I was only about 4 months old when the 1986 World Cup was held in Mexico. Back then, the very-then SBC (Now Mediacorp) showed almost all the matches I guessed, including the one featuring the "hands of god" and "the best goal in history" by Diego Maradona.
When I was only 4 and started my first pre-school year, 1990 World Cup was held in Italy when the whole world saw Paul Gascoigne in tears during the classic semi-final rivalry between England and West Germany. I believed my father did catch some matches on Free-to-air SBC.
When I was only primary 2, I remembered I was awaken up by my father as he was catching the final between Brazil and Italy in the morning on the very same free-to-air channel. Unfortunately, one of my favourite hero cum fellow SGI member, Roberto Baggio, missed the spot-kick which gave the Brazilians their 4th trophy despite being the best player in the tournament.
When I was primary 6 and it was PSLE year, it was the last time the World Cup was shown exclusively on the very same free-to-air channel. It was one of the best world cup which featured 32 teams for the first time, as well as Beckham's sending off and Zidane's double headers in the final.
When I was in Sec 4 and preparing for my O-Levels, it was the first time I was unable to watch all the matches on TV as I did not subscribe to Cable TV yet. However, I did manage to catch quite a couple of them on the neighbouring free-to-air channel as well as Channel 5's offering all matches from the Quarter finals round onwards.
When I was in Poly year 3 and doing my attachment at Micron, it was the first time I subscribed the World Cup TV coverage on the then one and only Starhub Cable TV. I did manage to wake up in the early hours and caught the matches. I remembered once I hardly got some sleep as my poly lads came to my house and stayed overnight to watch all the actions on TV while I had to report to work attachment the very next day. I was able to stay awake during my working hours though.
Now... 2010 World Cup is fast approaching in South Africa and yet me and fellow die-hard football fans in Singapore are wondering whether are we able to watch all these once-every-4-years action or not. Many of our neighbouring countries like Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and China will be going to screen all these matches to their citizens LIVE on their free-to-air TV stations.
How about us ??? Worrying about not able to watch football this June just because our very two dearest telco cum pay TV companies are unable to meet the telecast pricing demands requested by FIFA ??? No thanks to the unhealthy "bidding wars" between these two companies for the EPL rights from next season onwards, making others think that, "You are able to fork out such amount for English football, therefore you can also fork out that amount for this biggest football event in the world."
And yes, this season's English Premier League might be the last season I will be watching on TV.
One simple wish of mine is to be able to watch FIFA World Cup comfortably at home this coming June and early July before I officially start my full-time studies.
That's so simple.
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