Mr Ko, aka Bolasepako, with his 25 years of independent local football blogging, expresses his strong perspective and concerns over the latest initiative by Singapore to see themselves compete in the famous World Cup.

A Viddsee Original Production

Director Statement: 
The story of ‘The 12th Man’ blossomed from my love for local music. A close friend of mine joined the Oi/Punk band Gate3 back in 2018 and I was super intrigued by how they perfectly blend both the love for music and local football so well. While performing their live set, the band would have a football placed in the crowd and the audience would mosh and kick the ball around. The first of its kind for me to witness and what joy that brings to me. From there, I fell into a rabbit hole. I was fascinated by the rich culture our local football had, which led me to acquire new friendships and bonds with fellow supporters.

It was when I heard their stories of their support throughout the years that inspired me to dive in deeper into our local football. There are so many unique stories and individuals alike. What is being represented or being told in the headlines were merely the surface of something more passionate. In some sense, the local football scene and the local music scene where I grew up in, had so many similarities both captivating yet haunting. Similar to the music scene, it is both a niche within a niche and I felt the need to tell their untold stories. I hope ‘The 12th Man’ would inspire others outside of the niche as I was.