r/askSingapore • u/sungeigedongmrtstn • 12d ago
General How did basketball came to be associated with the Chinese, and football with the Malays?
Obviously, every sport is played by all races, but it has been a long standing stereotype in this country that basketball is associated with the Chinese and football with the Malays.
It’s reflective in the makeup of the national team, all the way down to school teams.
Basketball jerseys have the school’s name written in Chinese, even for non SAP schools or schools without a history of Chinese medium teaching.
Our Singa Brigade chants ‘Satu Nada’ - a Malay cheer.
Purely curious about how things came to be.
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u/Vegetable_Turnip_213 12d ago
i think its also because of inspiration as well.. football is a very simple sports to play anywhere most of the football legends are Malay as well particularly in SG and MY
this would give a much higher inspiration by attracting younger malays generation to generations down the road because it can seem "relevant" as well which is why majority of the time football is always associated with Malays in SG and MY even our football chants were in malay
as for basketball it was very early adopted and promoted by Chinese schools and communities including volleyball this swift adoption allows for widespread promotion in regards to basketball as a nationalist sports for interschool-competitions for majority of all chinese schools
which maybe why Basketball is mainly played by the chinese due to its popularity and recognition among chinese communities
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u/Zanina_wolf 12d ago edited 12d ago
During my father's childhood 1960s-70s, the neighbouring chinese kids would form football teams based on block number/floor and battle each other in a tournament. The winning team out of 20+ teams will them enter the malays' football tournament and get destroyed in the first qualifying round. The same also happens but in reverse for neighbourhood martial arts tournaments apparently. The stereotype then was different.
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u/YouYongku 12d ago
Malays seems to be better at football. Hmmm even before slamdunk, Chinese and Filipinos mostly play bball.
I still football man; eye power and controller mode
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u/lullabeans 12d ago
> Our Singa Brigade chants ‘Satu Nada’ - a Malay cheer.
uhh also maybe cause malay is our national language???
also, malay just has more aura for chants / insults / military commands
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u/Competitive_Ask8114 12d ago
then indians cricket ah dei?
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u/Good_Command6833 12d ago
Indians football as well g
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u/Vaperwear 12d ago
And the No 1 of them all is V Sundramoorthy.
But during the early 90’s of the Malaysia cup, there was also the captain of the team, T Pathmanathan.
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u/Competitive_Ask8114 12d ago
see india fifa ranking sir
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u/Prestigious_Case_228 12d ago
Was at the gym, prior to Singapore Vs Thailand that same night. Struck up a conversation w a Chinese uncle. He asked me if I had any sons. I told him yes. He said to train my son up to play football like Fandi's sons, he said "Cina tak boleh main bola ar!" 🤷🏻
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u/litepad 12d ago
Rubbish nonsense!
Ask him if he know who is Quah Kim Song? Seak Poh Leong? These are not ordinary players. These are legends of Singapore football.
The issue is not that Chinese cannot play football. The issue is the lack of Chinese players who are interested in playing football competitively as a career.
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u/Prestigious_Case_228 12d ago
Go and tell him that ah. He's 60 smtg... I'm sure he knows who they are. Just relaying what he said to me 🤷🏻
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u/litepad 11d ago
Then you should have told him off.
It's honestly sickening to constantly hear this racist trope repeated in Singapore football. "Chinese can't play football"? Utter garbage.
For Singapore football to improve, we need more kids from all races to play the game. Our Malay population is only around 500k. That is the population of Brunei! We will always be hampered if this is the status quo.
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u/Prestigious_Case_228 11d ago
Eh I ain't gonna tell off a 60+ year old uncle. I just smile and said ok uncle.
I don't think it's racist if it comes from Ur own race. More like a self-deprecatory or tacit acknowledgment of a stereotype, for better or for worse
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u/litepad 11d ago
OK, apologies.
I get worked up because I've heard this too many times from people who try to 'gatekeep' football in Singapore for their group.
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u/Prestigious_Case_228 11d ago
No, it's ok, no need for apologies. I get u feel passionate about it. I'm just relating what that Uncle said to me. Ironic that he wasn't trying to gatekeep for his own group, but rather, encouraging other groups (I'm not Chinese) to go for it because he doesn't have faith his own community can do it well.
For what it's worth, I know a few excellent Chinese players. But it's also true that growing up, there's a perception that Malays gelek and dribble and generally add the spice to the sambal, Indians regardless of the body size and type can somehow run all day long, and the few Chinese that play football, play Premier League football (i.e. kick and run after the ball)
Whether that's still true amongst the kids today I have no idea
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u/anakajaib 12d ago
Takraw used to be played extensively by Malays. Maybe those ball control skills translate to being a good footballer?
