They seek an amendment to proposed FAS constitution
The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) has yet to publicly announce the changes it is planning to make to its constitution to allow for election of its top administrators, but has already spoken to its affiliates.
While presenting the manifesto of his team to some in the football fraternity yesterday, R Vengadasalam revealed that they will contest FAS' recommended amendments at the association's Annual General Meeting on Sept 24.
According to Venga, there are 15 elected positions: - president, deputy president, four vice-presidents and nine council members - with the top six positions to run together on a slate along with three council members.
The remaining six will contest as individuals.
Lawyer Alfred Dodwell was the only named candidate for Team Venga, and he told the 19 representatives of local clubs that they will recommend a change to FAS' recommended constitutional amendments.
"The slate of nine members will definitely outnumber the remaining six in the FAS council, and that means they can be complacent and push through ideas without having to defend them," he said.
"We are recommending that there be three more individuals elected as council members, so the so-called backbenchers can actually match the (president's) slate of nine," he said.
Dodwell asserted that the constitutional amendments were largely fair, but the change that his team are proposing is key in fighting against groupthink.
"We're not opposing for the sake of opposing, but this change will make it such that the president and his slate will have to stand up and defend their ideas - so only good ideas get implemented," said Dodwell, who called for affiliates to support this change at the upcoming AGM.
The FAS can only call for elections after its constitutional changes have been passed, which means that any further changes like the one proposed by Dodwell will further delay FAS' first-ever elections.
But Dodwell asserts that this is a vital change.
"This provides checks and balances, allows for debate, scrutiny, and fights against stagnation.
"I think this is vital to help Singapore football make the leap forward."
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now