573
This is not about us rejoicing over one isolated, but long overdue win, but one about the Hilderincs who refused to bow to the oppressive burden of going through an incredible 573 days without a win, but who instead, ignited a fire within—a defiant fire that refused to be extinguished by mere statistics or at times, debilitating and repeated failures.
In an age of the need for instant success, quick self-gratification, the annals of Hilderinc history will speak of a tale, not merely of an unfathomable drought but one of an unyielding spirit and relentless perseverance of a group of peerless heroes, whose names will be spoken for years to come.
THE DARKEST DAYSFor 573 dark agonising days, we grappled with a harrowing winless streak, an uncharted abyss in our 24-year legacy. Yet, within this chasm of despair, a saga of indomitable stubbornness unfolded, culminating in finally exorcising the demon of defeat which looked to have firmly latched onto our back for 18 long months.
For a proud Club, that strives on being Different and Exemplary in everything we are and do, the hard fall from grace from the days of being league champions and perennial title contenders was one of deep anguish and despair, especially considering the high standards we place upon ourselves, more so when we are perhaps a minuscule number of amateur teams that actually train all year around, and not just before competitions, as training is the lifeblood of the Club.
Despite our rigorous training regimen every week, starting immediately after the COVID Circuit Breaker was lifted in June 2020, the return of competitive amateur league football came too soon, primarily because we lost several players who had returned home, faced long-term injuries to several key members, and tellingly when many new additions who had sponged on us when everyone else was inactive in that nearly two years, only to prepay our hospitality by abandoning us when their mates resumed their football again.
THE STRUGGLEFaced with this conundrum, with eyes wide open, despite being not prepared, we decided to resume competitive football with the Equatorial Football League, a league of high standards even for seasoned players, yet alone one that had to be hastily assembled out of necessity rather than quality.
Questions were asked of our decision, some by people who themselves were hiding while we were training relentlessly each week, but we took the plunge, rather than settle for mediocrity that was exposed during the pandemic.
Understandably, we were getting routed repeatedly, but we hang on, focused on gaining experience, which we severely lacked with the inexperienced players we took in, and with many offering false promises of commitment during recruitment, only to take the earliest opportunity to find the exit, while others remained to keep trying.
But it was untenable to have used over 100 players from various sources, mainly from the Hilderinc Twā, Hilderinc Socials or from Facebook messages from players looking to join the cause.
While we were getting hammed in the league, we had mixed results in friendly matches we played, and one such game against British Club Lions, originally a league fixture, but we had it rearranged as a non-competitive game due to the lack of players, only to have a decent squad on the eleventh-hour, leaving us to regret the decision to downgrade the tie, but responding to circumstances always leaves you cursing hindsight.
For the first time since March 2020, with the right players in, we played like a proper Hilderinc side, and went on to win 4-2. It was December 10, 2022.
Seeing through the next four months in the league, getting beaten each week, with some quality performances here and there, and finishing our maiden campaign with zero points with more than a ton of goals conceded, including a humiliating 1-12 defeat, the worst in our history, though we had to play on both Saturday and Sunday that weekend with a stretched squad, but it was hard to take in any case, but crazy as we were, we embarked on a major reboot and overhaul, to try again.
THE TURNING POINTWe spent another four months recruiting again, but with time on our hands, and with a small number, including hardcore old horses remaining, we were demanding with our selection process. No more what players wanted, it was what and who we wanted as a Club to meet our objectives. Slowly we rebuilt the squad to go again in August 2023 for the Equatorial Football League 23/24 season.
Though we had a better squad, inexperience at this level was telling yet again, but we were performing much better, albeit without the result, however, a win, even in friendly matches was becoming elusive, and we were finding it difficult to put on finger on it, considering our obvious improvement.
On 13 October 2023, we had our first point in the EFL with a hard-earned 1-1 draw against DHL Gaelic Lions, finally a tangible marker of our progress, but we had gone two months shy of a year without a win of any kind.
While we hoped our move to a new home pitch in February 2024 would change our fortunes, the same narrative was repeating, and at this point, it was starting to get to us, if it had not been done so much earlier.
Good performances were not translating into results, as we repeatedly went back home frustrated. We were starting to feel the effects of the inglorious run weighing heavily on our shoulders, a situation not made easy having to deal with non-playing elements within the Club with their own agendas to detract rather than rally behind side, which were mercilessly removed to focus on matters on the pitch.
With the decision to move out of the failed homeground project in Balestier made in April, we just wanted to finish the season, whatever the results may be, but not let up on trying each week.
