SIN - Airline boss takes post as chairman of professional basketball club

SINGAPORE (NBL Championship) – The founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of Asia’s leading and largest low cost airline, the award-winning AirAsia’s Mr Tony Fernandes, became yesterday the new chairman of the Singapore Slingers, Singapore’s only professional basketball team.

Widely regarded as Asian aviation’s poster boy and the man credited with revolutionizing air travel in the region, Mr Fernandes will be taking over the hot seat from out-going Slingers chairman Mr Wee Siew Kim, who is also the President of the Basketball Association of Singapore (BAS).

Mr Wee, who is also a Member of Parliament for Ang Mo Kio GRC, is stepping down as the Slingers’ Chairman less than a year into his appointment due to his hectic schedule and heavy work commitments.

The announcement of the passing of the baton hardly comes as a surprise, as AirAsia had been one of the Slingers’ main sponsors since the start of the current HUMMER NBL Championship 2007/08 season, with Mr Fernandes also having assumed the role of a member on the Slingers’ board of directors earlier and taking a keen interest in the progress of the team.

Along with Mr Fernandes’ appointment, the Slingers also announced the appointment of one of its directors, Mr Chow Yen-Lu as Deputy Chairman. Mr Chow, founder and Managing Director of WholeTree Ventures – a new venture accelerator, and Executive Director of BAF Spectrum – a business angel fund supported by the Singapore government, will assist Mr Fernandes in plotting the future directions of the two-year-old NBL franchise.

With over 25 years’ experience in technology and venture capital including leadership positions at multinational companies, start-ups, and venture capital firms, Mr Chow – the man who is personally underwriting the cash prize for the Slingers’ ongoing “Million Dollar Shot” promotion – is a successful entrepreneur, an active angel investor and company builder. Mr. Chow serves on the board of many private companies in the region, and advises organizations, government bodies and education institutions on entrepreneurship. He has a reputation of turning things around for troubled companies as well as building teams and organizations from scratch.

“When Siew Kim asked me to be chairman of the Singapore Slingers, the first thing that came to my mind was bizarre!” said Dato Fernandes of his initial reaction to Mr Wee’s suggestion. “But when I looked more closely at what Siew Kim was trying to achieve, he was very much aligned to my vision, so I jumped at the opportunity.”

“Of course I made sure I waited until we got the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore flights first, because otherwise it would have been costly attending the Slingers’ board meetings!” he joked.

“Siew Kim’s vision was that it didn't matter whether I was Malaysian or not Singaporean,” added Dato Fernandes. “His vision was of Asean and creating something that was bigger than individual countries and transcends national borders.

“The second reason I jumped at this chance was passion. The passion that Siew Kim and Bob have put into the Slingers is amazing and infectious, and hence I wanted to be part of their dream.

“And finally I am a huge believer in Asean. A united Asean will add so much benefit to our people, and I believe sport is one of the great ways on uniting Asean. So I am here to learn and hopefully one day, there will be an Asean football league and an Asean basketball league.

“We are all dreamers, but from dreams come some reality and if you don't dream we never move. The Singapore Slingers is about making it happen. I'm thrilled to be able to be part it and daring to dream.”

“It’s an honour and a privilege to be a part of the leadership team of the Singapore Slingers. I look forward to working ever more closely with Tony and the rest of the Slingers organization to take this franchise to the next level, one that can truly be called the pride of Singapore”, added Mr Chow.

The realignment of the Slingers’ leadership hierarchy could not have come at a more opportune time, coinciding with the recent naming of Singapore Sports Hub Consortium (SSHC) as the winning bidder to build the new Sports Hub, which will incorporate the Slingers’ home ground, the 10,800 capacity Singapore Indoor Stadium.

With the SSHC promising to develop the entire Kallang area into a buzz of activities once the new Sports Hub is completed in 2011, one can understand why the Slingers’ leadership are so confident of the future success of the team in the terraces, which is currently already averaging around 3,000-odd crowds for each home game.

Said Slingers’ Managing Director Mr Bob Turner: “With the marketing know-how and track records of Tony and Yen-Lu, I am sure that we can continue to grow the ever-increasing interest and awareness of the Slingers. Now, with time to plan ahead and prepare for the coming season, we will be able to build a team that is competitive and good enough to give the bigger teams a run for their money.”

The out-going Chairman Mr Wee is in no doubts that he is leaving the Slingers chairmanship in good hands. He said: “What Tony has done with AirAsia by turning it into the award winning airline that is renown all over the world is testament to what he is capable of. I am hopeful that he can do the same for the Slingers and take this team to greater heights. Hopefully, it will not be long before we see a full house at a Slingers home game.”

Formed in 2006, when it made history by becoming the first team outside of their own continent to take part in a foreign domestic league competition, the Singapore Slingers had started promisingly in their maiden Australian NBL season, making the playoffs – a feat never before achieved by a rookie side.

However, the team led by NBL Hall of Famer Bob Turner, and coached by current Australian Boomers’ (national basketball team) assistant coach Gordie McLeod, had a less than stellar second season, and is currently hovering near the bottom of the 13-team NBL ladder, despite boasting of talents such as skipper Ben Knight and the pair of American imports, Mike Helms and Rod Grizzard.

But with arguably one of Asia’s most high profile, astute and successful businessmen at the helm, the future of the basketball franchise looks bright.

AirAsia is steadily building up an impressive sponsorship portfolio in sports, with their famous red and white logo prominently adorned on the sleeves of match officials in the Barclays Premier League, arguably the world’s most popular football league competition, as well as in Formula One with the AT&T Williams team.

The sponsorship of the Williams team sees the AirAsia brand prominently displayed on the helmets of Williams’ drivers Nico Rosberg and Alexander Wurz, as well as on the nose of the car, making it AirAsia’s second international sponsorship deal, which forms part of its long term branding strategy to build a global brand.