I was at Popular & came across a book "Putting in the boot in Surviving & the S-league" written by someone named David O'Connor someone who was a coach of Gombak United.
What I found interesting is that this 60 year old coach was able to have regular relations with at least 9 girls
Former S-League coach: I got addicted to sex & booze
By Sazali Abdul Sazali
The New Paper
Friday, Mar 16, 2012
He slept with nine women regularly over several months.
But former S-League coach David O'Connor's stories of sex, alcohol, kelong and jail are not the usual tales of a modern footballer's excesses.
The English-born Australian, who coached Gombak United for a season in 1999, said he became an alcoholic and womaniser as a result of depression from being dumped by the club.
Now living in Melbourne, Australia, O'Connor reveals this in an explosive new book - Putting The Boot In: Surviving Singapore and the S-League.
When The New Paper asked him about his sexual hijinks over the phone yesterday, he was cagey and would only say: "It affected my personal life at the time."
But he was more forthcoming in his book, saying he became addicted to sex and booze after Gombak failed to renew his one-year contract.
O'Connor, now 61, described his conquests as a way to "reassure myself that I was still worthwhile" and "feel better by moving from one girl to the next".
This, despite having a wife and seven children in Australia at the time.
In his book, which is on sale at major Singapore bookstores, he says that the "no money, no honey" maxim in Singapore is not true.
O'Connor says that he had liaisons with "nine different women" over a period of months despite the fact that he was broke and drinking far too much at the time.
But Tampines Rovers striker Aleksandar Duric, who has played in the S-League for 13 years in two stints, is sceptical about the claims.
"Everybody who writes these kind of books will try to have controversy to attract readers, and I think that's what this is," said the 41-year-old Lion.
"In all my years in the S-League, I haven't seen players sleeping around with many women.
"I think it's rubbish, we know how Singapore is. If he can really have nine girls when he is broke, then maybe he should be teaching people how to do it."
Said former national player Md Noor Ali: "Honestly, I've never heard about footballers getting girls all the time.
"Of course, I've seen players with girls, but I don't remember players comparing the number of women they go out with or anything like that.
"You have fans coming to watch the games and waiting for players outside the stadium, but not random girls... I don't know where David O'Connor got all that from."
However, two players told TNP that there is some truth to O'Connor's claims.
"When they (girls) ask what we do for a living, they get impressed when we say we play soccer and just train two hours a day," said one current S-League player, who declined to be named.
"Only a minority of S-League footballers sleep around, but the senior players are normally the ones who do it."
Added a former Home United player from the early 2000s: "During my playing days, it was prevalent and players were often seen with different girls. I'm not sure about now, because the profile of local football isn't as big any more.
"You see, it was easy for footballers because we were in the limelight, we had good physique and some of us made good money.
"A 19-year-old footballer made more money than your average poly student - so that made a difference."
For O'Connor, the drinking and womanising happened during the lowest point in his life. He was without a proper coaching job and had money problems.
And because of his status as an S-League coach then, O'Connor also claims in his book that the spectre of match-fixing, or kelong, reared its ugly head.
He says he was offered "a lot of money" by a bookie to throw an S-League game, and despite being tempted, he reported the matter to then S-League CEO Chris Chan.
Received monetary 'gifts'
Another interesting nugget in the book was how he received monetary "gifts" from a friend who had bet on Gombak's games based on information given by O'Connor.
Asked by TNP if that was proper, O'Connor said: "That's a touchy subject, and I knew when I wrote it that it could be interpreted wrongly.
"But I've got a clear conscience because I didn't do anything wrong. I never gave him any help, other than answering his questions which any reporter would ask me for a preview of the game. So what's the difference?"
But criminal lawyer Edmund Pereira told TNP the revelations could land O'Connor in hot water should he return to Singapore.
The Australian was planning to make a trip to Singapore on Friday to promote the book.
"It's almost like insider trading, in a sense that he is releasing information to a third party who would ordinarily not be privy to it," explained Mr Pereira.
"If he gives the information to the media, does he get a reward? No. But in this instance, he received monetary gain.
"So it could be a problem for him, and he could be called up by the authorities for questioning should he come back to Singapore."
When informed of this by TNP, O'Connor said he would "seek a legal opinion" on the issue before deciding whether he wanted to carry on with his trip here.
If he does get into trouble with the Singapore authorities, it would not be O'Connor's first time.
He spent 14 days in Queenstown Remand Prison in September 2005 for contempt of court over a monetary dispute, during which he got the inspiration for writing the book.
Said O'Connor: "Recalling the events was easy because I documented whatever happened to me in my time in Singapore, during my two weeks in jail. I had nothing to do but twiddle my thumbs."
O'Connor described his prison experience in detail, and criticised Singapore's practice of caning, which he called "barbaric", though he was never caned himself.
Despite this, the Australian insisted yesterday that he does not regret the decision to include every detail of his six-year stay in Singapore, because he needed to "tell his side of the story".
"When I left, there was an article in the papers that I was jailed, but there was no detailed explanation why," said O'Connor.
"Something like that can damage your reputation because people don't know the whole story.
"The way some people treated me while I was in Singapore... I needed to put the record straight.
"Everything I wrote in the book is true. There is nothing made up. A lot of people can verify if the incidents are true or not.
