=2007-07-25] Marine Castle United FC was registered with the Singapore Registry of Society on the 19 October 1981. In 1982, a four-year youth development programme was drawn up, aiming to develop and produce the club's players from 1986 onwards. This plan proved to be a success as many players were selected to represent Singapore in various youth tournaments. The young squads went on to achieve some noteworthy results, including:
# 1984 - National under-16, unbeaten up to quarter-finals
# 1985 - National under-18, second round
# 1986 - Champions of the Zulkifli Mohd Soccer Tournament
# 1987 - FAS Single Knock-Out Tournament, unbeaten Marine Castle's achievements at senior level had not been too impressive in the years leading to S.League's formation in 1995. The club applied to be one of the eight teams that would participate in the inaugural S.League, but was not selected by the Football Association of Singapore. Over the next two years, the club attempted to show skeptics that they had what it took to join Singapore's top league. They reached FA Cup semi-finals in 1995, become the National Football League's group champions in 1996, and were runners-up National Football League Division 1 in 1997.

Following this, Marine Castle United successfully applied to join the S.League in 1998. They became the eleventh team to join the S.League, together with Gombak United FC. However Marine Castle did not initially enjoy much S.League success. They finished bottom of the league in their first two seasons. In 2000 and 2001, they climbed up one spot to finished eleventh out of twelve teams, above Balestier Central FC and Woodlands Wellington FC respectively.

In 2002, Marine Castle FC changed its name to Sengkang Marine Football Club. The S.League wanted clubs to be closer to their heartlands and community. Marine Castle had been playing its S.League home games at the Hougang Stadium, and the change in name was made with the aim of reaching out more to fans in the nearby Sengkang area. That year, the team's performances on the pitch improved, and they finished the S.League season in eighth place, their highest ever finish.

In 2003, Sengkang Marine finished the league season in eighth place again, but was then forced to bow out of the league due to financial difficulties. Both Sengkang Marine and Jurong FC left the league after the 2003 season despite mid-table finishes as they could no longer afford to participate.

In 2005, Paya Lebar Punggol Football Club joined the S.Legaue and finished tenth in its debut season. (Prior to joining the S.League, the team was previously a grassroots club known as Paya Lebar Kovan Football Club). Like Sengkang Marine FC before them, Paya Lebar Punggol FC played it's S.League home games at the Hougang Stadium.

In 2006, Paya Lebar Punggol FC and Sengkang Marine FC decide to collaborate their resources and merge to form a club named Sengkang Punggol Football Club to play in the S.League. The newly-merged club finished in eleventh place in the 2006 S.League season.

Club Mascot

In 1998, when Marine Castle United joined the S.League, all clubs playing in the league were required to have an animal mascot to represent their team. Marine Castle chose a dolphin mascot.

Marine Castle chose the dophin because it is a highly intelligent sea mammal, capable of working singularly or as part of a team. It represents dexterity, fleetness and determination.

Marine Castle thus became the first S.League club to have a marine animal as its mascot. Paya Lebar Punggol followed by adopting a seahorse as its mascot. When the two clubs merged, it was decided that the dolphin should be the new club's mascot.

Sponsors

* Main Sponsor: CMNC Goldmine Ltd
* Kit Supplier: uhlsport

Players

"As of July, 2008"

Former players

;Sengkang Punggol

*flagicon|Australia Jonathan Angelucci (2006-2007)
*flagicon|SCO Ricky Waddell (2006)
*flagicon|Ghana flagicon|ENG Kim Grant (2006)
*flagicon|Singapore Amos Boon (1999-2007)

;Sengkang Marine

*flagicon|England Daniel Hill (2002-05)
*flagicon|England Grant Holt (2002)
*flagicon|England James Morgan (footballer) (2002)
*flagicon|England Jason White (2003) 14 goals

;Marine Castle

*flagicon|England Ian Gore (1998)
*flagicon|Nigeria Peter Anosike (1998-1999)
*flagicon|Nigeria Nduka Ugbade (1998-1999)

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.spfc.com.sg/ Official Sengkang Punggol FC Website]
* [http://www.sleague.com/web/main.aspx?ID=cb4ffe5e-cadf-4d91-be02-8233ae956f45,,&TargetPageID= S.League website page on Sengkang Punggol FC]