R. Vengadasalam

R. Vengadasalam, commonly known as Venga, is a Singaporean football manager who last managed Admiralty FC in the National Football League Division 2.^[1]

Wellington Football Club

Wellington Football Club team photo, taken in 1993. Venga can be seen seated in the front row, fourth from the left.

Vengadasalam first came to prominence when he founded Wellington Football Club in 1988, a splinter group of the Delhi Juniors, a team of Singaporean football enthusiasts that were among the pioneers of football in Singapore. The team's name was chosen due to the fact that they were being based in the Deptford Ground located on Wellington Road in Sembawang.

Under the management of Venga, Wellington FC became a revelation in local football. In 1991, they participated in the Sembawang Group League and National Island-Wide League, winning as champions in both competitions and setting a national record by beating Seletar Football Club with a resounding 28 - 1 victory at the Woodlands Stadium on 17 November 1991.^[2]

The following year, Wellington FC joined the National Football League and were placed in Division II, from which they were promoted as champions in 1994. 1995 saw success, as they finished first in Division I (going unbeaten for 24 matches) and were runners-up in the FA Cup.^[3]

Woodlands Wellington

The convincing displays of Wellington Football Club led to their selection as one of eight clubs to compete in the newly formed S.League in its maiden season in 1996, prompting the club to adopt Woodlands Stadium as their home ground and to change their name to Woodlands Wellington Football Club.^[4][5]

During his time at Woodlands, Venga was affectionately known as the "Mouth of the North" as he had a knack for making quirky and colourful comments about his opponents. One of his most famous remarks was made before a match in 1996 against Tiong Bahru FC, in which he said that "TB (the abbreviated form of Tiong Bahru) is a disease (referring to tuberculosis), today we will cure it."^[6] His snark remarks added much colour to the S.League in its early years and often led to amusing exchanges with opposing coaches and managers, generating much-needed publicity for a league still very much in its infancy.

Venga's influence on Woodlands was substantial, as his negotiations allowed the Rams to draw in Bandai (Hong Kong) Company Limited ^[7] as a sponsor in their maiden season in the S.League to the tune of $360,000. Venga shrewdly utilised the funds to sign on players such as Jan Janostak, Joe Caleta and Ervin Boban, all big name players in the M-League, as well as to secure the services of Singapore national players Borhan Abu Samah, Tamil Marren, Zakaria Awang and the flamboyant Croatian goalkeeper Sandro Radun, who played for the Singapore FA in 1992. The move proved to be a success as Woodlands Wellington managed to garner close to full house attendances for every match, including their pre-season friendlies.^[8]

His entertaining comments led the editors of Kick Off!, a local football weekly that covered mostly S.League news, to give him a spot in the magazine which was named "The Public Diary of Vengaman". It contained mostly fictional stories that parodied real life happenings in the S.League.^[9]

Venga made the headlines in March 2002 for reasons other than his controversial statements when a drunk fan leapt over a barrier and punched him after the final whistle was blown during the famed "Northern Derby" between Woodlands Wellington and Sembawang Rangers.^[10]

In September 2002, Venga was moved to the Woodlands executive committee by Woodlands Chairman Tang Weng Fei while coach M. Karathu was asked to take over full charge of the team.^[11] He was given the post of General Manager and his administrative duties kept him away from the touchline.

He remained in the team for the next one and a half years as the General Manager until he decided to resign from his post on 12 May 2004 to join Tampines Rovers as their Director of Operations, causing a huge furore in the local football fraternity.^[12] He cited his reasons for leaving as a good chance for him to contribute to football and its development in Singapore, and that he had not been directly involved in football matters over the last two years and this was the area which he would like to be in.

During his time at Woodlands, Venga helped them to achieve 2nd position in the Tiger Beer series of the 1996 S.League, as well as 3rd place during the 1997 S.League season.

Tampines Rovers

Following his switch over to Tampines Rovers, the Stags won consecutive S.League titles in the 2004 and 2005 seasons. They were also crowned Singapore Cup champions consecutively in 2004, 2005 and 2006 and also became the ASEAN Football Federation club champions in 2005.

Venga was embroiled in a court case in December 2006 when he was accused of assaulting two patrons at his pub in Lucky Plaza in July 2006 ^[13] but the case was later compounded in March 2007 and he was given a discharge amounting to an acquittal.^[14]

In line with his colourful character, Venga also made a dare to shave his head if the East Team, which he managed and consists of S.League stars which played in eastern based clubs, lost to the West Team in an all-star game preceding the 2006 S.League season.^[15]

Venga witnessed a controversial incident as Tampines Rovers visited Woodlands Wellington during the 2007 S.League season which saw a walkout by the entire Woodlands squad as a protest to the decisions made against them by referee P. Pandian. Woodlands was fined $30,000 for the incident and had six points docked.^[16] In the midst of all the controversy, Woodlands chairman Francis Gomez admitted to ordering his players to get off the field and was fined $10,000 and was barred from attending all S.League matches until the end of the year as well. For the record, Woodlands coach Jörg Steinebruner was fined S$2,000 for encouraging his team members to walk out of the field of play while club captain Jerry Bartholomeusz was fined S$1,500. Nine other Woodlands players were also fined S$1,000 each.

Break from football

In late 2010, Venga decided to leave Tampines Rovers to take a break away from matters on the pitch. He became a football pundit ^[17] from 2010 throughout 2011, until he was approached by Admiralty FC to become their team manager in early 2012.

Admiralty Football Club

Admiralty FC team manager, R. Vengadasalam, and club owner, Donahue Francis, celebrate winning the Wolves' NFL Division 2 title on 30 June 2012.

In February 2012. Venga was appointed as the team manager of Admiralty Football Club, a team currently plying their trade in the NFL Division 2. With plans to take part in the domestic cup competitions in 2012, as well as to push for a bid to include Admiralty FC in the 2013 S.League, Venga decided to revamp the club's image by choosing the wolf as a mascot for the club.

Due to Venga's influential presence, several other notable players such as Tan Sio Beng, Azhar Baksin and Shariff Abdul Samat also signed up with the squad prior to their 2012 NFL campaign.

Venga was joined shortly after by veteran midfielder Mohd Noor Ali, who was hired as Admiralty's player-coach, and he made the move to snap up ex-Étoile FC players Andrea Damiani and Nordine Talhi when the Stars announced that they were not taking part in the 2012 S.League season to concentrate on youth development.

His presence also allowed Admiralty FC to attract sponsors such as Dester Premium Lager Beer and Asia Group, no mean feat for a team playing in the third tier of football in Singapore.

As of 25 May 2012, Admiralty FC have enjoyed an unbeaten start of their NFL Division 2 season, a phenomenal record for the Wolves.^[18]

Admiralty FC also trounced Pioneer CSC with a 10 - 0 scoreline in June 2012, making huge waves in the NFL with their impressive performances.^[19]

On 30 June 2012, Admiralty FC were crowned champions of the NFL Division 2 2012 season when they beat Jollilads Arsenal FC by a 5-1 scoreline. The victory was the 12th consecutive win for the Wolves.

References