By CHIA HAN KEONG

THEY had led their teammates through countless battles on the football pitch, in all sorts of competitions, for almost four decades.

Now, the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) will tap the wealth of experience of 12 former national-team captains, as it announces the formation of its Captains' Advisory Panel.

The panel will recommend to the FAS ideas to spur local football to greater heights, and to recognise the contributions of former national players.

The 12 selected former captains are: Quah Kim Lye, Seak Poh Leong, Samad Allapitchay, Au Yeong Pak Kuan, Malek Awab, Razali Saad, T. Pathmanathan, Fandi Ahmad, David Lee, Lim Tong Hai, Nazri Nasir and Aide Iskandar.

From Quah, who skippered the Lions from 1966 to 1972, to Aide, who last captained the side as recently as 2007, each of them has lots of "war stories" to relate - and, with them, plenty of hard-earned wisdom on how to best run the local football scene.

Said Samad, 59, who skippered the Lions during their glorious years in the 1970s: "It"s always better having more "football brains" around to give ideas on how to make local football better. We will discuss ideas, and we will discard those which are outdated or irrelevant."

Quah added: "Being just recently formed, we are still unsure of how much we can contribute. But one thing's for sure, we are all passionate about helping Singapore football in any way we can."

For more my paper stories click here.