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 On August 1, about 50 ACS old boys from
5 different classes participated in a futsal
tournament at Singapore G Building, 25
Tagore Lane, where the Class of 78 plays
there every Thursday night under floodlights.
The competition was between the Classes
of 78, 80, 85, 86 and 89. Class of 80,
which has been playing together for many
years, provided two teams while players
from the classes of 85 and 86 joined
forces for this tournament. The format
was round-robin with five-a-side games of
10 minutes each. Even though 11 years
separated the oldest team and the youngest
team, memories and images of playing
football in the quadrangle at Barker Road
came flooding back as the tournament
progressed.
 At the end of the day, it was the younger
teams that showed the more senior teams
a thing or two. Their fitness as the matches
came thick and fast became evident. The
eventual winners were the combined team
of Classes of 85 and 86. For the youngest
team, the Class of 89, it was the first time
they had come together for football since
leaving school. Judging by the turnout for
that year alone, there is little doubt that we
will be seeing more of them in the future.
Their enthusiasm was infectious.
The recent history of Class of 78 shows that
old ACS classmates tend to reach out to
each other when the children have grown
up and do not exactly need their parents
around anymore. Arguably, every year
goes through this process and it looks like
it is Class of 89’s turn now. To put the time
frames into context, when class of 78 was
graduating from Secondary 4, Class of 89
was in K2. To be playing together on the
same platform now is a strong reflection of the unifying quality of team sports.
Everyone enjoyed the tournament so much
that there was immediate talk of holding
regular futsal tournaments going forward,
as the teams engaged post-tournament for
dinner and drinks at a zichar restaurant
opposite Singapore G Building.
There is
more competition and excitement to come.
Thusitha de Silva (Class of 78)
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