At a time when many had lost faith in Singapore’s footballing scene, one coach overcame all odds and led Team Singapore to victory. Known as a strict disciplinarian who expected the best from all his players, Uncle Choo was determined to elevate the status of football in Singapore.
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00:00He was never given a chance
00:01although he has expressed interest to coach the National Team many times.
00:05People say, eat football, sleep football, you know.
00:08He was exactly the representation of that.
00:23Born on the 1st of December, 1914
00:25Choo Seng Kwee was always passionate about football.
00:28As a teenager, he would run away from his violin lessons to play the sport.
00:32At the age of 15, Choo played for the football team at Raffles Institution.
00:36His first notable match happened in 1930
00:39when he represented his school as a right full-back in the inter-school games.
00:43In 1933, he joined the Straits Chinese Football Association.
00:52Based on his performances, he was actually then selected
00:57to represent the Singapore team.
00:59And in fact, he was actually in the 1937 and 1939
01:05Malaya Cup winning teams for Singapore.
01:09In 1939, Choo represented the Malayan Chinese team
01:12at matches in Manila, Hong Kong and Macau.
01:15His talent impressed the China selectors greatly
01:17so much so that he was mentioned to be a certain choice for the 1940 Olympic Games.
01:22Unfortunately, at the commencement of the Second World War
01:26the 1940 Games, which was actually scheduled to be held in Helsinki
01:32was cancelled.
01:34And unfortunately, that meant the end of his football career.
01:38Although his years as a player gradually came to an end
01:41Choo began to be recognised and eventually praised for his coaching abilities.
01:46He started in fact coaching in 1939.
01:51And then in 1949, he was actually asked to coach the Singapore national team.
01:59So in fact, this was actually the first of his
02:01I would say five stints coaching the national team.
02:05His performance as a coach attracted some of the other countries in the region
02:13and one of them was Indonesia.
02:15Choo went on to coach the Indonesian national team, the Garudas
02:19who became one of the most successful in the region
02:21after securing three wins in Hong Kong, all under Choo's coaching and direction.
02:25Following his success with the Garudas
02:27Choo was appointed as the National Coach of Malaya in 1958
02:31by Tunku Abdul Rahman
02:33Malaya's founding Prime Minister and President of the Football Association of Malaya.
02:38Over the next seven years, he coached various teams representing Malaya
02:41and led them to multiple victories.
02:44By now, Choo had become a household name among football fans across Southeast Asia
02:48and was known for being one of the best coaches in the region.
02:51He was known for being a tough coach
02:53who expected all his players to be disciplined and dedicated to the game.
03:02I have five brothers who were coached by him
03:07and all became national players.
03:09So I had no choice but to follow their footsteps
03:13and had inside information about how strict and demanding this coach was.
03:19So when I saw him, I was a bit kind of petrified, a bit scared
03:25because he was larger than life, a six foot two guy.
03:28But because of the information that I get from my brothers earlier on about how he is
03:34I was prepared for, you know, hard training and whatever, you know, a strict disciplinarian he was.
03:41For me, I think one of the things that I feel very motivated
03:45is he required us to sing the national anthem before each training session.
03:50Why did he do that?
03:51Because he wants us to feel patriotic, proud when we don the national colours.
03:57Because he said that when you do that, you know, meaningfully
04:01it will translate into like 10 to 15 percent more age for your game.
04:11Sama-sama menuju bahagia
04:17Cita-cita kita yang mulia
04:22Berjaya Singapura
04:26Everyone from my father's era, they knew about this guy, you know.
04:32And he's a household name, but the modern day people, they don't know about him.
04:36And he gave his all, but he didn't expect anything in return.
04:41It's like his joy.
04:42People say eat football, sleep football, you know.
04:45He was exactly the representation of that.
04:49He's very inspiring to me and I wanted to bring him to the world, bring him to the modern day.
04:54I would say that Chu Seng Kwee was ahead of his time.
04:57When we talk about today's coaches who are sort of talking about nutrition, diet, psychology
05:06Uncle Chu was actually doing all those things 30, 40 years.
05:10I mean, back in the 50s and 60s, he was already applying some of these principles actually.
05:16Very consistently, every single person I met, right
05:21no one had anything bad to say about Uncle Chu, seriously.
05:24So there's like Sergeant Major, very strict, very fierce.
05:29But the most important thing is on the outside, he's like Sergeant Major.
05:35But behind the mask of this, looking like a tyrant, someone who looks like a tyrant
05:41inside, he has a very big heart.
05:44Off the field, he's like a father figure to us.
05:48People that have got problems paying their utility bills
05:52do not have money to buy a pair of shoes or boots to train properly.
05:57He will offer them financial assistance because he said that
06:01if a player has got financial problems, has got worries, has got family problems
06:09girlfriend problems, he will not be able to give his best.
06:12In 1964, Chu returned to Singapore for three months while on leave from coaching schools in Malaya.
06:18Throughout all these coaching stints overseas
06:21Uncle Chu's heart was always with the Singapore team.
06:25He stated this in 1966
06:29My loyalty is with Singapore and there is no better way that I can prove it
06:37than by coaching the football team.
06:40Recognition, however, didn't come easily.
