The silence as dusk falls in Bishan Stadium is broken only by trains clattering into the depot in the distance, a small hubbub at the kopi stand, and the booting of the ball in the foreground. But soon, the chorus rises again, a few strained voices at first, then several dozen joining heartily, and eventually a drum accompaniment: “We all hate Sailors, da-da-dum. We all hate Sailors, da-da-dum”. On the pitch, the unfazed Sailors are already two goals up against Hougang United, and will go on to win 5-1. But the noise will resurface throughout the 90 minutes, accompanied by the occasional middle finger from a small, discordant knot of green-shirted home fans sitting in the front rows.

The Sailors in question are the Lion City Sailors (LCS), Singapore’s first and only private football club and, depending on your viewpoint, either a malevolent symbol of capitalist excess or a brave attempt to resuscitate the sport’s barely twitching corpse here. Enmity towards the club, funded by the millions of Forrest Li—founder of Shopee parent Sea Ltd—is a sport in itself among rival supporters. At various times this season, the Sailors have been told through the medium of chant that they are worthless, “full of shit” and, borrowing from a song beloved of British football fans, that they deserve to be defecated on from height by a winged bird bearing the “arse of a cow”.