Kallang Roar the Movie is a 2008 sports film on Singapore national football team’s legendary coach Choo Seng Quee. The film shows the events leading up to Singapore winning the Malaysia Cup in 1977, including the epic semi-final match against Selangor and the final against Penang.
Production
Merelion Pictures started filming for the movie on February 29, 2008. Filming took place at the historic Kallang National Stadium where some of the matches had taken place. Filming also took place at the Jurong Stadium which was used as a substitute for the Merdeka Stadium as the latter was by then no longer being used for sporting events. The trailer and teaser was released on the 26 June 2008. Director Cheng Ding An said research for the film took three years and it would cost about S$1 million to produce the movie. The film was eventually released on August 21, 2008.
Quotes
"Every time when we trooped out into the National Stadium, you can get this Kallang Roar...the fans cheering us, it was full house....That kind of feeling, I think I cannot describe," said former national team striker Quah Kim Song. "It was like a fire, you know, hoof! It went on fire. First game, was 15,000, second game 40,000, third game 55,000 and so on. For eight years, stadium was full," said N Ganesan, former chairman of Football Association of Singapore.
During the coach interview scene set in 1967, one of the Council members mentioned that twelve years had passed since Singapore last won the Malaysia Cup. Choo had actually coached Singapore to the 1965 title. He was to repeat the feat twelve years later, in 1977.
Although he had offered his services to coach Singapore for free previously, Choo was by 1965 a paid coach employed by the Football Association of Singapore.
Samad Allapitchay was depicted as a young boy when he first encountered Choo. Samad in real life was born in 1950, and was 17 years old in 1967. Similarly, Quah Kim Song was 15, Mohamed Noh, 13 and Dollah Kassim, 18.
In the movie, Choo was finally offered the coaching position ten years later in 1977. In real life, that was Choo's 4th stint with the Singapore team, and he was appointed in September 1976 following Nadesan Ganesan's election as FAS chairman.
Trevor Hartley, Hussein Aljunied and Andrew Yap resigned after Choo's appointment while the trio withheld their resignations after meeting Ganesan in the movie.
