FMT OPINION
July 11, 2020
7:30 AM
There are fans, there are diehard fans and fanatics. And then
there is A Thiyaga Raju, a superfan with an unadulterated passion for the game
in Malaysia and Singapore.
Thiyaga, 59, has been supporting his beloved Singapore team
since witnessing his first Malaysia Cup match as a 12-year-old.
Though Singapore then won the first leg semi-final 3-2 against
Penang at the National Stadium on May 26, 1974, two Penang players – strikers
Isa Bakar and Shaharuddin Abdullah – caught his attention.
The game remains etched in his memory. Tickets for the match were
sold out, and hundreds of fans climbed the gates and high walls to enter the
stadium.
Thiyaga and his friends did likewise to join the frenzied 70,000
fans inside the 60,000-capacity stadium.
Since then, he has never failed to keep track of the progress of
all the Malaysian and Singaporean players via the sports pages of The Straits
Times and New Nation and started a scrapbook.
While chasing his dream to be a top footballer, Thiyaga spent
more time on the field than in the classroom, running into problems with his
baker father.
After his plans to become a football player hit a wall, he found
another way to get involved with the game – writing.
Thiyaga joined The Straits Times in January 1979 as a wire news
feeder in the editorial department before becoming a resource clerk in the
library. He rubbed shoulders with the newspaper’s sport journalists like Derek
Wild, Teoh Eng Tatt, Godfrey Robert, Wilfred Yeo and Joe Dorai, all of whom he
had dreamt of meeting as a boy.
Soon, Thiyaga was contributing articles to the paper’s “Sports
View” column every Friday.
“My flair for sports writing was limited and soon it was the end
of another dream to become a football writer,” he said.
A Thiyaga Raju
(left) and close friend
Isa Bakar, who asked him to write a
book on Malaysian
and Singaporean
players.
Thiyaga quit the newspaper and joined a bank’s fraud control
department but kept writing. In 1998, he published his first book, “Captain
Marvel: The T. Pathmanathan Story” about the former Singapore skipper, who also
played for Pahang towards the tail-end of his career.
It was at the launch of this book that the late Isa became his
close friend. Isa was in the Malaysian team that played Singapore in a friendly
ex-internationals’ match that preceded the book launch.
“Isa asked me to do a similar book on Malaysian football legends
and offered me to stay in his Penang home for six months to write it,” said
Thiyaga. However, Thiyaga had to refuse the offer as he was unable to spend a
long time away from home.
When Isa died on Oct 28, 2010, Thiyaga decided to make the book
a reality, but only got down to it two years ago. Ten years after Isa’s
passing, Thiyaga hopes to launch the 57,530-word book to coincide with his
idol’s death anniversary.
The 300-page “Roar” is a compendium covering 80 years
(1920-2000) of Singapore-Malaysia football history. It contains profiles of
iconic players, unsung heroes, visionary coaches and dynamic officials, key
events and famous stadiums over eight decades.
The celebrated Kallang Roar that inspired Singapore to seven
Malaysia Cup finals in eight years, winning two in 1977 and 1980, is also
storied.
The exhaustive research by the author is a work of love for the
game and underlines Thiyaga’s determination to fulfil Isa’s wish.
“The book aims not just to list records but to connect today’s
generation and beyond to our priceless past – one that was built on toils,
sacrifices amid a turbulent past strained by war, famine and hardship.
“Many of these players had long died and there weren’t adequate
public records, so I spent much time at the National Library microfilm archives
retrieving information.
“Besides interviews with family and friends, many well-wishers
shared their memorabilia including photos and trivia never seen or heard before,”
said Thiyaga who was given the “Vibrant Football Culture Award” by the FA of
Singapore last November in recognition of his contributions to local football.
The younger generation will benefit greatly from the history of
Malaysia-Singapore football, and Thiyaga’s effort will hopefully encourage
others to document the exploits in other sports.
We need to be reminded that sports are not just games or
unimportant, rather how sportspeople capture the imagination and love of a
nation.
Tony Mariadass
THERE are fans, there are die-hard fans and fanatics and then there is a
fan like A. Thiyaga Raju, a true blue, tie-and-dye Singaporean football
fan with an unadulterated passion for Malaysian-Singapore football.
Thiyaga, who turned 59 on July 4, is not just an ordinary fan who turns
up at the stadium to support his beloved Singapore team but has been doing so
since witnessing his first Malaysia Cup match, a first leg semi-final
clash between Singapore and Penang at the National Stadium as a 12-year-old.