For the second successive season, we finished on the bottom of the table, though we had scored slightly more goals, conceded marginally less, and had two precious points, compared to the zero we had the previous campaign, used only 30 almost ever-present players, and with seasoned veterans returning from long-term injuries and commitment, there was reason to be optimistic, though you had to be a hardnosed optimist.
THE HEROESSo, after 17-months now without a win, there is always the thought of who will decide to leave at the end of the season, something we have experiences after each tough season in the last 24 years, more so when we have been the bottom-dwellers of the league, with many never having had experienced a win since joining the Club.
Do we hold on to our past glories or everything else we do on the larger scale of things in grassroots football to convince anyone to stay, especially when there was real quality in the squad, that they can walk into any team out there?
While expecting the worst when the question was asked freshly after a 7-1 mauling in the last game of the season, but to somewhat of a surprise, all 100% of the players indicated that they would remain to try again.
It felt like being infused with a million volts of energy in that moment. For the first time in our long history, we had all the players remaining to give another shot.
In an era when going through a month without a win, not playing them in their preferred positions or the slightest chastisement would cause players to find “better” teams to play in, here we had a band of men with hearts of steel, who were repeatedly at the end of heavy defeats, constantly being played out of position, and had heated conflicts, but they choose to stand and be counted as a Hilderinc, and none personifies the spirit of the Hilderincs like the ones below who have etched their names to be called Legends of the Club.
BASIL CHIA, BASIL AL BARR, DANZAL HAN, DION KOLOKOTSAS, FAHMY BARKER, GIBSON CHIA, JOSE KASIJO, LIEW CHIN WEI, LIM YONG KIAT, MELVIN SIM, NICHOLAS LEDENMARK, NOR SYAFIQ, ONG JI KAI, PRASAN SHETTY, RYAN NG, SASIKUMAR MANIARASAN, SEAN RAJAH, SERGEY DAROVSKIKH, SHUNSUKE NIWA, TAIGA HANAFUSA, TAN EU REN, TAN ZHENG JIE, VENKAT KALAIRASAN, YUTA NAKAMURA, ZACHARY TAN.
With highly experienced Alessandro Blasi, Loy Yi Zhou and Mladen Kovacevic now added to the incredible fold, and the continued preparation of the Hilderinc Twā to provide needed depth, we are confident that we will keep improving, and perhaps finally win our first game in the Equatorial Football League 24/25 season.
But whatever the future holds, nothing will take the shine away from these Hilderincs, and with them behind, no mountain is not worth a try to conquer.
We are DIFFERENT!
In an age of the need for instant success, quick self-gratification, the annals of Hilderinc history will speak of a tale, not merely of an unfathomable drought but one of an unyielding spirit and relentless perseverance of a group of peerless heroes, whose names will be spoken for years to come.
THE DARKEST DAYSFor 573 dark agonising days, we grappled with a harrowing winless streak, an uncharted abyss in our 24-year legacy. Yet, within this chasm of despair, a saga of indomitable stubbornness unfolded, culminating in finally exorcising the demon of defeat which looked to have firmly latched onto our back for 18 long months.
For a proud Club, that strives on being Different and Exemplary in everything we are and do, the hard fall from grace from the days of being league champions and perennial title contenders was one of deep anguish and despair, especially considering the high standards we place upon ourselves, more so when we are perhaps a minuscule number of amateur teams that actually train all year around, and not just before competitions, as training is the lifeblood of the Club.
Despite our rigorous training regimen every week, starting immediately after the COVID Circuit Breaker was lifted in June 2020, the return of competitive amateur league football came too soon, primarily because we lost several players who had returned home, faced long-term injuries to several key members, and tellingly when many new additions who had sponged on us when everyone else was inactive in that nearly two years, only to prepay our hospitality by abandoning us when their mates resumed their football again.
THE STRUGGLEFaced with this conundrum, with eyes wide open, despite being not prepared, we decided to resume competitive football with the Equatorial Football League, a league of high standards even for seasoned players, yet alone one that had to be hastily assembled out of necessity rather than quality.
Questions were asked of our decision, some by people who themselves were hiding while we were training relentlessly each week, but we took the plunge, rather than settle for mediocrity that was exposed during the pandemic.
Understandably, we were getting routed repeatedly, but we hang on, focused on gaining experience, which we severely lacked with the inexperienced players we took in, and with many offering false promises of commitment during recruitment, only to take the earliest opportunity to find the exit, while others remained to keep trying.
But it was untenable to have used over 100 players from various sources, mainly from the Hilderinc Twā, Hilderinc Socials or from Facebook messages from players looking to join the cause.
