Strike Power Honoured
The usual end-of-season dinner, postponed due to the Birds' qualification game, would be graced by two Division Three trophies this year. Held at the St. Regis, there was no hiding an air of confidence - perhaps even teetering into hubris - as the league winners mingled.
More than this, there was the fact that all three Grilled clubs had taken their respective leagues' Golden Boots, a feat that has become rare in particular for the Birds; their last top scorer had been
Tian Yonghang in II.2 some twelve seasons prior, meaning that an entire generation had passed for them without a true shooting star.
24 year-old
Kalki Parvathaneni, who finally broke that unwanted duck with fourteen in the league, was well aware of the implications. "Grilled have traditionally been an attack-based team, and it's hard to find success without big scoring numbers that way. Well, we've been posting seventy or more the last two seasons."
This logic was indisputable, and Kalki would also collect his first Player of the Season award on the back of that contribution.
Islom Davlatov and
Vikram Mudaliar - who finished right behind Kalki in the league scoring stakes with eleven goals - were second and third in the voting respectively.
The Buns'
Enzo Paolo Panzarino would be the only Golden Boot winner not to be declared POTS today, though to be fair he hadn't been the last two out of three times he achieved that either. To be frank, national defenders
Tham Leng Teck and
Morgan Hu had been objectively clearly more impressive despite the evergreen Panzarino's considerable guile, and they wholly deserved to be ahead in the final reckoning, with Tham taking the honour for the second time.
Farmer Bunnies head coach
Sikong Darong saw it as recognition of
Tham Leng Teck's consistency, throughout his career at the club. "He's the sort of guy that you just get used to having at your disposal. I have almost never had cause to criticize his play, and - touch wood - he'll be near-irreplaceable when he's gone."
It could have been nobody but
Fausto Perono for Grilled International, as the some-say-insufferable yet undeniably talented Italian striker swept all defences before him in his first season with G.I.. Unlike the Birds and Buns, G.I. had been mid-table fodder, which however was no obstacle to Perono outgunning rivals from rather better teams.
Micky bin Kadir, who yielded his scoring crown to the newcomer, could not help but wonder at what the next seasons might bring for him. "He was out of the world at times.
Wang Hanxuan and
Sazwan bin Hj Muhd Salleh have done very well too, which might have been enough in some past seasons, but how can anybody reasonably compare against that?"
On the youth front, Azman Abas, Ho Ah Kian and Sazwan were honoured, even as
Hovaness Noubaryan commented on how vicious the hiring market for youngsters had been.
"There's a global oversupply of excellent seventeen and eighteen year olds, and it has been so for some time." he said. "Quite unfair to the kids, really. I confess that snagging that first contract has seemed like a lottery at time, with trainees having not only to excel, but also match the '
fit' that recruiting clubs just happen to be looking for."
"Then again, there still remain opportunities for adventurous fellows. Take Yap Beng Yeng, for one. He's not yet turned 27, but already has six other clubs under his belt, for a combined transfer fee total of very nearly forty million!"
"So, I'd like to say this to our youngsters - don't be disheartened, and look far afield. There's always hope."
