By Keng Yi, Nicole (25S03S), Meryl Lim (25S05A)
Photographs courtesy of RI Soccer ‘24 

They’re hard to miss. The five of them appear shoulder-to-shoulder in the corridor of our interview venue, walking in a way almost comical and definitely inconvenient. For a moment we’re thrown, almost intimidated: there are many ways this interview could go.

As they get closer, though, that illusion is shattered. Their openness is obvious from the beginning — “wait, this isn’t, like, a formal thing, right?” — and the familiar banter between the EXCO members makes it evident why all five of them are here. 

They settle easily into the cramped seating; throughout the interview, they poke fun at each other like second nature. At certain questions, all eyes turn to the same members, inside jokes clear without a single word spoken.

These are just a few of many glimpses we get throughout the next hour of something lying beneath the surface: how behind the sport and incessant teasing, there lies something deeper — a bond resembling family.

A Lasting Legacy

Let’s rewind a little bit. For the first time in 8 years, on 14 May 2024, the RI soccer team made it to the semi-finals of the National School Games.

After years of narrowly missing out on the semi-finals, this team stands as one of the most successful in RI’s recent history.  

To make the occasion even more special, the match took place at Jalan Besar Stadium, which is widely considered to be the birthplace of Singaporean football. 

From playing in humble school fields to the historic Jalan Besar Stadium, the team has come a long way. Wearing pride on their sleeves and the school name on their backs, the team played valiantly on the grand stage, cheered on by hundreds of supporters. 

Proving the Haters Wrong

With almost nothing to lose and everything to prove, this achievement is a mark of defiance to some’s perception of RI football. As the captain, Eng (24S03D), puts it, 

As for why RI were not favourites, he goes on to explain that the schools on top are usually VJC, SJI, ACJC or SAJC: schools that take on anywhere from 8-20 DSAs.

Comparatively, the RI soccer team takes only 1 or 2 DSAs per year. In an 11-person sport like football, this means that the other 8 members of the team start off at a significant disadvantage, facing off against competitors who have likely been playing in external clubs or academies since early childhood.

In addition, the previous lack of a soccer CCA in RI Y1-4 further widens this experience gap. A natural result of this is that the members come from a sprawling variety of backgrounds. 

“We come from every single CCA you can think of — our captain was a debater, I’m from golf, our vice-captain is from hockey, [and] Dixon is from strings ensemble.” – Goh Sheng Rui (24S06N).

(The last part of his sentence is met with barely stifled laughter from his EXCOmates.)

Not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog

Given all of this, how exactly did this ragtag team claw their way to such heights? 

Captain Eng (24S03D) goes on to argue that RI soccer’s status as a developmental sport is a double-edged sword. On one hand, the obvious disadvantage of “starting off on the back foot” gives the players the humility to put their heads down and work to bridge a seemingly impossible gap. This, in particular, is what sets them apart.

All the same, this knowledge can affect the players’ confidence level. Faced with competitors with so much trust in their abilities, fear and doubt can set in. The speed of football as a sport means that confidence is a necessity, and that this hesitation has the potential to affect the whole team.

This seems to be a common theme — soccer is not an individual sport, after all. It demands the team be greater than the sum of its parts.

The Team Behind the Team

Beyond the team itself, there is another group of significant players in the team’s development: the coaches. 

While their main coach is Coach Iqbal, the team boasts an unique band of coaches who step in too. The list consists of, but is not limited to: the girl’s soccer team coach Mr Leong, a lab technician called Mr Sulaiman, and alumni from all the way back from the 90s.  

For Coach Iqbal, the team holds as much meaning for him as he does for them. 

He tells us that this team had rekindled his passion of coaching after the 2 long years of the pandemic had robbed the previous batches from the opportunity to even compete. Even before that, the teams would come so close, only to fall short of the semi-finals time and time again. Their achievements this year reignited his fiery spirit, motivating him to push on and invest more to his future batches. 

What makes this batch so special? According to Mr Iqbal, it was the collective effort of not just the team, but also a culmination of efforts by the alumni. 

Ranging from holding workshops to participating in friendlies with the current soccer team, the alumni certainly did not hold back in sharing their expertise. In a way, their investments had united the team, as they all shared a common goal to advance as far as they could in the NSGs, and possibly to even win it.   

In response to what made him the proudest about this team, Coach Iqbal said: “Despite knowing deep down inside they had very little chance to go very far, they were not afraid of that. Their fearlessness to still fight on, to create history, and to prove doubters wrong, really showed their resilience and determination.”  

As for his hopes for his future batches, Coach Iqbal wants them to believe that anything is possible, and know that there is no shortcut to success. Even with hard work, there is a possibility they might not get there. But if they do get there, it will all be worth it in the end. “Growth mindset, can?” He concluded. 

With a warning to his captain to not say anything controversial, and dapping up the members, Coach Iqbal left, as spirited as when he first arrived.