"The people I really had a problem with, the publishers told me, I had to change their names. That was it."
What I found interesting is that this 60 year old coach was able to have regular relations with at least 9 girls
Former S-League coach: I got addicted to sex & booze
By Sazali Abdul Sazali
The New Paper
Friday, Mar 16, 2012
He slept with nine women regularly over several months.
But former S-League coach David O'Connor's stories of sex, alcohol, kelong and jail are not the usual tales of a modern footballer's excesses.
The English-born Australian, who coached Gombak United for a season in 1999, said he became an alcoholic and womaniser as a result of depression from being dumped by the club.
Now living in Melbourne, Australia, O'Connor reveals this in an explosive new book - Putting The Boot In: Surviving Singapore and the S-League.
When The New Paper asked him about his sexual hijinks over the phone yesterday, he was cagey and would only say: "It affected my personal life at the time."
But he was more forthcoming in his book, saying he became addicted to sex and booze after Gombak failed to renew his one-year contract.
O'Connor, now 61, described his conquests as a way to "reassure myself that I was still worthwhile" and "feel better by moving from one girl to the next".
This, despite having a wife and seven children in Australia at the time.
In his book, which is on sale at major Singapore bookstores, he says that the "no money, no honey" maxim in Singapore is not true.
O'Connor says that he had liaisons with "nine different women" over a period of months despite the fact that he was broke and drinking far too much at the time.
But Tampines Rovers striker Aleksandar Duric, who has played in the S-League for 13 years in two stints, is sceptical about the claims.
"Everybody who writes these kind of books will try to have controversy to attract readers, and I think that's what this is," said the 41-year-old Lion.
"In all my years in the S-League, I haven't seen players sleeping around with many women.
"I think it's rubbish, we know how Singapore is. If he can really have nine girls when he is broke, then maybe he should be teaching people how to do it."
Said former national player Md Noor Ali: "Honestly, I've never heard about footballers getting girls all the time.
"Of course, I've seen players with girls, but I don't remember players comparing the number of women they go out with or anything like that.
"You have fans coming to watch the games and waiting for players outside the stadium, but not random girls... I don't know where David O'Connor got all that from."
However, two players told TNP that there is some truth to O'Connor's claims.
"When they (girls) ask what we do for a living, they get impressed when we say we play soccer and just train two hours a day," said one current S-League player, who declined to be named.
"Only a minority of S-League footballers sleep around, but the senior players are normally the ones who do it."
Added a former Home United player from the early 2000s: "During my playing days, it was prevalent and players were often seen with different girls. I'm not sure about now, because the profile of local football isn't as big any more.
"You see, it was easy for footballers because we were in the limelight, we had good physique and some of us made good money.
"A 19-year-old footballer made more money than your average poly student - so that made a difference."
For O'Connor, the drinking and womanising happened during the lowest point in his life. He was without a proper coaching job and had money problems.
And because of his status as an S-League coach then, O'Connor also claims in his book that the spectre of match-fixing, or kelong, reared its ugly head.
He says he was offered "a lot of money" by a bookie to throw an S-League game, and despite being tempted, he reported the matter to then S-League CEO Chris Chan.
Received monetary 'gifts'
Another interesting nugget in the book was how he received monetary "gifts" from a friend who had bet on Gombak's games based on information given by O'Connor.
Asked by TNP if that was proper, O'Connor said: "That's a touchy subject, and I knew when I wrote it that it could be interpreted wrongly.
"But I've got a clear conscience because I didn't do anything wrong. I never gave him any help, other than answering his questions which any reporter would ask me for a preview of the game. So what's the difference?"
But criminal lawyer Edmund Pereira told TNP the revelations could land O'Connor in hot water should he return to Singapore.
The Australian was planning to make a trip to Singapore on Friday to promote the book.
"It's almost like insider trading, in a sense that he is releasing information to a third party who would ordinarily not be privy to it," explained Mr Pereira.
"If he gives the information to the media, does he get a reward? No. But in this instance, he received monetary gain.
"So it could be a problem for him, and he could be called up by the authorities for questioning should he come back to Singapore."
When informed of this by TNP, O'Connor said he would "seek a legal opinion" on the issue before deciding whether he wanted to carry on with his trip here.
If he does get into trouble with the Singapore authorities, it would not be O'Connor's first time.
He spent 14 days in Queenstown Remand Prison in September 2005 for contempt of court over a monetary dispute, during which he got the inspiration for writing the book.
Said O'Connor: "Recalling the events was easy because I documented whatever happened to me in my time in Singapore, during my two weeks in jail. I had nothing to do but twiddle my thumbs."
O'Connor described his prison experience in detail, and criticised Singapore's practice of caning, which he called "barbaric", though he was never caned himself.
Despite this, the Australian insisted yesterday that he does not regret the decision to include every detail of his six-year stay in Singapore, because he needed to "tell his side of the story".
"When I left, there was an article in the papers that I was jailed, but there was no detailed explanation why," said O'Connor.
"Something like that can damage your reputation because people don't know the whole story.
"The way some people treated me while I was in Singapore... I needed to put the record straight.
"Everything I wrote in the book is true. There is nothing made up. A lot of people can verify if the incidents are true or not.
"The people I really had a problem with, the publishers told me, I had to change their names. That was it."
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