NIKE,
Equipment SponsorDedication to the EAGLES
Geylang Boleh!
NIKE,
Equipment Sponsor
I am pleased to mention that I am voted the "MOST PASSIONATE FAN 1999" by the EAGLES. I was hence interviewed by the club. Click Here to read the full interview, extracted from the EAGLES Magazine.
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Bedok Stadium, Eagles Nest Kompang Band, Our "ULTRAS"
Billy, Robin with Sharil Jantan, our Goalkeeper Kadir Yahya
1996 S-League & FA Cup Champions
1996 is a year to remember. We won the League and Cup double in S-League's First Season. With FANDI as captain and stars like Iranians Karpour, Hamid Rezal Estili, Kiwi Chris Reilly and Croat Zlako Vidan. Those were the days! Geylang, for the past three years are somehow in the running for the title but always off colour in the crucial games. The matches that matters most. 1998 saw us coming the closest to a title, only for two defeats in a row at Sembawang Rangers and Balestier United saw the title presented to SAFFC. Of course, SAFFC at that moment has won its second title in a row, with the leadership of FANDI, yes the one and only FANDI, our former captain.He had moved on to join SAFFC in 1997 as SAFFC has given him a better offer than us.
Team of 1996
1. David Lee 2 Mohd Karpour 3 Robin Chitrakar 4 Sudiat Dali 5 Kadir Yahya 6 Hamid Estili 7 E Manimohan 8Chris Reily 9 Fandi Ahmad 10 Zlako Vidan 11 Zul Zainal
Coach: J. Talebi
Team of 2000
1. Lutz Pfennistal 2 Jerry Betolomez 3 Robin Chitrakar 4 Gavin Wilkinson 5 Kadir Yahya 6 Billy Bone 7 Mohd Noor Ali 8 Zul Zainal 9 Indra Shadan Daud 10 Brian Bothwell 11 Azaha Baskin
Coaches : Alan Vest/Seck Poh Leong
Review of 2000 : Some Pride Restored
To Eagles fans, Y2K might seemed to be the end of the trophy-less streak that stretched from 1997 to now. Since the treble winning season of 1996, we have won nothing till now. The Eagles soared at the start by winning 4 games in a row, which included a trashing of the 1999 S-League Champion Home Utd 5-2 away. But it was our title rival SAFFC brought us down to earth with a 3-0 win on the fifth game of the season. To make matters worse, Gombak Utd shocked us by winning 2-1 at our home ground in the following match. With Tanjong Pagar, Gombak and Jurong doing well during this time, we slipped to fifth position.
The second half of the season got off to a false start as we only managed to win two games, draw one game and lost three games in a row which saw SAFFC beat us at home, Gombak (AGAIN!) away and even worst, lowly Clementi Elephants beating us 3-2 in Clementi. A defeat that no Eagles fan would think of. We even had the dubious nickname of losing to every team from the West Coast of Singapore this year, in SAFFC (home and away), Gombak (home and away), Jurong (home), Tanjong Pagar (Away), Clementi (Away). After the away defeat to Gombak, our coach Alan Vest decided to call it a day by resigning.
After Alan Vest's departure, in came Technical Director Mr Seck Poh Leong as Caretaker Coach. He transformed Eagles to a fitter and stronger team with passing as the order of the day instead of Alan Vest's Long Ball style of play.
Best of all is the Eagles never lose a game all the way to the last day of the season where we fought out an entertaining 4-3 win over Jurong away to claim 3rd position.
In the Cup, we managed a good run, winning Andrews Avenue 3-0, winning Tampines Rovers 2-0 and 5-0 over two games, but SAFFC again, halted our progress into the final with a 1-0 win at our ground and draw with us 1-1 away. The consolation was a third place playoff between us and Woodlands Wellington on Oct 1st, the Cup Final day.
After 1997 where we lost to 1-0 to SAFFC in the Cup final, we never made it to National Stadium in the following years till now. Rain fell on that afternoon, all Eagles die hards, myself included braved the driving rain to watch our team play the match of their life to restore lost pride.
The match started with us looking for the opener, we had three chances but were foiled with Woodlands goalkeeper making fantastic saves. Woodlands hit our bar twice and nearly scored with a loose ball in our penalty area. Overall, play is scrappy in the first half as the pitch is soggy.
Second half saw us changing Indra Shadan with Azhar Baskin. This move changed the game completely as the Eagles swamped Woodlands. The predicted mistake came as Mohd Noor Ali was brought crashing down in the penalty box. No arguments, penalty and 1-0 to us, scored by Zul. Mohd Noor Ali took over the show there with Azhar Baskin supporting and grabbed two goals in identical fashion by beating the defence with his runs after collecting a pass from Azhar, slot it under the keeper into the Goal.
We won 3-0 with some pride restored. A week later, our fan club grabbed the award of the Best Fan Club of 2000. A tribute to the hard work of the long suffering die-hard fans over the years.
Geyalng Boleh Forever!
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