Tampines Rovers FC

Infobox Football club
clubname = Tampines Rovers FC


fullname = Tampines Rovers Football Club
nickname = The Stags
founded = 1945
ground = Tampines Stadium
Tampines, Singapore
capacity = 4,500
league = S.League
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Tampines Rovers Football Club is a professional football club that plays in Singapore's S.League.

Founded in 1945, Tampines Rovers is one of the oldest surviving football clubs in Singapore. The club has been Singapore's national league champions five times. They won Singapore's National Football League three times in 1979, 1980 and 1984. The club then became a founding member of the S.League in 1996, and won the S.League championship title twice, in 2004 and 2005. Tampines Rovers also won the Singapore Cup in 2002, 2004, and 2006. In 2005, they became the first Singapore team to win the ASEAN Club Championship.

Tampines Rovers' home ground is the Tampines Stadium, and their games are some of the most well attended in the S.League. Their mascot is a stag, and the team is often referred to as "The Stags".

The club's main rivals are Geylang United FC, and matches between these two teams are often referred to as the "Eastern Derby".

History

Several football enthusiasts from Tampines decided to form a football club in 1945.cite web |url=http://www.trfc.com.sg/information/history.php |title=Tampines Rovers Football Club History |publisher=Tampines Rovers FC |accessdate=2007-12-03 ] cite book |title=S.League: the kick-off |last=Das |first=Malathi |coauthors=Palakrishnan |publisher=Singapore Professional Football League Pte Ltd |year=1996 |pages=pp50 ] After many name changes, they finally settled on "Tampines Rovers". The club debuted in Division 3A of the Singapore Amateur Football Association League in 1954, but the next two decades saw little success. In 1974, Tampines were placed in Division II of the newly-formed National Football League.

1975 was a watershed year for Tampines, as they won all their league matches and were promoted to Division I. The Stags also reached the final of the President's Cup, losing 0-1 to the Singapore Armed Forces Sports Association in front of a crowd of 30,000,cite book |title=S.League: the kick-off |last=Das |first=Malathi |coauthors=Palakrishnan |publisher=Singapore Professional Football League Pte Ltd |year=1996 |pages=pp38 ] which remains a record attendance for a domestic competition in Singapore. They continued to challenge for honours for the next decade, emerging as champions of Division I in 1979, 1980 and 1984.

In 1988, Tampines were relegated to Division I, where they languished for several years. To arrest the decline, a group of fans and former players and managers submitted a proposal for a change in club management. Robert Tan was appointed as manager, while former Singapore and Brunei trainer Hussein Aljunied coached the Stags. ["Hussein to take charge of Tampines Rovers", The Straits Times, 8 February 1994] Under the new management, Tampines finished first in Division I in 1994, [Joe Dorai, "Tampines back in top league", The Straits Times, 20 June 1994] and their convincing displays led to their selection as one of eight clubs to compete in the newly-formed S.League.

Tampines's S.League performances in the late-1990s fell short of expectations. In the inaugural season of the S.League, which was split into two series, the Stags finished eighth in the Tiger Beer Series and seventh in the Pioneer Series.cite web |url=http://sleague.com/ina080201.asp |title=1996 Pioneer Series League Table |publisher=Football Association of Singapore |year=2007 ] cite web |url=http://sleague.com/ina080202.asp |title=1996 Tiger Beer Series League Table ] Two sixth-place finishes in 1997 and 1998 were followed by a tenth-place finish in 1999.cite web |url=http://sleague.com/ina080203.asp |title=1997 NTUC INCOME - YEO'S S.League Table |publisher=FAS |year=2007 ] cite web |url=http://sleague.com/ina080204.asp |title=1998 NTUC INCOME - YEO'S S.League Table |publisher=FAS |year=2007 ] cite web |url=http://sleague.com/ina080205.asp |title=1999 NTUC INCOME - YEO'S S.League Table |publisher=FAS |year=2007 ] The turn of the millennium saw the Stags undergo an overhaul, which included the signing of 13 new players. ["Tampines takes on 13 new players", The Sunday Times, 12 December 1999 ] This was not, however, matched by an immediate improvement; they were seventh in 2000 and sixth the year after.cite web |url=http://sleague.com/ina080206.asp |title=2000 NTUC INCOME - YEO'S S.League Table |publisher=FAS |year=2000 ] cite web |url=http://sleague.com/ina080207.asp |title=2001 NTUC INCOME - YEO'S S.League Table |publisher=FAS |year=2001 ]

