To The Moon

Those were the days when I would arrive at morning classes and work feeling sleep-deprived after staying up late to catch football matches of my favourite teams or players. There was even once when my company reserved a conference room for interested staff to watch a World Cup Final live during working hours, perhaps our senior executives then were avid football fans too. Talks among classmates, army buddies during National Service and colleagues during World Cup were bound to center around results and predictions of outcome of tournaments, and performance of individual players. A group of us would meet regularly to play football and have friendly matches. Football helps to break the ice with strangers and build friendships. I have made friends on football fields from mere acquaintances. While we would initially meet to just play or watch matches, over time we began to share our joys and sorrows in life, and celebrate one another’s achievements like marriages, childbirths and career advancements. Some would carry on to bring along their young children to have a go at kicking footballs around the field and chasing after one another. Football evolved to become gatherings among our young families. As time passes and as age catches up, the passion appears to have diminished, as other aspects of life take priorities. I could hardly find time to assemble a group of friends to play football too. I used to think that avid football fans would be too focussed on matches during World Cup tournaments and too tired after staying up late to follow live matches, that they would ignore the stock markets the next day after key matches, especially if they became disheartened after their favourite teams lost. I read a study that found that on average after a nation’s football team lost in the World Cup, its stock market the following day would yield a below-average return, and the global stock markets tended to underperform during World Cup tournaments. Were this true, there would have been arbitrary opportunities abound for buying during a World Cup season and wait out for market recovery after the tournaments ended. I believe that any such effects would be insignificant and dwarfed by other major macro events that rational investors are certain to turn their attentions to even during the heights of a World Cup. Hopefully, one day I could round up my past football kakis and reminisce the good old days. @TigerEvents @TigerStars @TigerWire @MillionaireTiger @CaptainTiger