R. Vengadasalam
Vengadasalam in 2012.
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Rengayyan Vengadasalam | ||
| Date of birth | 2 August 1960 | ||
| Place of birth | Singapore | ||
| Teams managed | |||
| Years | Team | ||
| 1988–2004 | Woodlands Wellington | ||
| 2004–2010 | Tampines Rovers | ||
| 2012 | Admiralty FC | ||
| 2016 | Gymkhana FC | ||
R. Vengadasalam, commonly known as Venga, is a Singaporean football manager who last managed Admiralty FC in the National Football League Division 2.
Vengadasalam first came to prominence when he founded Wellington Football Club in 1988, a splinter group of the Delhi Juniors, a team of Singaporean football enthusiasts that were among the pioneers of football in Singapore. The team's name was chosen due to the fact that they were being based in the Deptford Ground located on Wellington Road in Sembawang.
Under the management of Venga, Wellington FC became a revelation in local football. In 1991, they participated in the Sembawang Group League and National Island-Wide League, winning as champions in both competitions and setting a national record by beating Seletar Football Club with a resounding 28 - 1 victory at the Woodlands Stadium on 17 November 1991.
The following year, Wellington FC joined the National Football League and were placed in Division II, from which they were promoted as champions in 1994. 1995 saw success, as they finished first in Division I (going unbeaten for 24 matches) and were runners-up in the FA Cup.
The convincing displays of Wellington Football Club led to their selection as one of eight clubs to compete in the newly formed S.League in its maiden season in 1996, prompting the club to adopt Woodlands Stadium as their home ground and to change their name to Woodlands Wellington Football Club.
During his time at Woodlands, Venga was affectionately known as the "Mouth of the North" as he had a knack for making quirky and colourful comments about his opponents. One of his most famous remarks was made before a match in 1996 against Tiong Bahru FC, in which he said that "TB (the abbreviated form of Tiong Bahru) is a disease (referring to tuberculosis), today we will cure it." His snark remarks added much colour to the S.League in its early years and often led to amusing exchanges with opposing coaches and managers, generating much-needed publicity for a league still very much in its infancy.
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