In 2002, Tampines secured the services of Malaysian coach Chow Kwai Lam, [Jeffrey Low, "Jita’s out, Chow steps in", The Straits Times, 10 April 2002] [Fariq Rahman, "Kwai Lam helming S-League club", The Malay Mail, 11 April 2002] who guided them to the Singapore Cup and a fourth-place finish in the S.League. [G. Sivakkumaran, "Tampines caps an amazing season", The Straits Times, 14 October 2002] ["Tampines Rovers beat Jurong FC 1-0 to win Singapore Cup", Channel NewsAsia, 14 October 2002] cite web |url=http://sleague.com/ina080208.asp |title=2002 NTUC INCOME - YEO'S S.League Table |publisher=FAS |year=2002 ] However, during the 2003 season, Chow resigned as coach, [ Marc Lim, "Kwai Lam quits Tampines", The Straits Times, 3 June 2003] citing differences with the club management, and the Stags ended in fourth place.cite web |url=http://sleague.com/ina080209.asp |title=2003 NTUC INCOME - YEO'S S.League Table |publisher=FAS |year=2003 ] Under the new coach, Vorawan Chitanavich, [G. Sivakkumaran, "Tears after the joy for coach Vorawan", The Straits Times, 17 September 2004] Tampines netted the S.League and Singapore Cup double in 2004. ["S.League: Tampines Rovers beat Albirex 3-0 to win championship title", Channel NewsAsia, 16 September 2004] cite web |url=http://sleague.com/ina080210.asp |title=2004 NTUC INCOME - YEO'S S.League Table |publisher=FAS |year=2004 ] ["S.League champs Tampines make it double with Singapore Cup win", Channel NewsAsia, 3 October 2004] The following season, they successfully defended their S.League title, ["Tampines Rovers win S.League championship for second year running", Channel NewsAsia, 27 October 2005] cite web |url=http://sleague.com/ina080211.asp |title=2005 NTUC INCOME - YEO'S S.League Table |publisher=FAS|year=2005 ] and were named the 'S.League Team of the Decade'. [Alvin Foo, "Tampines are S-League Team of the Decade", The Straits Times, 21 November 2005] They also became the first Singapore team to win the ASEAN Club Championship, beating Pahang of Malaysia 4-2 in the final in Brunei. [Marc Lim, "Tampines, Asean champions", The Straits Times, 1 August 2005] The Stags were Singapore Cup champions in 2006, [ Cubby Leong, "Aliff is Tampines' hero", TODAY, 27 November 2006] but finished runners-up to SAFFC in the S.League. [Sazali Abdul Aziz, "Vorawan won't rest stars", TODAY, 17 November 2006.] cite web |url=http://sleague.com/ina080212.asp |title=2006 NTUC INCOME - YEO'S S.League Table |publisher=FAS |year=2006 ] In 2007, Noh Alam Shah became the first player to score 100 goals for Tampines.

Sponsors

* Main Sponsor: Hyundai
* Kit Supplier: DAL

Record

S.League record

* 2007 - 3rd place [cite web|author=Football Association of Singapore (FAS)|publisher=Football Association of Singapore (FAS)|year=2007|url=http://sleague.com/ina03.asp|title=S.League: League Table]
* 2006 - Runners-up
* 2005 - Champions
* 2004 - Champions
* 2003 - 4th place
* 2002 - 4th place
* 2001 - 6th place
* 2000 - 7th place
* 1999 - 10th place
* 1998 - 6th place
* 1997 - 6th place
* 1996 - "Series 1:" 8th place; "Series 2:" 7th place

Singapore Cup Record

* 2008 - Semi-finals
* 2007 - Runners-up
* 2006 - Champions
* 2005 - Semi-finals
* 2004 - Champions
* 2003 - Quarter-finals
* 2002 - Champions
* 2001 - First round
* 2000 - Quarter-finals
* 1999 - Quarter-finals
* 1998 - First round
* 1997 - Semi-finals

Singapore League Cup Record

* 2008 - Quarter-finals
* 2007 - Quarter-finals

ASEAN Club Championship wins

* 2005

Players and staff

Current squad

"As of August 31, 2008

Confirmed 2008 transfers

In

Out

Management staff

As of May 2007:cite web |url=http://www.trfc.com.sg/information/committee.php |title=Tampines Rovers Football Club Committee |publisher=Tampines Rovers FC |year=2006 |accessdate=2007-12-03 ]

Technical staff

As of May 2007:

References

External links

* [http://www.trfc.com.sg Official club website]
* [http://www.sleague.com/Web/main.aspx?ID=d6fd5709-2d75-4f93-8272-5456000ccafa S.League website page on Tampines Rovers FC]