To what extent is national service a constraint on the development of football in Singapore

Dropping to the lowest ever ranking by FIFA in 2016, the state of the national sport of Singapore, Football, had seen better days. For a country that once had a 12-year plan to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup to find itself in such dismal state, this paper sought to identify one of the possible causes of such failure. With an exploratory research, this study sought to understand the degree to which National Service (NS) is a constraint on the development of football in Singapore. Previous studies had shown that elite footballers were affected by the various factors such as coaching, key stakeholder relationships and relative age effect (Mills, Butt, Maynard, Hardwood, 2014; Bertomeu, 2016). However, there was a lack of research regarding the effect of compulsory NS on the development of elite footballers in Singapore. With such a unique constraint on the development of national footballers in Singapore, it was therefore important to understand the effect it had on the players. The researcher had identified 4 individuals through purposive sampling and interviews were conducted. The individuals had been involved in the local football scene for a minimum of 5 years and would provide unique and valuable insights to the issue. This study hoped to provide a better understanding regarding the level of constraint that NS had on the development of football in Singapore. This would allow policy makers to adapt to the circumstances to assist the footballers with the transition, ultimately benefitting the development of football in SingaporeBachelor of Science (Sport Science and Management