Passionate about Sports

“…Financial experts predicted an economic downturn as defeat plunged New Zealanders into a bout of national soul-searching.” (Quoted in an AP report carried by the Malay Mail of 17/11 at page 59).

No, the Kiwis did not lose a war, just a rugby match. But the morning after the game (against Australia in the World Cup semis last Saturday) the whole nation was “feeling depress about the result and down in the dumps”. That’s how passionate they are about their favorite sport.

And it is not a bad thing really, this passion in sports. A whole nation collectively feeling the “hurt” in defeat or the reverse when triumphant translates into unity in purpose and spirit. This is good for nation building.

Are we Malaysians passionate about sports?

It used to be the case when life was simpler, people more tolerant of one and the other and politics less complicated. I am talking of the sixties and the seventies.

Who can forget the incident in the seventies when RTM was unable to telecast certain soccer world cup matches and Malaysians from all walks of life took it into their hands to pay for the live telecasts (RM40,000 per game). I can still remember rushing to Balai Riong (NST’s office) to hand in my contribution, which was fixed at a minimum of one Ringgit. And how proud we all were when just before the telecast proper this line was flashed across the TV screen – DI TAJA OLEH RAYAAT MALAYSIA.

And the Merdeka Stadium, during the Merdeka Soccer Tournament (a brain child of our first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman), was one place where Ahmad, Ah Kow and Muthu truly act as Malaysians, if only for ninety minutes each night (yes, we did have floodlights then).

Any goal would be greeted with a tremendous roar (to rival Singapore’s famed “Kallang Roar”) irrespective of who was the scorer as long as he was Malaysian. And woe betides the opposition teams if they fouled any of our players. Besides verbal abuses of the four-lettered type in three languages, they could expect a barrage of “missiles” thrown at them. Sometimes, during such occasions, I suspect our men in blue (FRU) also turned a blind eye to things, being caught up themselves in this feeling of oneness with the Malaysian spectators.

Memory failed me of other examples of how passionate we were of sports, especially soccer.

Suffice it to say that all this demonstrates that we Malaysians can come together if we can find a common purpose. For a start, lets revive our passion in sports.