A Waiting Game
This season's closing dinner had the attendees unavoidably thinking of what could have been, what with Grilled Birds falling just short of both the Singapore Cup, and a Division Two title. Jerome Crawford was the special guest as he made it back to present the awards, with there being no real contender aside for
Hwang Teck Fu on the Birds side, due to generally-inconsistent campaigns from his teammates.
Mohd Marzuki Khairul was a distant second in the voting, with
Chia Kwang Tse and
Ananda Hettiarachchi picking up a few.
20 year-old
Mason Glendinning was handed the Young Player of the Season honour almost by default, with
Kendell El Khateeb no longer eligible, and there not being too many sparks in the academy. Fullback Ong Chao Woon had been making a few waves in Poland with WS Browar, with Boris Nhan sadly just injured in a 1-6 friendly loss starting on the wing for French sixth division club FC sans confession.
"I will be treasuring this." the youngster grinned.
Amirul Jufri Khairil got the nod over favourite
Arun Ponnusamy for Farmer Bunnies after a late-season spurt, with previous winner
Arturo Rosano coming in third despite his goal output due to perceived deficiencies on defense. Among the trainess, Ghaffur Ramzi won out for his dominating performances as a sweeper. 19 year-old goalkeeper Liu Pin Boon got a mention after starting his career with Kickers Zollstock, with Hung Kim Wan and Wan Hafiz Khaled Silmi mentioned as the ones to watch in the current Rancher Rabbits setup.
Three Bunnies veterans were inducted to their Hall of Fame together, with 43 year-old former national youth star
Ho Ah Kian up first. American international
Gabriel Priebe was next after seeing out his contract, two seasons removed from a pair of thigh injuries against Honey Bunny FC and then International CAT F.C. in cup competition. As for 40 year-old Iranian star
Koushan Khatibi, he had been holding out hope for his right knee to be rehabilitated, but decided to retire after his latest prognosis.
"It was fated." Khatibi said. "Maybe I'll stick around, set up a restaurant or something."
Grilled International had a more complicated choice what with some of their best players having just departed, and the POTS award would eventually fall to 28 year-old Pole
Waldemar Gołata, by dint of being probably the biggest remaining name other than
Mohsen Zeynali - and a good eighteen-game season besides.
Ghanem Ben Mimoun and
Phua Li Kong would be the other top picks amongst those remaining, as International apparently encouraged their fans to place more consideration on existing squad members.
The club decided to skip obvious option
Nabil bin Mohd Zulkhairi for the youth version, and with their new buys having barely featured on the pitch, it would be settled on 17 year-old midfielder Seah Chao Xin, who beamed as he received it - all the more with a likely senior contract in the works. Rahman bin Hj Raziman has been stepping into Seah's shoes with the Busy Bees, while Bao Zijing and Said bin Hj Othman were cited for their potential on the wing and in defence respectively.
