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Soh Rui Yong is not selected for SEA Games


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 the athlete was given a formal warning by the SNOC over a breach of regulations regarding the promotion of personal sponsors on social media during the biennial Games.

 

if this is true, then very hard to select him also.

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I think the local sport scene is very sad. There's very little coverage on any of the athletes except during big events. Even for JS. Before he got his gold medal nothing is known about him. After his gold medal I dont really know of other local swimmers, like the next best. Nothing, zero. 

 

Are politicians suitable to run the sports assoc? They have time for it? Or are they there guarding the funds? They are hardly promoting any sports. Funding dont have to come all from ah gong. If athletes are more known there will be sponsors coming forward. Always say no talent. Give little funding to develop talent, what do you think the results will be? JS is so talented also got to rely on his parents to sponsor him. The local sports scene is just sad run by sad ppl who dunno what they are doing.

 

We dont even know who the best athletes of each SEA games event we are in. This is how pathetic the local sports are. We know of this marathon runner because he has behaviour problem with the sports body and he's suing some other athlete over something we dont even want to know. This is the kinda PR coverage we have for athletes. Sad man.

Edited by Watwheels
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To be fair to SNOC, this guy seems abit too big for his shoes. It’s one thing to be a straight shooter but another thing to know where to draw the line. As in any sport, SNOC has to be seen as approving places to sportsmen who have talent but also show discipline.

 

Soh has been shouting out a lot of accusations to the press justified or otherwise. All professional sports clubs will tell u that u have to dialogue with the associations or clubs concerned directly if there is some unhappiness or issue. Last thing u do is to go to the press so whilst it saddens me to see our chance of gold medal lessen, I think it’s about right what SNOC is doing as afterall no individual is bigger than the game itself no matter how talented.

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As much as this guy is the best half or full marathon runner in Singapore, i can understand why the SNOC did what they do.

 

Being aggressive and confrontational gets you somewhere, but first it doesn't play well with sponsors and also national team selection.

Being too vocally outspoken is always an issue. If he says or do something controversial during the SEA games again, then attention is diverted away from the other SEA games athletes etc.  

 

U maybe the best, but being labeled a potential troublemaker is more likely to get you nowhere. Many athletes have faced the same fate. Whether it's in NBA, elite level football or other disciplines etc. 

 

Granted I do think he's just speaking his mind. But it's not always bad publicity is good publicity.


His comments about the SNOC is not going to do him any favors.

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 the athlete was given a formal warning by the SNOC over a breach of regulations regarding the promotion of personal sponsors on social media during the biennial Games.

 

if this is true, then very hard to select him also.

 

From another perspective, perhaps the 'regulations' governing sponsorship need to also move more with the times. As we know in SG, with extremely limited funding for athletes, the latter are mostly left on their own to source for their own external funding for training, equipment, participation in tournaments and such like. 

 

When an athlete secures sponsorship, they are henceforth also obligated and committed to the sponsors as well; And this includes publicity, outreach, promotional and community service initiatives.To expect an athlete to not give a subtle shout-out to their sponsors is very narrow-minded. Either that or perhaps the parent organisation themselves did not negotiate the terms with the blanket sponsor that's fair to athletes. 

 

Such rigid 'regulations' were mostly already left behind in the 1990's. For example, in the 1990 and 1994 World Cup - You'd hardly find a German national football player who didn't wear Adidas head-to-toe due to very strict regulations by Adidas; Even right up to 1998, Nike always had to remove their logo from major FIFA and UEFA international tournaments (e.g. European Championship) as the primary sponsor was Adidas, which deemed Nike to be their closest competitor. 

 

Nowadays, athletes are more free to express their affiliation with their respective sponsors, and the playing field is more fair to sporting brands out there, despite the competition, particularly when they represent their countries. For example, Spain football Captain Sergio Ramos is sponsored by Nike, but both his national and club sides Spain and Real Madrid are sponsored by Adidas. He will appear in Nike ads for the boots and other related sportswear, but he can still appear in a Real ad wearing an Adidas shirt, which is his obligation to the club. 

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Ya i know what u mean .

but now this is SEA game , its a team game already , he is no longer a single runner in a race , but part of a team.

 

its like soccer. there are some very good players around, but keep breaking team regulation, like partying at night when light off before match is 10 pm ( just an example )

do the coach still select him cos he is talented??

 

i dun know the details of this soh case. but if just base on the report from ts an if the report is true.

then very hard to debate this decision also.

 

imagine if every 1 start behaving like him doing thing as they please.

 

i alway put team spirit behaviour above medals. 

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I think the local sport scene is very sad. There's very little coverage on any of the athletes except during big events. Even for JS. Before he got his gold medal nothing is known about him. After his gold medal I dont really know of other local swimmers, like the next best. Nothing, zero. 

 

Are politicians suitable to run the sports assoc? They have time for it? Or are they there guarding the funds? They are hardly promoting any sports. Funding dont have to come all from ah gong. If athletes are more known there will be sponsors coming forward. Always say no talent. Give little funding to develop talent, what do you think the results will be? JS is so talented also got to rely on his parents to sponsor him. The local sports scene is just sad run by sad ppl who dunno what they are doing.

