Grilled Birds was formed on 20th July 2002 by a ramshackle team of seventeen players rounded up through a series of hasty trials.

Grilled's franchise was previously held by hat-tricks_no_limits, and before that it was known as FC Newton when Singapore first participated in the Hattrick leagues in early January 2002.

The team had to wait eight games to savour its first victory, 2-1 in a home friendly against Meepok's Heroes.

As with all newly registered teams, the club inherited a spartan 7000-seater stadium complex and a small core of die-hard fans. Eager to forge an identity, staff and players came together on the first day to come up with a logo and motto.

Working within the constraints of the unusual club name, coach Qi Haupai put pencil to paper and came up with a sketch of a skeletal bird on a roasting grill. Since no one could do any better, the drawing found its way to Gao Seng-kar's sister, who happened to be a student of the arts.

She decided to do it up in classical heraldic tradition, per chief gules and or, a bone eagle with two heads displayed vert, on a grill argent and gules.

The rest of the season was hardly as bright as the newly commissioned crest, and Grilled scraped three 1-1 draws together to finish bottom of League Eleven in Division Four. Fortuitously there was no relegation from the nadir, as things began to look up.