I AM WRITING to express my profound sadness at the behaviour and mentality of the home crowd at Monday night's World Cup qualifying match between Singapore and Uzbekistan which the latter won 7-3.

Despite a less than stellar turnout, the atmosphere was decent, and there were many home fans waving balloons and scarves in support. But this was as far as the support went.

Uzbekistan was inarguably the superior team, and Singapore needed the crowd's support. But every time a Singapore player made a mistake, or when things started to go wrong, the crowd would turn on the team and start heckling individuals, resorting to petty insults.

There were applause and cheers when Singapore scored, or when freekicks and corner kicks were won. But such moments did not last long; the crowd was as fickle as the weather.

More disappointingly, the crowd failed to recognise, appreciate and applaud precious moments of effort although they did not result in tangible rewards.

What was worse was that the many children who attended the match seemed to be learning such deplorable behaviour from the adults.

The Singapore team was chasing a hopeless cause for much of the game, and their performance and even attitude were indeed quite terrible at times.

But while it would be quixotic to expect undying devotion, the least the crowd could have done was to not turn on their own team. Ultimately, they are our players.

Leow Zi Xiang