 

We dont even know who the best athletes of each SEA games event we are in. This is how pathetic the local sports are. We know of this marathon runner because he has behaviour problem with the sports body and he's suing some other athlete over something we dont even want to know. This is the kinda PR coverage we have for athletes. Sad man.

 

Is the poor coverage because of poor interest? Or poor coverage leads to poor interest?

 

If not for this kind of juicy stories, you can put his running exploits on the front page and people will just skip that article.

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Turbocharged

have you guys read what Soh written on his facebook that started all these?

 

I think that is the basic requirement for any discussion on this

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I was a CM for one international sports brand, and we happen to sponsored some runners with attires in kind in SG before.  There are requirements we ask of the athletes, and corporate exposure and brand  image is something we will not compromise. 

 

Look at how he had wanted to break a long standing rule because of his $1500 personal sponsorship. This rule had apply to and affected many athletes, Soh is not the only one affected, and it is not something new. There is a bigger picture, there is a grp sponsorship for the team to look after. 

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/sport/snoc-accepts-athlete-soh-rui-yong-s-apology-after-sponsorship-9113986

 

Look at what he did in protest to the above. Costing SA a long term Corporate sponsorship.  SA was left with no sponsorship for 6 months after 2XU pulled out because of this incident. They had to find extra budget to make suits and gears for those who went out to compete in the first half of 2019, until Under Armour came along in June.  

 

https://mothership.sg/2017/12/soh-rui-yong-cut-holes-singlet/

 

 

and look at his arrogant response to 2XU. Will he ever get a Sponsorship from 2XU?  Never, even if he wins an Olympic gold medal. He had just stupidly burned a bridge. Will he now get to win a gold again in an ASICS singlet? Mayb he will if he go run in SEA games as an individual representing SG, but first he will still have to apply to SA for approval. 

 

Will ASICS even consider extending his sponsorship after this? lets wait and see.

 

soh-rui-yong-response-holey-singlet.jpg

 

 

 

SA has long been known to have its internal problems, and their poor management and weak leadership is not something new, but still there are rules for each athletes to follow. 

 

A SEA games gold medal in Marathon is not the greatest of all achievement SG have had in SEA games,  look at kunalan, james wong, joscelin yeo, ang peng siong, Joseph schoolings,  just to name a few. Is Soh any better than them in achievement? have anyone of these ppl had the same issue as Soh and done what Soh did? 

 

I happen to get slightly involve with SA recently, and came to know some top athletes in SG. Most of them have personal sponsorship, some more than 1, and they are not even a SEA games medalist. 

 

So why is Soh, a 2 times SEA games gold medalist not attracting enough sponsorship coming to him? 

 

Sports is more than coming in first with a gold medal, there are more to it. Discipline, team work, commitment,  sportsmanship, and setting a good example for the young, just to name some, are part of it. 

 

Never though I would spend so much time on such a topic.  [laugh]  [laugh]  [laugh]

Edited by Tianmo
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Everybody loves gold medal, those who say gold medal not important are talking c*ck. But nobody wants to fund people who haven't won any gold medals, so what can they do ? Find their own sources of income, work double jobs or get sponsorship. If they win, wow, national hero. If they never win, wow, your kids better don't learn from these impractical day dreamers.

 

Is this the right reflection of us ?

 

Why talking cock?

 

You mean everyone needs to be proud because a Singaporean wins a gold medal? Well, not me. I don't give a damn.

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I had the privilege of meeting and working with him on some stuff some years back and I can vouch that aside from being a humble, disciplined and focused athlete, he is also someone who will stand up with integrity and on principle.

 

Perhaps in the local context, being vocal and standing up for others and yourself will always ruffle feathers at the top. Perhaps there could be a better way of handling his dissatisfaction, but I guess sometimes this boils down to a person's character and their personal self-belief. But going by the various incidents he's been involved in, it is always quite clear from whatever unfolded that he was never really the one 'at fault' at the first place and whatever he has commented publicly was not unfounded. (e.g. Volker Hermann in the SEA Games; Also, in the latest case it was Ashley Liew and SNOC that started the ball rolling with the legal suit and there is basis to dispute Ashley's claim).

 

It is unfortunate that there is perhaps a lot of underlying negative undercurrents within our sporting fraternity and the various associations due to the various politics and perhaps also the stakeholders/management. Another recent example was the Tae Kwon Do Federation which got itself embroiled with a lot of issues and suspension following the public disagreement with Ng Ming Wei.

Actually you know what, what a person think is correct may not be what the other person think. Aka the other person think that is wrong. So when come log head with each other. The result will be like this lor.

I was a CM for one international sports brand, and we happen to sponsored some runners with attires in kind in SG before. There are requirements we ask of the athletes, and corporate exposure and brand image is something we will not compromise.

