A PLEA TO OUR TV STATIONS | #KaranganBolaSepak
A PLEA TO OUR TV STATIONS: BRING BACK THE FOOTBALL CLASSICS! | #KaranganBolaSepak by Marco Negeri
The global Covid-19 pandemic has brought football action everywhere to a complete standstill. One of the very few football competitions that remains standing and is commercially recognizable, the Australian A-League, is seeing its season on the brink of suspension. The severity of the problem has been perpetuated by the rising number of reported cases, with no resumption date for football in sight. Still, we should not see this moment as a time to despair, nor should we let the fear sink in. It is, as a matter of fact, an opportune moment for all fans to reflect and remember our footballing journey and how it all began.
My football fervour began in 1991. It was the year that changed my world, as it would be. My state team, Johore, won the League and the Malaysia Cup after years of non-achievement and a trophyless cabinet. My classmates and I could not stop talking about those accomplishments for days and days. It was Johore’s outstanding season in 1991 that bandied us together. As how things are today, football players were influential and deemed as social icons. It was this deep-rooted fanaticism and high idolization of the team and its players that got me hooked to the game as a youth. The names Salehan Mohd Som, Alastair Edwards, Abbas Saad and Nasir Yusof never parted from our lips. It was also the Malaysia Cup Final in 1991 that sealed Ervin Boban’s status as Johore’s cult hero. I remembered watching that game on television with my mother and father. That evening, like a lot of other parents, their inattentiveness towards Johore football all season dramatically changed. That rainy evening on a water-logged pitch in Stadium Merdeka, Johore went into the game, appearing as the dark horse going against a much fancied Selangor on top of not having its topscorer Abbas Saad on the teamsheet, and yet defied the odds to win the Cup. That pinnacle moment when Ervin Boban bagged his hattrick to seal the win provided us not just with eternal joy but made us want to defy the odds ourselves and dream the impossible dream; that someday, we could be Johore’s heroes like themselves. That successful moment shaped how we should believe in ourselves no matter what and what we can become if we worked towards it.
Other than Johore’s success on the pitch, I found myself immersed in English football as a certain Frenchmen by the name of Eric Cantona suddenly emerged from obscurity to take Leeds United storming to the top of the English First Division in superstar fashion. To explain the exponential growth of the popularity of the English game, one needs to go back to its magical period in the 90s. Back when Astro Super Sports were non-existent and the idea for a dedicated football channel was far-fetched at the time, you would have to rely on TV3 for your weekly dose of English football. That haunting introduction theme song prior to the beginning of shows such as Road to Wembley remains etched in my mind till this day. To be able to witness the sheer magic and excitement of Cantona, the brilliance and wisdom of Sir Alex Ferguson and to be later followed by Old Trafford’s Golden Generation made people edge closer to Manchester United being their club of choice (although for me, this changed over the years!). Similar to the effect that the extraordinary 1991 Johore football season had on me, English football of the 1990s remains the epitome of why I embraced football. That important football decade opened my perspectives on a lot of things, and taught me that in the case of Manchester United dominating, strong foundations are essential to lasting success.
The Movement Control Order (MCO) or #StayAtHome provides us the opportunity to reflect on those special moments again; moments for me to realize how much football has impacted and changed my life over the years since I first fell in love with it. This is the best time for us to relive those moments, to discuss and watch them again in our living rooms, but only this time, with our loved ones, our parents and our children so they can see how daddy turned football mad. We want to look back on how those important moments touched us; iconic moments such as when Daniel Amokachi scored the two goals in the 1995 FA Cup semifinal against Tottenham Hotspur after 'substituting himself' into the match, or when Stan Collymore scored the winning goal for Liverpool that demolished Newcastle United’s hope for its first Premier League title in 1996. As for the local football scene, don’t we all want to reflect again on the time when Stadium Sultan Mohamad IV, Kota Bharu was such a fortress for Kelantan, especially during its treble season and at a period when its football team gave birth to many modern day Kelantan icons such as Norsharul Idlan Talaha, Mohd Badhri Radzi and Mohamad Ghaddar, to name a few.
To the television channels, you have the chance to feed and nourish every fan’s hunger for football by showing the football classics. This is also a fantastic time for your talkshows to discuss those classic matches and the memories it brings to all of us. Help us walk down memory lane. Remind us again on how Paolo Di Canio’s erraticism on the field brought love and also hate to fans everywhere, or how Henrik Larsson became such a living legend for Celtic fans in Scotland and elsewhere. Here in Malaysia, shows like Bola@Mamak or Formasi on Astro Arena has a great opportunity of running through with us on the football schematics and how coaches such as Ken Worden and Michael Urukalo deployed their tactics for their respective teams then and how different they might have worked today. Alternatively, they can also remind us of how Malaysian football gave birth to the legend that is Marlon Alex James, and how Kedah of his era was such a joy to savour for every football fan. These, among many others, are the sort of moments that I look forward to reliving once more as football competitions globally go into a hiatus. This would be the sort of relief I am after at this moment.
Though in these difficult times where fear, uncertainty and the need to remain vigilant constantly roam our minds, this could be a time for reminiscence, a time for us to pay homage and applaud our boyhood idols. We honour them by keeping ourselves safe in our living rooms with our loved ones, watching them on television and once again, celebrating their achievements on the field as they play the very sport we love, and remembering how football has greatly impacted our lives and shaped our thoughts and outlook today. We need to bring back the football classics.
Football should never be in lockdown. It should always remain free, in our hearts and memories.
Note from padangbolasepak.com: During the Restriction Movement Order 2020 Malaysia to combat Covid19 - Padangbolasepak.com encourages you from home to write essays about our beloved game of football. Can be anything. Why you fell in love with it? Your first game watching or playing? Friendships forged? Etc. Stars the limit.
500-1,000 / more words.
The objective is simple. Sharing the joy of football. Challenge you to write about the joy you may want to share. As well as keep you occupied and encourage to write. Provided that you have nothing else to do. Email us your essay with a photo attached at contact@padangbolasepak.com & we’ll post on the website as well on social media.
Thank you and take care brothers and sisters.