I READ Mr Tan Heng Choon's letter ("LionsXII's boost to football can be tapped"; last Thursday) with some consternation.
Mr Tan pointed out that our top players have moved out to other leagues in the region.
Nothing keeps the other players from doing so, except inertia, which will only be reinforced if they stay within the comfort zone that the LionsXII offers, rather than venture into unknown waters.
S-League clubs have no incentive to train better local players if their players are continually siphoned off.
They can be sure of retaining only foreign players. But even then, they need the resources to offer them decent contracts.
It is a triple bind: Clubs have to be content with local players of lower standards or older ages, resources have to be channelled towards foreign signings rather than overall development, and the development of younger local talent remains half-hearted.
The Football Association of Singapore has sacrificed long-term sustainable development for a short burst of glory, in the hope that temporary success will bring attention back to local football.
To borrow Mr Tan's analogy, no tenant in a shopping mall resells products from its competitors.
This is detrimental to the mall as a whole, as other tenants would move away from such a predatory business model.
The S-League clubs have not moved away because there is nowhere for them to go.
The decision to "allow" Safuwan Baharudin to go on loan to Melbourne City is nothing compared with when top goalkeeper Hassan Sunny was released to Thailand's Army United.
Hassan's move opened the door for Daniel Ong and Neezam Aziz to compete.
The viable and practical thing to do is to end the LionsXII, close the Young Lions, and promote youth development at S-League clubs.
Yeo Kheng Hui