 

Look at how he had wanted to break a long standing rule because of his $1500 personal sponsorship. This rule had apply to and affected many athletes, Soh is not the only one affected, and it is not something new. There is a bigger picture, there is a grp sponsorship for the team to look after.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/sport/snoc-accepts-athlete-soh-rui-yong-s-apology-after-sponsorship-9113986

 

Look at what he did in protest to the above. Costing SA a long term Corporate sponsorship. SA was left with no sponsorship for 6 months after 2XU pulled out because of this incident. They had to find extra budget to make suits and gears for those who went out to compete in the first half of 2019, until Under Armour came along in June.

 

https://mothership.sg/2017/12/soh-rui-yong-cut-holes-singlet/

 

 

and look at his arrogant response to 2XU. Will he ever get a Sponsorship from 2XU? Never, even if he wins an Olympic gold medal. He had just stupidly burned a bridge. Will he now get to win a gold again in an ASICS singlet? Mayb he will if he go run in SEA games as an individual representing SG, but first he will still have to apply to SA for approval.

 

Will ASICS even consider extending his sponsorship after this? lets wait and see.

 

soh-rui-yong-response-holey-singlet.jpg

 

 

 

SA has long been known to have its internal problems, and their poor management and weak leadership is not something new, but still there are rules for each athletes to follow.

 

A SEA games gold medal in Marathon is not the greatest of all achievement SG have had in SEA games, look at kunalan, james wong, joscelin yeo, ang peng siong, Joseph schoolings, just to name a few. Is Soh any better than them in achievement? have anyone of these ppl had the same issue as Soh and done what Soh did?

 

I happen to get slightly involve with SA recently, and came to know some top athletes in SG. Most of them have personal sponsorship, some more than 1, and they are not even a SEA games medalist.

 

So why is Soh, a 2 times SEA games gold medalist not attracting enough sponsorship coming to him?

 

Sports is more than coming in first with a gold medal, there are more to it. Discipline, team work, commitment, sportsmanship, and setting a good example for the young, just to name some, are part of it.

 

Never though I would spend so much time on such a topic. [laugh][laugh][laugh]

So sum up he have a little bit lack of eq?

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So sum up he have a little bit lack of eq?

 

 

I dont know!

 

I dont know him in person, and have not spoken to him. Only saw him training once at KPT all alone running in the inner lane, and that only time I saw him, he had some issue with others running on the track. 

 

However, nobody in the National track and field I came across wants to talk abt him. Mostly just shake their head, kept quiet for a while, and change topic.  [laugh]  [laugh]  [laugh]

Edited by Tianmo
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I didn't say you need to feel proud. It's the reality that sportsmen (or whatever achievement) needs funding. It's catch 22. You sponsor athletes that don't win, people say they are wasting money. You don't sponsor, people say they are not grooming talents. So how ? Win or don't win ? [laugh] [laugh]

 

Of course, athletes can also choose to go professional if there is even an option here which is rarely the case. They go overseas, then people say they are not patriotic ? They come back train under poorer condition never win, people say their top form is over ? [laugh]

 

At the end of the day, it's not about a whole country feel proud or not. What we should feel proud about is that everyone and anyone who aspire to win in any field be it sports or professional or arts, should be given an equal opportunity whether it's ownself achieve or other people help achieve. We're not East Germany right ?

 

Is it the same people saying all those things? Or different people?

Actually this guy should just go get a citizenship elsewhere and run for them. 

 

Take the gold and moon the SG officials.

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marathon is quite boring, unlike other individual sport like many boxing, golf, car racing, etc that people participate every moment of excitement.

 

marathon is like we can only know 4 hours later who is the winner, not like there will be crashes like car racing  [laugh]  [laugh]

 

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Everybody loves gold medal, those who say gold medal not important are talking c*ck. But nobody wants to fund people who haven't won any gold medals, so what can they do ? Find their own sources of income, work double jobs or get sponsorship. If they win, wow, national hero. If they never win, wow, your kids better don't learn from these impractical day dreamers.

 

Is this the right reflection of us ?

 

You are talking about survivorship bias. But I don't really get your point. Haha are you trying to be sarcastic or are you critiquing the social response to winners?

marathon is quite boring, unlike other individual sport like many boxing, golf, car racing, etc that people participate every moment of excitement.

 

marathon is like we can only know 4 hours later who is the winner, not like there will be crashes like car racing  [laugh]  [laugh]

 

True. But u may not know how to play tennis, box, play golf/badminton etc.

But every non-disabled person has ran in their lives before  [laugh]

Edited by Lala81
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Haha .. we may just have too many horse behind cannon people.

 

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. 

The internet is a medium which other people share their opinions. There are supportive ones, constructive criticism ones, unconstructive criticism ones, downright derogatory or malicious ones.

Many years ago, only can garner other opinions through coffee shop talk or people who respond to Straits Times forum, then u get to hear other people's opinions.

 

It's a tough place to navigate, the internet ... Lots of treasure, but lots of perils also.

From a neutral perspective, it's always interesting to read other people's perspectives if u sort out the wheat from the chaff first.

 

If u are a musician/sportsman needing to be on social media for your sponsorship or career purposes etc. It can be tough rolling with the punches u get online.

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