The year 1980 - the starting point | #KaranganBolaSepak
The year 1980 - the starting point | #KaranganBolaSepak by Rizal Hashim
Dear Khal,
Please accept my gratitude for this invite.
Allow me to bore you and your readers with the details.
With Malaysia Cup matches few and far between with football season lasting a mere few months, my first official football game as a spectator was an international encounter that took place exactly 40 years ago.
It was the Merdeka Cup final at Stadium Merdeka, pitting Soh Chin Aun and his men in yellow, against the Atlas Lions, Morocco.
I could not remember how my late Ayah bought those tickets. It must have been over the counter. I did remember the exact place I was though when Labd Khalifa took that free-kick which turned out to be Morocco’s winning goal.
I was right behind Chow Chee Keong’s goal, when all of a sudden, Khalifa, standing just outside the 18-yard box on the right side of the Malaysian goal, delivered a free-kick which was deflected into the net by the recalled goalkeeper from Hong Kong.
Like the rest of my fellow Malaysians at the Merdeka Stadium, I agonised over the late goal. We knew it was near impossible to claw back into the game with only 10 minutes remaining.
How could it be? Chee Keong, wearing blue, was not ready! The wall was not yet formed! Was there a phantom whistle that caught the Malaysian defence by surprise? All those thoughts crossed my mind.
Arrghhh…Ayah and I returned home disappointed.
Expectations were high that Chin Aun and his men would lift the Cup, especially when Mokhtar Dahari was making a comeback to the team, having missed the pre-Olympics campaign six months earlier due to one of his several premature retirements!
And almost two months earlier in September, coach Mohamad Che Su had also brought the team to the AFC Asian Cup finals in Kuwait.
Allied with the fact Malaysia had won the opening group tie against Morocco comfortably two weeks earlier, I could not be faulted for imagining the men in yellow lifting the Cup.
Thanks to the news diet fed by New Straits Times and Berita Harian, optimism filled the air.
Alas, it was not to be.
The defeat aside, things that I saw during the match remained embedded in my mind.
Yet to turn 18, right-back Zainal Abidin Hassan’s gangly presence masked his ability to make overlapping runs on the right-flank.
Each time Mokhtar received the ball, the fans would have a sense of anticipation that he would conjure up some magic. Watching him chasing every pass with a sense of purpose gave me goosebumps indeed!
Burly defender Santokh Singh was able to deliver a free-kick using the outside of his right boot! Such elegance!
And I saw for myself why Chin Aun was generously described by the scribes in the 70s as the Beckenbauer of Asia.
With socks rolled down to his ankles and the scoreboard showing Morocco leading 1-0 courtesy of a header by Hamid Khourrag, skipper Chin Aun, calm and composed at the rearguard but never shying away from the opponent’s half, was the one everyone looked up to for some inspiration.
And inspired he was as he slalomed past the Moroccan defence, found himself in the penalty area before producing the equaliser in the 74th minute!
As the entire stadium erupted in applause, I thought to myself “why did Chin Aun waited that long to score the goal? The way he dribbled past the Moroccan defence, he could have scored two or three goals as he pleased.” Ah, the innocence of a 10-year old!
The atmosphere was magic! Ayah bought me kacang and a burger to make sure his second child was nourished with much needed calories for the adrenaline rush each time Malaysia made inroads into the opponents’ area.
The 24th edition of the Merdeka Tournament was a landmark occasion also because the newspapers provided so much coverage on Chin Aun and Shukor Salleh upon winning their 200th caps.
Although my love for football must have begun much earlier, that Saturday night on November 2, 1980, was perhaps the starting point for me.
Pity that there were no photos to complete the story, only glimpses of the past which remain exclusively mine, not to be shared on instagram HAHA!
To be able to meet, discuss and interview the aforementioned stars later in my career as a journalist was certainly a dream come true for me! I am indeed blessed.
Oh, ya, just a footnote, my classmates and I won the inter-class tournament at school in 1980!
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.