X-Mail make their debut with a Cup in the bag

X-Mail in their debut appearance under the name, returned home with a trophy on Saturday, when they emerged runners-up in the Plate category in 2nd International Football Club (IFC) 9s Soccer tournament held at Club Aman.

X-Mail is the former Malay Mail FC team who competed in the Kuala Lumpur Dunhill League, FAM Cup and M-League Premier II in a spate of 15 years from 1987 to 2003.
The former players of Malay Mail FC, now mostly aged above 35 years-old, came together last May to play the annual match against Ulu Klang Recreation Club (UKRC) which was revived after a lapse a several years..
That sparked off the revival of the team, but now as a veteran team.
In October, the team rekindled their longstanding friendship with Philippines FA and especially Bacolod City and Iloilo City, where they used to play in the Philippines Cup in the 90s.
The inaugural Philippines-Malaysia Veteran Soccer tournament was initiated, where the former Malay Mail team finished runners-up.
The success of the inaugural tournament in Bacolod City will seen the tournament become a permanent feature and this year on May 29 and 30, the 2nd edition of the tournament will be held where 16 teams will compete. Besides the Malay Mail team, three other teams from Malaysia will compete.
The Sabah Journalists Association (SJA) have confirmed their participation and two more teams are expected to confirm their participation by the end of the month.
X-Mail was coined to give the team a true identity, as all the players are ex-Malay Mail FC players, with an exception for a few guest players who have joined the team.
With a reasonably good start in the IFC 9s, more is expected to heard of X-Mail.
In the Plate final, X-Mail lost out to Kilat Veterans on sudden-death penalty kicks after the mandatory five kicks saw the team tied at 4-4. Earlier the match ended in a 1-1 draw. Kilat finally wrested the title with a 5-4 penalty-kicks victory.
The players who turned out for X-Mail were Fareez Prem, P. Alagenthiran, Hasnul Ramlan Khairuddin, K. Viajatheran, Lee Ban Tat, R. Subramaniam, Md Mashraff Mustakim, Massaud Zain, V. Kalimuthu, S. Tamilarasan, K. Ramachandran, P. Vijian, Anto Richard Gomez and U. Supramaniam.
In the IFC championship final, Uniplast beat defending champions Wednesday FC by a solitary goal.

 Uniplast and Wednesday FC before the start of the IFC 9s Tournament final 

Uniplast had an array for former Selangor players in V. Murugan, Reman Regunathan, S. Sivaraman, Zainal Nordin, A. Jayakanthan and P. Somasundram turning out for them.
But Wednesday FC comprising social soccer players, did well to give Uniplast a run for their money and only edge them by a solitary goal.
The Dato Webster Trophy and prizes were presented to the winners at the Dinner after the championship by main sponsor Carlsberg's Senior Key Account Manager, R. Ravindran and their function manager, Amy Wong.

 Uniplast after receiving the Dato' webster trophy and medals at the Dinner on Saturday night.


It was indeed an excellent tournament which was organised very well by the members of IFC headed by organising chairman Sufardi Rijan.
It was another veteran's tournament which saw the congregation of past internationals and State players which included the likes of Datuk Soh Chin Aun, Vincent Tambirajah, Khan Hung Meng, Ho Hon Seong, Chen Wooi Haw, Chow Siew Yai, Chan Keat Siew, Koet King Heyong, Yap Kam Choon, Murugan, Reman, Jayakanthan, Somasundram, Zainal Nordin, R. Subramaniam, K. Ramachandran and K. Viajatheran taking the field, while others like Santokh Singh, Wong Choon Wah and N. Thanbalan were present to support the teams.