For the first time I found out the existence of the demolished Anson Road Stadium after I had read a line by the veteran journalist Godfrey Robert’s book “The Malaysia Cup” published in 1990.
I thought JBS was the oldest
| Large turnout like these were common in Anson Road Stadium (Credit: NLB -Archive)) |
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| Field chart for listeners tailored to radio commentary in the old age (credit: NLB -Archive). |
Recently, when I came across an online article that a writer offers on the Arena, it aroused my interest to find out where exactly this stadium was in the Tanjong Pagar district.
Exhibition location changed to stadium
After the exhibition, a loan of $ 25,000 was approved by the legislative council to convert the location into a sports stadium that was completed and officially opened on July 19, 1924 with a “Singapore Cup” match between HMS Iroquois and HMS Pegasus.
Should be the current site
Armed with details given by the aforementioned online article and old street map from his sister site on “Spatial discovery”I went to Tanjong Pagar to map out where the Anson Road Stadium was.
Based on the old map, it is clear that not far from where the stadium was located, the Telok Ayer Basin That served in the early days as a dock for merchant ships to unload their goods.
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| A rare bird’s eye view of Telok Ayer Basin (Credit: NLB -Archive)) |
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| Locations as shown on the basis of information (credit: card From “National Archives of Singapore”) |
The past and present of “Telok Ayer Basin” and the surrounding areas
Diagonally it was the YMCA sports group with the sports field of the Nanyang Chinese student next to it and because of the location near the port, it was not unusual to see facilities such as Godowns, Quarantainecentra in the area.
Years of redevelopment that took place in the area had largely changed the appearance of Tanjong Pagar.
Information from the “Singapore Infopedia”, however, mentioned the site where Singapore Conference Hall (SCH) is now next to where the stadium was, as such this might be the only nearest indication of the demolished stadium.
It is probably.
Along the way I came across a few cards and an old photo of the area that more or less confirmed that the current SCH site was once the location of Anson Road Stadium.
A 1944 map of the National Archives of Singapore (NAS) indicated that the ground was next to one end of the Telok Ayer -Bekken. A card from 1954, on the other hand, showed its disappearance (as circled).
More information revealed that after the Second World War the Anson Road Stadium was taken over by the British army and later used as a landfill.
Subsequent redevelopment led to the Opening of Shenton Way in July 1951who effectively sealed the fate of the arena and put an end to the hope of one New on the site.
With the help of the Telok Ayer Market (also known as Lau Pat Sat) and the Telok Ayer Basin as Ankers, two more cards published in 1972 and 2009 De SCH.
Unfortunately, there is nothing visible, such as a memorial marking or signage, to indicate the Anson Road Stadium site.
Perhaps it is time for the relevant authorities to set up a memorial plack on the site of SCH to honor the legacy of this first football field on the island – etched in local folklore as the “Wembley of Malaya.”
(PS 1: Some images in this message are reproduced from sources such as NLB Online Newspaper Archives, as credited, if someone finds it inappropriate to show one of the media, please e -mail me as soon as possible and I will delete them on request.)
(PS 2: I can be corrected if there is an error in this message, you feel free to send me an e -mail if that is, thanks)
PS: This article was first published on August 16, 2019 and will be refurbished with additional details in accordance with the content that this blog has been redesigned.
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