I am not an eternal pessimist, but I know I won’t have this chance, not in my lifetime anyway, to write about this stirring event that made Malaysians go crazy with joy.
So, this made me quite envious of several fellows whom I met at the Sports Flame get-together to honour Malaysian sports personalities at Concorde Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, recently.
You see, Tony Francis, George Das, R. Velu and Lazarus Rokk, all former sportswriters of the New Straits Times, were there when the historic moment happened.
They were there at Stadium Merdeka, getting thrilled to pieces when Malaysian football was at its most glorious. They watched with their very own eyes Malaysia beating South Korea 2-1 to qualify for the 1980 Olympics, a feat which inspired the movie Ola Bola.
The first paragraph of the New Straits Times backpage on April 7, 1980, written by the late NST sports editor Mansoor Rahman, trumpeted: “Merdeka Stadium last night erupted like a volcano when James Wong flashed the ball to the back of the Korean net four minutes from time to snatch this thrilling victory in the final of the Olympic Asian Group 2 soccer qualifying tournament.”
On that momentous day, George and the other NST reporters were at the hallowed stadium to interview the ecstatic Malaysian players and devastated Koreans.
I wasn’t around then, having to work in a different field as a farmer amid flies and cow dung in Cameron Highlands. Life for me in those days was as exciting as watching the grass grow.
By the time I came down the hills of Cameron Highlands to take up a career in sports journalism, Malaysian football was already starting to go downhill.
Sadly, till today, I never had the chance to write about the greatness of Malaysian football.
And while this column is being written, Malaysia is playing Saudi Arabia in a World Cup qualifying match in Jeddah. And I fear the worst, that our national team being blown away like the sand in a Saudi desert.
At the Sports Flame event, I got George to give me a vicarious thrill, by telling me his experience and feelings at Merdeka Stadium that night.
And lo and behold, C.H. Loh, the NST photographer on duty 36 years ago for that titanic Malaysia versus South Korea showdown, was also at the hotel. I wasted no time in getting Loh to give his account of the match.
Loh recalled that when the match ended, the exultant Malaysian players ran around the field like crazy with the Jalur Gemilang, and he had to run around like crazy after them with his Nikon camera.
Later, huffing and puffing, Loh had to run another round when the national team’s German coach, Karl Heinz Weigang, and the reserve players also dashed around the field with the national flag.
From that day, it became a contrasting tale of two countries. South Korea picked itself up from that defeat and went on to become Asia’s dominant football power, qualifying for the World Cup Finals an amazing eight times. And Malaysia went the opposite way, failure after failure.
Wistfully, I miss the glory, being born in the wrong time. Sure, someone would say “Don’t look to the past, look to the future”.
But for me on that day at the hotel, it was all about retrospective glory, past glory, the good old days as we reminisced with old friends. The future all but forgotten amid Malaysia’s current poor world ranking.
Datuk Soh Chin Aun, Datuk Santokh Singh and Abdah Alif, all members of the heroic 1980 squad, also turned up for the Sports Flame dinner and appreciation night to share in the glorious memories.
I duly approached Chin Aun and asked him about Ola Bola, where much of the script was based on him as the towkay or the leader of the team.
Chin Aun said Ola Bola was nice and interesting to watch, and he was happy that they made a movie about the famed 1980 team.
Another Malaysian football legend, Chow Chee Keong, was also around to lend his exalted presence to the Sports Flame event.
Chee Keong won Asia’s best goalkeeper award an amazing five times, from 1966 to 1970. Playing in the Hong Kong professional league, he earned the awesome moniker of “Asian Stainless Steel Gate”.
Apart from the football icons, others from the badminton, hockey, athletics and rugby fraternities were also honoured at the event.
The recipients of the 2016 Sports Flame were Chin Aun, Santokh, Abdah, Chee Keong, Khan Hung Meng and R. Ramalingam (football), Phua Ah Hua, Cheah Hong Chong, Moe Chin Kiat, Sylvia Ng and Rosalind Singha Ang (badminton), Franco D’Cruz, R. Ramakrishnan, C. Thavanayagam, James D’Cruz, Ranjit Singh and K. Anandarajah (hockey), Lionel Rajamoney, Rennie Martin, Leslie Armstrong and S. Sabapathy (athletics), Hector Durairatnam and Dennis Sheperdson (cricket), and Jagjit Singh and Boon Hoon Chee (rugby).
The Sports Flame project was started four years ago by George, Velu, Rokk and Fauzi Omar with the goal of bringing together annually Malaysian sports personalities from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s,
George, who is a heavyweight in sports marketing, enjoys the company of sports people, and in 1975, he tried to give The Greatest a run for his money when he went jogging with boxing legend Muhammad Ali in Kuala Lumpur.
“These guys made our work, reporting enjoyable. This is our way of saying thanks to them and let them know that they are not forgotten... the Sports Flame is still burning.
“Every year, we present different sports personalities with a plaque of thanks from us,” he said.
And, by George, by the efforts of the four former NST sportswriters, I had the opportunity to step foot
in the past glory of Malaysian football.
NST deputy sports editor Chan Wai Kong sees life differently after waking up from a coma following a car accident in Vancouver