Forever a Fairy Tale | #KaranganBolaSepak
Forever a Fairy Tale | #KaranganBolaSepak by Dayang Atul
To be honest, I can’t remember how it felt when I first set foot in Stadium Negeri, Kuching. I will never be able to unfortunately, since I was probably just a couple years old - sitting with my Mum, not understanding what was going on. We would sit with the WAGs of the Sarawak team usually, since my Dad was with the FA. I made friends with the other kids too, most of them being the sons and daughters of the players’. I recall biting one of the kids, he was the Goalkeeper’s son if I’m not mistaken. He was rough, he’d try to hit me and I’d fight (bite) back.
That was probably my earliest life lesson about feminism.
Lesson #1: Don’t let anyone, not even boys, mess with you.
Years pass and it all seemed like a routine - when there’s a match at the stadium, I’d follow my folks, pretended to understand what’s going on, play with Jalil Ramli’s kids etc etc. The usual.
And as I grew, I started remembering things better.
Some of my earlier memories that I can still recall quite well are of course the Sari twins, Ramos and Ramles. Jersey 3. Jersey 6. Left. Right. I thought Sarawak was so cool to have a set of twins in the team, personally to me they were (and still are) a level of #siblinggoals that not even Aidil and Zaquan could touch.
Then I grew a little bit older.
And I had a new favourite. This time it’s Gilbert Cassidy Gawing and his number 23 jersey. He was short. I remember him well because he was tiny compared to everyone else, and I loved it! It felt like a representation of myself, because among my friends and I, I was always the smallest. And his goal-scoring skills proved that size didn’t matter. That helped with my self-esteem in ways no one would ever understand.
Lesson #2: I’d rather be short than useless.
The older I got, the more I began to understand. But unfortunately, by the time I started understanding things, and understanding why people get so angry when Sarawak can’t earn points in Stadium Sarawak (the new, bigger - but with less “personality” stadium), Sarawak was in trouble.
Sure in 2006 the dead team “came back to life” for a while when a millionaire took over as team manager and pumped in money to the team. Even brought in a South African player (who came to Sarawak before for the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship and nobody cared yet for youngsters Thierry Henry or Pablo Aimar).
Anyone remember Junaid Hartley? Probably not. But I do. That was probably the last time I had a hint of excitement when it comes to Sarawak football. And then Sarawak fell from grace, yada yada, I grew up, watched ESPN Sport Center thinking THAT’S THE DREAM, went to college, worked for Astro Arena (also a dream) and BOOM!
It was 2013.
Sarawak won the Premier League.
Then it was 2014.
And we went back to square one. Sadly enough the next few years after the controversial non-televised trophy lift in 2013, the Sarawak I so fondly remember, was no longer the same, nor will it ever be the same. Presidents changed, managers changed, players changed....even the damn name isn’t even SARAWAK anymore. Then I realised, this is another in-your-face life lesson I never bothered to realise.
Lesson #3: Fairy tales don’t last forever
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.