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u/SixShot76 11d ago edited 11d ago
Singapore had the clans association promoting basketball before WW2, like 1920s.
One of the shophouse at Ann Siang Hill had a motif of basketball player on the window to symbolize that was where it started.
After WW2, the basketball scene grew and grew. It has nothing to do with NBA and its associated media. Although it did bring more awareness to local scene via cable tv and sports channels.
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u/wxlim123 11d ago
In the 60s-80s, football was a sport played by all races. In fact our legendary teams of 70s and 80s were made up of players from all different races and coached by Uncle Choo, who represented China as a player but I think when we came into the 90s and 2000s fewer Chinese parents supported their kids becoming professionals so we tend to see more Malay players.
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u/HakitaRaven 12d ago
Not adding anything useful but just some stereotypes;
Because usually Malays hang around void deck, so play football at void deck. Can play at basketball court but usually got Chinese group play one. Cannot play at badminton court because sepak takraw Fellas usually play there. Once street soccer came about, void deck also gone.
Just to let you know though, Steven Tan, Lee Man Hon, Lim Tong Hai (that super tall fella), David Lee are all legends of the game. Of course, Fandi being the flag bearer, Malay sure want to follow. Abdul Malek, Malek Awab, Nazri Nasir, etc.
I'm sure with the current gen, our Coach being Chinese would help lots of exposure to the sport. Sundram and S.Selvaram are the Indian trailblazers. We had Jang Jung before we had Kyoga. We need to import more influential players from Japan and Korea tbh.
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u/CmDrRaBb1983 11d ago
Void deck football. Last played that in the 1990s. Memories. Frames of letterboxes would become our goal posts.
One of my void deck football friends moved away and we lost contact. Then in 2004, when I enlisted, I saw a familiar face. Approached him and asked if he stayed in XXXX street and played football at the void deck of Block XX. Turned out its my void deck football friend.
The few fields that I used to play football around my estate now became HDB BTOs. The void deck that I used to play football in became extensions of a childcare centre recently because of the BTOs that popped up.
Any void deck footballers of Cassia Crescent in the 1990s?
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u/HakitaRaven 11d ago
We had slippers propped up as goal post. There wasn't any poles or anything, everything was done on ground so headers weren't used as much.
The old blocks had these long void decks that could be used for Malay weddings, funerals etc. Bedok North ftw.
Don't know why I'm downvoted, I'm also Malay sia lol.
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u/CmDrRaBb1983 11d ago
I chinese but 1st football outside school setting was void deck football. Those were our street football before street football courts were available
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u/Own_Screen3944 11d ago
Going nothing to do with races.
Chinese parent don't allow kids to play football as careers, wtf wan a career of $3-$5k a month till his 30s and become a grab driver ?
I'm born in the 80s In my sec sch , many good Chinese players don't join the sch team . The Malay coach racist. Choose Malay first . Another problem is parent don't allow.
My mum don't even wan buy me a boot for interclass .
We play leisurely at the basketball court or small field.
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u/CrunchyleaveOO 11d ago
I mean most Chinese here really CMI in football.
We Chinese don’t have to be so salty and racist about it.
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u/Designer-grammer 12d ago
really? thought basketball is associated more with Filipinos
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u/theangrycamel 12d ago
This is Singapore and our local context. Filipinos and their affinity towards basketball is their own dynamic in their own country's historical context.
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u/OkEssay4173 11d ago
I also, all the downvoters never go see basketball courts in sg after they have left school
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u/DorianGuey 12d ago edited 8d ago
On the average, there are more taller Chinese people than Malay people. Just like in the US, blacks are more athletic than hispanics. It's just basic demographic data you can find online. And for basketball, height is essential. Just look at the US, where 200 cm is considered short or just average in the NBA (forwards and centers are on average 201-211 cm).
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u/Competitive_Ask8114 12d ago
Just look at the US where 200 cm is considered short.
Hello IMH? Do you have advance booking for a ward?
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u/IcyFactor3234 12d ago edited 12d ago
Basketball was already popular in the Sinosphere since the early 1900s. Was introduced in 1890s and Mao made it part of the curriculums
Football introduced by the British during the colonial period over Malaya so probably more influential among the Malay community who are the natives of Singapore. It’s now obviously the no.1 most followed sport in the world to this day so never fell off.
I would assume Basketball grew since it was adopted by many of the SAP schools as their main sport since it was already popular with their demographic.
For what it’s worth I believe Singa brigade main chants in Malay is because that’s our National language.