Around the campfire

The team has no shortage of anecdotes to share. When prompted for a “funny story”, the EXCO laughs and looks towards Akhtar Javier Machdy (24S03P), one of their vice captains, in unison.

Reluctantly, he confesses: it was a friendly match at Tampines Meridian JC, scheduled for 5 pm, and the team was supposed to meet at school at 3.45 pm to get on the bus. He had woken up at 5.15 pm.

The funny thing, he says, was that his phone was on do-not-disturb: on awakening, he checked it to find “coach had called me like twenty-five times and my friends like ten”, and in his mind he was “swearing and cussing”. 

Unexpectedly, this inspired a team tradition: in the event that any member of the team was late, the team would form a guard of honour with two rows, and the offender would run between them while the team tried to slap their back. 

“You want to demonstrate?” another member quips.

Beyond ensuring punctuality, though, they claim it helps to lighten the mood — the tradition also applies for team members’ birthdays.

A more wholesome story, and certified “core memory”, would be the team’s training trip to Thailand in March, where they played against local teams. They speak of it fondly, memories spent together in the hotel and stadium awash with nostalgia.

As for one thing all of them took away: food poisoning. 

No, seriously: “everyone got food poisoning and it was quite bad.” Bad enough, in fact, that one of them boarded the return flight on a wheelchair.

Literally sick to their stomachs, it made for a twisted kind of bonding experience. They recount how, in the midst of shared suffering, Elmer had volunteered as captain to stay at the hotel and care for the sick members of the team, rather than venture out for one of the only leisurely activities of the trip.

In a foreign land, leaning on and checking on each other: in the rowdiness of the conversation thus far, a melancholic, reminiscent silence emerges.

No regrets (or not?)

When asked what they would change, the immediate answer is “score against ACS, bro”.

On a serious note, though, Elmer expresses his regrets for not taking proper care of himself as he dealt with a string of injuries at the beginning of their journey. “When your team sees their captain on the sidelines constantly, it’s quite demoralising. The other leaders have to step up — these four guys had to step up.”

On the other hand, Akhtar speaks on the delicate balancing act of patience and pushing the team to greater heights. 

He describes how he wishes he had been more accommodating to the incoming batch of Y5s: “my expectations for them may have been too high, especially when most of them have close to zero experience. I wish I had given them more advice and been a bit more calm when leading the team.” 

Sympathetically, his teammate beside him pats him on the back: bittersweetness heavy, dividing the sorrow of words left behind.

And so, a chapter closes for this RI dream team. But the story isn’t over yet. 

With the establishment of an official soccer CCA in the Year 1-4 side, the future looks bright for the next generations of RI soccer teams, “as long as they carry it out well and keep it up (and maybe take in DSAs),” Sheng Rui added. 

There was no shortage of gratitude either. The team expressed their thanks to the school, for approving their training trip to Thailand and the countless number of friendly matches; to the teachers and coaches, for their guidance and dedication; and to the batches before theirs, for putting up their best efforts and unwavering passion. 

Sheng Rui aptly described it, “As Raffles, our coach always tells us that we are family  — and we don’t choose our family, we’re born into it. Even though we have achieved pretty good results and we’re all satisfied, it shouldn’t be the end and Raffles should strive to do even better. We have shown it can be done and moving forward, the school should believe they can do better. ” 

As the interview drew to a close, we asked them if they had any last words to their team. 

A heavy silence settled over the table, with the five giving each other meaningful glances. In that moment, one could truly see the unmistakable bond they shared, having lived, experienced, and navigated this journey together as the RI soccer team of 2024. 

Breaking the silence, Elmer monotonously added: “See you on Thursday,” to which was met with groans and chuckles from the group. (It was a joke. They had held their farewell a week before.) 

After a long pause, these were their final words.

“Thanks for everything, wouldn’t have done it with any other team.”

From left to right: Akhtar Javier Machdy, Elmer Linus Eng, Dixon Yeo, Goh Sheng Rui, Aiman Wafiq Bin Mohamed Osman

Goalkeepers: 
Ethan Chin 
Hou Jiawei
Justin Liu 

Defenders:
Mamilla Pattaiah Sai Sathvik
K Vikesh
Adithyaa Ganasekar
Dixon Yeo
Josiah Tan 
Josh Lee  
Leng Feiwei 
Evans Yong
Cai Mingzhe
Brayden Lin
Ahmad Munthaha
Eugene Leong
Charles Wang  

Midfielders:
Heng Marcus
Cheng Ryan 
Nehru Sachin 
Shachin Ganesan 
Long Ian Mark
Lionel Goh 
Rifqi Anaganda Backsin 
Akhtar Javier Machdy 

Attackers: 
Aiman Wafiq 
Elmer Linus Eng
Goh Sheng Rui 
Aadi Gulati 
Gavin Ong 
Wu Yiwen 
Chia Ryan 
Shakir Mirza