Ground Hopping Continues ...

This is current condition of the field of Bishan Stadium, the designated "home" ground of two Singapore Premier League (SGPL) clubs - Lion City Sailors and Balestier Khalsa, as seen from the nearby Bishan Sports Hall days ago.

It was learned that such re-turfing of the natural grass surface would take approximately five to six months to complete and the process only begun late last year.

NEW SEASON K.O. IN LATE FEB
One recent Straits Times article suggested the Community Shield, the annual pre-season opener for the SGPL, will be staged on 20th February.

If it is what the mentioned broadsheet suggested, the 2021 SGPL season is likely to kick off on the following weekend based on past scheduling of fixtures.

However, given the present condition of the Bishan surface, it is understood Balestier Khalsa will play their home fixtures at Toa Payoh Stadium while LCS will be ground sharing the newly-refurbished Jalan Besar Stadium (JBS) with Young Lions for the upcoming season.

HOUGANG STAY PUT IN HOUGANG FOR UPCOMING SEASON
The likelihood of the above-mentioned arrangement is high when it is also understood that Hougang United will continue to play their home fixtures at their spiritual Hougang Stadium home base.

This will be second successive season to see reallocation of home grounds when last year saw Hougang United and Young Lions played their home games at Hougang Stadium and Jurong West Stadium respectively since the ground sharing initiative of SGPL clubs started in 2019.

Prior to that, both Cheetahs and Young Lions played their home fixtures at JBS who was closed during the 2020 season to allow repair works to be carried out.

This platform had reached out to Football Association of Singapore (FAS) for comment.