national stadium

the new singapore national stadium

brought mum to the sports hub 2 days back after my procedure. decided to go to a less crowded place. and i was awed by the sheer size of new stadium. but i must say, there was not much emotional connection per se. after all, it was a new place. there is nothing to connect me to it compared to the old stadium. the old national stadium brought back memories, sports and non-sports-related ones. 

that was the place where i grew up with, the place where i took part in my school's athletics and track and field practices and competitions. that was the place where i broke my wrist. it was during a long jump practise in 1980. that was  a very long time back. and that was the place where we had many runs. i remembered a particular run that ended in the stadium. i think it was the army half marathon back in the mid-late-90s. i was dead tired after 18km and pushed on with ankles that hurt like crazy. and when i entered the stadium, all feelings of tiredness disappeared. it felt really good to enter a place so huge and so majestic. that was a long long time back.

the old national stadium was also the place where many national day parades were held. and in 1991, i was involved as the flash-card contingent deputy co-ordinator. that was a very significant year. that was the year after goh chok tong became the prime minister and that was the year where we had quite a few hostile posturing by malaysia. it was a very politically-tense year. every picture that was designed was so carefully selected. i remembered a particular picture that the 5000-strong contingent had to piece together. we had rehearsed day and night for it. and during a vetting by a senior government official, it was decided that picture number 2 might be misinterpreted and just 2 weeks before the national day itself, the picture was changed! we toiled like crazy for it. all these amidst all the live munitions that was moved from our camp to the a location near the stadium in case we need to respond to military hostilities. and despite the open mobilisation on the eve of the parade, the parade turned out well. we all heaved a huge sigh of relief.

and most interestingly, the old stadium was a very dear place to many gay men in the 90s, me included. there were many spots, both inside and around the surrounding car parks, where gay men hung out. it was meat market on certain nights of the week. i came out in 1996 and the stadium was one of the few places where i hung out rather often incognito initially, and later as myself. too much memories about those days. some of the most sought after spots include the gym, the toilet/ shower facilities near the gym, the car park outside the gym, the quiet dark walkway circling the stadium, and so on. that was where i met amos, where i came out to derek, where many anonymous ons occurred.

hmmm... too much memories. my growing up years, both as a person and as a gay person. i still miss the grand old dame. well, those were a couple of fond memories i had of the grand old dame. i will have to start this new journey with the new lady. until then, it will just be what the name says - (just) a national stadium.

:-)