If you told Joshua Navindran during his younger days while playing football at a void deck that he would someday receive a winner’s trophy at Tottenham Hotspur’s grounds in London, he would have laughed and called you crazy.
Yet, there was a moment after the 32-year-old skipper of Tengah FC led his team to victory in the AIA Championship 2024 last month, where he had to pinch himself.
Representing amateur team La Plata Jrs along with five others from Tengah FC – a semi-professional team playing in the fourth tier of Singapore football – Joshua led his team to victory in the five-a-side football tournament organised by American International Assurance (AIA).
In January, La Plata won the local edition of the tournament held at Jalan Besar Stadium to be Singapore’s sole representative at the AIA London Grand Final, held at English Premier League side Tottenham’s training ground, Whitewebbs Lane, on May 13.
“The weather was the biggest challenge in London. It was around 9 deg C so it was cold and hard to breathe, completely different from playing in Singapore,” said Joshua.
“We landed in London three days before the tournament and started jogging in the mornings to get acclimated to the weather. It was a tough and tiring competition but it was all worth it when we won.”
La Plata went unbeaten the entire tournament – which featured 12 teams from various countries – winning all five group-stage matches before beating Hong Kong 4-2 in the semi-final and Australia 2-0 in the final.
Visva Manivannan, 22, who emerged as the player of the tournament after scoring six goals, said their toughest match was against Hong Kong.
“They had excellent footwork and also used their keeper as an outfield player, which we did not expect,” said Visva. “It took us some time to understand their style before we could counter it, but we managed to do so.”
The six players in the team had been playing together in social leagues for a few years before they were talent scouted last year by Louis Amalorpavanathan, president of Tengah FC, to play semi-professional football.
Last year, Tengah were runners-up in the Football Association of Singapore Islandwide League, the fourth-tier of football, featuring mostly amateur players and teams. They are now preparing for the Singapore Football League 2 (SFL 2) – football’s third-tier.
Louis, 53, said Tengah FC was formed with the goal of playing professionally in the Singapore Premier League (SPL).
Ahead of the 2024-25 SPL season in March, the team had announced on social media their bid to turn professional and compete in the league. But a tight deadline meant the club could not get the process done in time and will instead ready itself for the 2025-26 season.
“A good run in this year’s SFL 2 will be a huge confidence booster as we bid again to enter the SPL again next season,“ said Louis, who owns a security and investigation firm.
“We want to give these boys a chance to play professional football and hopefully get them to the national team.
“There are many youngsters on this team who were formerly at-risk youth, but have placed their trust in football to improve their livelihoods and that is what we aim to do for them.”
By Yugesh Kannan
