Just saw the news that the SpringBok (South African) has won the Rugby World Cup, congrat to them.  Frankly speaking, like most singaporean me not even a Rugby fan.  As i was watching the Springbok fans celebrating their victory in Paris, at that instance, I reminincised the feeling of the country pride from more than 10 years ago.  The event was Malaysian Cup in 1990s, when Singapore vs Pahang in the Malaysia Cup Final at Shah Alam stadium, KL.  I was only a teenager then, the sight and sound and feeling remained with me till now.  Imagined thousands of Singaporean in at least hundred of coaches descended upon KL for the support of the nation  You can really felt the tension even between fans of opposite camps.  It was really a SINGAPORE UNITED.  The eurhoria was even better than any NDP parade, as actual glory and national pride was really at stake, where else NDP is just show (you dun see adults crying when their team lost).  Ever since Singapore has been kicked out of the Malaysia Cup, the soccer scene had dwindled to a sad state.  Even the top local matches failed to draw more than 5,000 spectators. Gone were the huge 65,000-strong crowds that used to create the Mexican waves at a Singapore battle against Selangor or Pahang.

 Today, only the bookies and gamblers are interested in the result of the local soccer.  Sometime, I wondered what sport will unite Singaporean, like soccer scene in 1990s, perhaps NONE

Interestingly, several days ago MM Lee mentioned something about re-merger of Singapore and Malaysia.  Based on today context, i opined that this is a tall order but let i proposed a smaller step, that is to bring the Malaysia Cup back (for politically correct term, we called it Malaysia-Singapore Cup).  Immediately, I see 3 key benefits; one is economical benefits for both countries; second, we can restate the glory of soccer to national sport level; third, any form of re-merger or integration got to start somewhere, sport seem like a good seeding ground.