06:43Football fans felt that local football was not something to take pride in
06:46feeling as though the current team and players could not live up to their predecessor's standards.
06:52Although he was not appreciated by local football fans
06:55it was them that he wanted to impress the most.
06:57N. Gunnison became the FAS chairman in 1976
07:03and it was under his backing that Chu Seng Hui managed to become the coach again
07:12of the Singapore national team.
07:14He faced criticism from the public who felt that he was too old at the age of 62
07:19to train the national team and lead them to victory.
07:21The media even labelled him as the most controversial soccer figure
07:25and called him a discarded coach.
07:28He was never given a chance
07:30although he has expressed interest to coach the national team many times.
07:34So you have to give credit to the chairman at that time, N. Gunnison
07:39who had the courage to appoint him as national coach
07:43when all the others dare not touch him.
07:46Gunnison had the courage to say, let's give him a try
07:50because he is so dedicated, so passionate about wanting to train the national team.
07:56He was an intelligent person
07:58whom I think studied the game.
08:02As I told you, he had sketches of goals scored in 1926
08:10you know something like that and all that book
08:12his book, Thinker.
08:14He was a football thinker.
08:15With 40,000 spectators watching from the Merdeka Stadium
08:18and over 900,000 people watching from home
08:21Singapore faced Selangor in the Malaysia Cup Finals in 1977.
08:25Playing in the finals of all this will be a game of nerves
08:29because it's the last match
08:31and if you falter, there is no chance for you to make it back.
08:36And when we were 2-1 down at half-time
08:40Uncle Choo deliberated quite a while
08:44because he wanted to make some changes that were unheard of.
08:49For him to do that, it was quite a feat.
08:54What he did most was to say that
08:58I have trained you all for hours
09:01we have trained together, we have suffered together
09:05and this is the moment that I think we can overcome the odds to bring the Cup back.
09:11And at one go, we brought the Cup back.
09:15The 1977 Malaysia Cup was
09:19in many people's opinion, the pinnacle of Uncle Choo's career.
09:24But we must understand that
09:26Choo Seng Hwee was also the Singapore coach
09:29when Singapore won the Malaya Cup in 1964 and 1965.
09:38The post-match celebrations were ecstatic.
09:43I can imagine seeing Singapore
09:46especially in the early 70s
09:49losing final after final against their pet Noir Selangor.
09:54I think for them, it was really a relief.
09:57I think the fans that were at the Merdeka Stadium all ran onto the pitch to hug us.
10:01It was a fantastic feeling.
10:04Uncle Choo was there again, he was full of tears
10:07because he was quite an emotional guy.
10:10And finally, after working so hard, he said
10:13I think we deserve the Cup back to Singapore again.
10:30In May of 1977, Uncle Choo suffered a fall.
10:33Because he failed to treat the wound after
10:35his leg was amputated in September that year.
10:37Though his surgery left him wheelchair-bound
10:40he remained determined to get back on the field to coach his players again.
10:44And sadly, that ended his career with the Singapore national team.
10:49He did actually ask FAS if he could continue coaching
10:54but unfortunately, FAS refused to allow him to continue coaching.
11:01He was asked to coach the Johor team in the Malaysia Cup
11:07and that was his last experience as a coach itself.
11:14In January 1981, Uncle Choo retired from coaching
11:18and eventually passed on in 1983 after suffering from kidney disease.
11:22Though Uncle Choo faced many hurdles and was widely criticised
11:25throughout his career as a coach
11:27he stayed true to his beliefs and will be remembered
11:30for bringing Singapore's football to greater heights.
11:33I would like Uncle Choo to be remembered as a Singaporean
11:39who dedicated his life to football
11:47and wanting to elevate the status of Singapore's football to a higher level.
11:56You stop loving football so much and start loving yourself, can?
12:06So after the film, I helped out Sports Council
12:09in doing some of their social media videos.
12:11During one of the shoots, I had to shoot the Singapore National Cerebral Palsy Team.
12:16And while they're heading out, they all put their hands together
12:19and then they said,
12:20Untuk bangsa dan negara, maju lah.
12:23Then I was like, woah, and held my hair up.
12:26Because it's from the film and it's from Uncle Choo.
12:29Untuk bangsa dan negara, maju lah.
12:35Play for your nation, have pride in that.
12:38I think if you ask me, football has evolved.
12:42What Uncle did many years ago may not be relevant.
12:47So the methods that he used in the past could be a bit archaic, traditional.
12:54He sacrificed a lot to get his success.
12:58But in the process, because he spread his love for football
13:03and he cared for so many people,
13:06I think he finds the sacrifice was worth it.
13:09And passion is no longer just defined as the passion of football,
13:13but the passion of helping people.
13:16I would like to say, Uncle Choo, wherever you are,
13:20thank you for the memories that you gave us.
13:22On behalf of my officials, players, we benefited so much from you
13:27and we wish that they would have given him the chance
13:32to prepare the foundation for Singapore's football.
13:35You can't go wrong, you know, having a coach like him.
13:39Choo Seng Kwee's coaching career demonstrated that
13:46we in Singapore can have good coaches, local coaches,
13:55if they were given the right training and the right opportunities.
14:08SINGAPORE ANNUAL FOOTBALL LEGACY