While we were getting hammed in the league, we had mixed results in friendly matches we played, and one such game against British Club Lions, originally a league fixture, but we had it rearranged as a non-competitive game due to the lack of players, only to have a decent squad on the eleventh-hour, leaving us to regret the decision to downgrade the tie, but responding to circumstances always leaves you cursing hindsight.
For the first time since March 2020, with the right players in, we played like a proper Hilderinc side, and went on to win 4-2. It was December 10, 2022.
Seeing through the next four months in the league, getting beaten each week, with some quality performances here and there, and finishing our maiden campaign with zero points with more than a ton of goals conceded, including a humiliating 1-12 defeat, the worst in our history, though we had to play on both Saturday and Sunday that weekend with a stretched squad, but it was hard to take in any case, but crazy as we were, we embarked on a major reboot and overhaul, to try again.
THE TURNING POINTWe spent another four months recruiting again, but with time on our hands, and with a small number, including hardcore old horses remaining, we were demanding with our selection process. No more what players wanted, it was what and who we wanted as a Club to meet our objectives. Slowly we rebuilt the squad to go again in August 2023 for the Equatorial Football League 23/24 season.
Though we had a better squad, inexperience at this level was telling yet again, but we were performing much better, albeit without the result, however, a win, even in friendly matches was becoming elusive, and we were finding it difficult to put on finger on it, considering our obvious improvement.
On 13 October 2023, we had our first point in the EFL with a hard-earned 1-1 draw against DHL Gaelic Lions, finally a tangible marker of our progress, but we had gone two months shy of a year without a win of any kind.
While we hoped our move to a new home pitch in February 2024 would change our fortunes, the same narrative was repeating, and at this point, it was starting to get to us, if it had not been done so much earlier.
Good performances were not translating into results, as we repeatedly went back home frustrated. We were starting to feel the effects of the inglorious run weighing heavily on our shoulders, a situation not made easy having to deal with non-playing elements within the Club with their own agendas to detract rather than rally behind side, which were mercilessly removed to focus on matters on the pitch.
With the decision to move out of the failed homeground project in Balestier made in April, we just wanted to finish the season, whatever the results may be, but not let up on trying each week.
For the second successive season, we finished on the bottom of the table, though we had scored slightly more goals, conceded marginally less, and had two precious points, compared to the zero we had the previous campaign, used only 30 almost ever-present players, and with seasoned veterans returning from long-term injuries and commitment, there was reason to be optimistic, though you had to be a hardnosed optimist.
THE HEROESSo, after 17-months now without a win, there is always the thought of who will decide to leave at the end of the season, something we have experiences after each tough season in the last 24 years, more so when we have been the bottom-dwellers of the league, with many never having had experienced a win since joining the Club.
Do we hold on to our past glories or everything else we do on the larger scale of things in grassroots football to convince anyone to stay, especially when there was real quality in the squad, that they can walk into any team out there?
While expecting the worst when the question was asked freshly after a 7-1 mauling in the last game of the season, but to somewhat of a surprise, all 100% of the players indicated that they would remain to try again.
It felt like being infused with a million volts of energy in that moment. For the first time in our long history, we had all the players remaining to give another shot.
In an era when going through a month without a win, not playing them in their preferred positions or the slightest chastisement would cause players to find “better” teams to play in, here we had a band of men with hearts of steel, who were repeatedly at the end of heavy defeats, constantly being played out of position, and had heated conflicts, but they choose to stand and be counted as a Hilderinc, and none personifies the spirit of the Hilderincs like the ones below who have etched their names to be called Legends of the Club.
BASIL CHIA, BASIL AL BARR, DANZAL HAN, DION KOLOKOTSAS, FAHMY BARKER, GIBSON CHIA, JOSE KASIJO, LIEW CHIN WEI, LIM YONG KIAT, MELVIN SIM, NICHOLAS LEDENMARK, NOR SYAFIQ, ONG JI KAI, PRASAN SHETTY, RYAN NG, SASIKUMAR MANIARASAN, SEAN RAJAH, SERGEY DAROVSKIKH, SHUNSUKE NIWA, TAIGA HANAFUSA, TAN EU REN, TAN ZHENG JIE, VENKAT KALAIRASAN, YUTA NAKAMURA, ZACHARY TAN.
With highly experienced Alessandro Blasi, Loy Yi Zhou and Mladen Kovacevic now added to the incredible fold, and the continued preparation of the Hilderinc Twā to provide needed depth, we are confident that we will keep improving, and perhaps finally win our first game in the Equatorial Football League 24/25 season.
But whatever the future holds, nothing will take the shine away from these Hilderincs, and with them behind, no mountain is not worth a try to conquer.
We are DIFFERENT!
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