30th June 07 marked the last day of our Grand Old Lady..
She served Singapore for 34 years, and I'm sure she held many wonderful memories of each of us.
For most, it's definitely during the M-Cup days, when people queued overnight for the tickets, stadium fully packed, people from all woks of life gathered just to cheer for our National Team. and that gave rise to our Kallang Roar, "the sonic boom that sent shivers down opponents' spines".
It's definitely a shame for me not being in that era, not being able to be soaked in that great atmosphere.

However, the NS did hold some good memories of mine.
My first (and the last) National Day parade in 1995. I remembered that I was so damn scared of the floodlights (I didn't know those were lights! =x), I was so afraid that it will send out some missiles or something, hahahaha!! XD
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And then it was during my secondary schools days - SYF.
Marching and doing formations and playing music, sweating like crazy.
It was really hard work, about 10 months of hard work for that 8 minutes on the field.
So when the results was announced, we jumped with joy (even though we were in Sedia position, haha!! =x)
Because finally, in 2004, we got the Gold award, finally, after 15 years of getting silver. :)
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Last but not least, it was during the AFC Final 1st leg, where our Lions had to play a tough match against Thailand, where I worked as an usher in the NS for the first and the last time, where the stadium was so fully packed again, where our Lions persevered and won the match.

It was also then I became so in love with our very own local football :)
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So yesterday, we all gathered at the National Stadium for the last time.
The closing ceremony started off with a friendly match between the Legends - The Sg and Msia ex-internationals who played against each other during the M-Cup days.
The Msia players were in their black and yellow jersey while ours were in their blue heritage jersey, the only difference is that this time, the jerseys were sponsored by Nike, haha.
The match ended with a 1-all, some impressive saves by David Lee, and Msia's no.11 (?) was good! :P
Even though the game was quite slowly paced because age is catching up with most of them, it was indeed an entertaining one as you could see that they really enjoyed themselves. There was no rivalry, just plain meeting of old friends on the pitch. :)

And then it was the long awaited match, Sg vs Aussies.
The Lions done exceptionally well in the 1st-half, they dominated the 1st-half, created some chances, and 2 goals can be easily scored against the Aussies in that 45 mins.
It's a waste that they didn't convert their chances properly.
So in the 2nd half, the physically stronger Aussie team scored 3.
The Lions were 3 goals down, without Indra, Amri and Ridhuan but they still fought hard till the end, and I'm so so so damn proud of them :)
Oh btw Kewell did a -_- skill but he can't even get past Hafiz Osman, HAHA. XP
EPL players, so what? :P

After the match, the Lions went round the stadium to thank the fans :)
After which the lights were out, a video clip about the NS's history was played.
And then the athletes reminisced about their past, those particular spots on the track and the pitch that belongs to only them.
For Lionel, it's that spot infront of the goal post where he saved the the final penalty shoot from the Msia player and that sent the Lions to the AFC finals. :)
For Sundram, it's that spot where he had done his first ever successful bicycle kick which sent the ball to the back of the net..

A two minutes fireworks display and the distinguishing of the cauldron fire marks the stadium's closure.

"The Kallang Roar is dead, but it will continue living in the hearts of real fans."