Contracts Expire
The end of the season has seen the management at both Grilled Birds and Farmer Bunnies make some tough decisions, and two veterans' contracts would be allowed to lapse at each club.
One of them would be for the redoubtable
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim, whose retirement had been the biggest news in the region for the past week. He was, of course, immediately inducted into the Birds' Hall of Fame... in absentia, as he was never much one for formalities. His family members professed to be under instructions not to divulge his whereabouts.
Also from the Birds, 40 year-old backup midfielder
Nicola Vandeneynde also announced his departure from the game. Arriving as a squad player, the Belgian has amassed fifteen appearances in his eight-and-a-half seasons here, and was also part of the side that lifted the Singapore Ruby Challenger Cup in Season 56.
It was more contentious over at the Bunnies, with longtime servants
Berndt Weißhaus and
Ollipekka Korpijärvi - both 36 years of age - being informed that they were surplus to requirements. This evidently came as a surprise to the duo, who apparently had been expecting a short-term extension.
Weißhaus, who had once been the Buns' Player of the Season, voiced his displeasure at the abruptness of the decision. "The least they could have done, was to drop some hints earlier. How do they expect us to find new clubs on such short notice?"