SINGAPORE – The Football Association of Singapore’s (FAS) newly-elected council had promised to clean up its house after winning an election battle that was marred by a controversial S$500,000 donation by Tiong Bahru Football Club (TBFC) to the Asean Football Federation (AFF) at then-FAS president Zainudin Nordin’s request.

The council signalled its intent to overhaul the beleaguered association on Thursday (June 1) by announcing a slew of measures to improve corporate governance within the FAS and the local football ecosystem.

A six-member ad hoc committee led by FAS deputy president Bernard Tan has taken steps to revamp processes and structure in the FAS to ensure tighter internal controls in three main areas. These are: Calling for an external audit, widening disclosure requirements, and working out obligations for its members. It aims to complete the revamp within six months.

“We’ve made a lot of commitments in our manifesto that are equally important but governance has to be our first priority,” said Mr Tan. “We need to get this right in order to make the other changes that we want.”

CALL FOR EXTERNAL AUDIT

In April, the FAS came under fire after Hougang United chairman Bill Ng, who stood against president Lim Kia Tong during the polls, revealed that TBFC had made a S$500,000 donation to AFF via the FAS.

The association was criticised for a perceived lack of accountability and transparency, as FAS general secretary Winston Lee revealed that he did not inform the then-FAS exco about the transaction as he saw it as a private matter between TBFC and AFF.

The committee has since proposed that key decisions must be made by the relevant FAS committees, instead of the president and general secretary.

These areas include approvals for expenditure and payments, long-term contracts and commitments, senior appointments in committees and the FAS, and the association’s voting position on matters within national and international bodies.

Said Tan: “The big issue has been that in the past, decisions were largely made by individuals. The council sometimes did not have oversight on many of the decisions taken by FAS.”

All cash and in-kind donations to the FAS that exceed S$50,000 in value must now be reviewed and approved by the exco, and must only directly benefit the FAS or local football.

A request for proposal has also been sent to four audit firms to assess how the FAS measures up to the latest code of governance for charities, and to make recommendations on how it can improve its processes and procedures.

DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS

The disclosure requirements of all FAS-related individuals such as council members, staff — including playing and coaching personnel — and volunteers have now been widened.

All FAS council members must now sign a new code of conduct, an enhanced declaration form on conflicts of interest, which has broadened the definition of related and interested parties, as well as new declaration forms on anti-betting, confidentiality and bankruptcy.

A new gift or benefit policy will require FAS-related individuals to declare all gifts and benefits received, and decline them wherever possible.

Two years ago, Lee was appointed vice-president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), a move that raised eyebrows as it is rare for an employee of a member association to be appointed to such a post. It also resulted in the awkward situation of Mr Lee outranking Mr Zainudin at AFC level.

That is set to change — anyone within the FAS who wishes to be appointed or elected to a role in the AFF, AFC or Fifa must obtain permission from the FAS executive committee (exco) and president, and declare their remuneration from the appointment.

FAS MEMBER OBLIGATIONS

In the run-up to the elections, revelations of TBFC’s S$37 million clubhouse revenue shocked many in the community. It also spent more than S$2 million in staff salaries but just S$169,000 on its football team, which plays in the National Football League.

The committee will look into imposing additional requirements for clubs with gaming machines to use the proceeds to develop local football.

It will also look into reviewing the composition of their affiliates’ management committee and decision-making powers, and their commitment to financial prudence.

FAS vice-president S Thavaneson said: “Our stance is that clubs deriving revenue from jackpot operations (must plough) all profits less bona fide expenses back to football.”

FAS is also looking at imposing varying levels of obligations for affiliates to ensure they follow good governance practices and uphold the integrity of the game.

S.League clubs which receive the most funding from the FAS and Sport Singapore (SportSG) will be subject to the strictest obligations.

Mr Tan said there should be three tiers of obligations for affiliates based on the amounts of grants they receive.

Mr Tan added: “The ad-hoc committee’s aim is to sort all this out by September, in time for the FAS’ Annual General Meeting. We will also look at having interim reports from audit firms so we can start fixing things, instead of waiting for reports to be completed before starting.”