Though Singapore won the match 3-2, it was two Penang players that
caught his attention - strikers Isa Bakar and Shaharuddin Abdullah.
Besides that, match which ignited Thiyaga's passion like a fire for
Malaysia-Singapore football, the manner in which he managed to watch the game
remains etched in his memory forever.
Thiyaga
reminisces: “I clearly remember it was Sunday,
May 26, 1974 when I became a true fan. I was 12. When my friends and I
arrived at the stadium tickets for the match were sold out but we saw hundreds
of fans climbing the stadium gates and high walls trying to get into the
stadium.
"We
did likewise not knowing, we were entering the stadium illegally. There were
already about 70,000 fans inside the 60,000 capacity stadium. But what truly
amazed me was fans risked life and limb to watch Singapore footballers in
action."
Ever
since then, Thiyaga never failed to keep track of the progress and fortunes of
all the Malaysian and Singapore players via the sports pages of The Straits
Times and New Nation, and started a scrapbook.
“My
fascination for Malaysia-Singapore football grew as more and more talented
players from both sides of the causeway displayed their talent and more and
more players became household names,” added Thiyaga.
Thiyaga, who harboured dreams of one day becoming a national player, spent hours on the field honing his skills and although he represented his class in interclass tournaments and was then selected to represent his school where he played the role of a roving midfielder or on the wing, that was as far as his footballing career went.
As he was spending more time on
the football field instead of his classroom, inevitably his schoolwork suffered
ran into endless problems with his baker father (Arumugam).
Understandably, after his plans to
become a football player hit a wall, his passion for the game was so intense he
was determined to get involved or be associated with the game through any other
means.
As the saying goes: ‘When one door
closes, another opens’, Thiyaga found his other passion – writing - when he
joined The StraitsTimes (thanks to his uncle A. Ramiah who
helped him secure a job) in January 1979 as a Wire News Feeder in the
Editorial Department before he moved to be a Resource Clerk in the Library
Department. After completing his National Service, returned to be an assistant
pressman till 2017.
It was at that time that he looked up
to the newspaper's sport journalists like Derek Wild, Teoh Eng Tatt, Godfrey
Robert, Albert Johnson, Wilfred Yeo, Peter Siow, R. Jegathesan, Bernard
Pereira, Ken Jalleh Junior and Joe Dorai, all his heroes and now accessible to
him. He soon got to know them and inspired by them his passion for sports writing
gradually took his love for football to another level.
The Straits Times used to carry a
column every Friday "Sports View" and was the column which
kick-started his writing.
While his flair for sports writing
was limited he soon realised it was the end of another dream – to become a
football writer.
Thiyaga then quit the newspaper and
moved on to become an assistant manager with the Standard Chartered Bank’s
Fraud Control Department, but he continued to write articles regularly as his
penchant for football only got more intense.
Then in 1998, he used whatever his
writing skills he had to publish his first book - Captain Marvel: The T. Pathmanathan Story – about the former Singapore skipper, who
also played for Pahang towards the tail end of his career.
It was at the launch of this book
where ex-internationals of Malaysia and Singapore played a friendly match, that
his idol from the early days, Isa Bakar became his close friend.
The late Isa Bakar asked Thiyaga to write a similar book on Malaysian football legends and even
offered Thiyaga to stay in his home for six months to write it.
However, Thiyaga had to refuse as he
was not able to spend so much time away from home.
“Isa’s words to write a book on
Malaysian and Singaporean players always rung in my ears but never found the
time to get down to it,” said Thiyaga,
But when Isa Bakar died on Oct
28, 2010, Thiyaga made up his mind to make the book a reality, but only
got down to it three years ago.
Now 10 years after Isa’s death, the
book titled ‘ROAR’ has gone to the publishers and Thiyaga is hoping to launch
it in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur to coincide with Isa’s 10 years’ death
anniversary, provided the borders are opened.
“Roar! is a compendium celebrating eighty years of
glorious footballing history from 1920 to 2020 between Singapore and Malaysia.
The book imprint chronicles the major milestones football has seen through the
eyes of legendary players, visionary coaches, dynamic officials, key events and
famous stadiums.
“The book such aims not just to list records but to
connect today’s generation and beyond to our priceless past – one that was
built on toils, sacrifices amidst a turbulent past strained by war, famine and
hardship.
“The writing of this book was no different. To begin
with, many of these players had long perished before we were born. There
weren’t adequate public records either.
“Much time was spent at the National Library microfilm
archives retrieving this information. Facts make up the foundation to the book.
But for stories to remain relevant, they must reflect the true spirit.
“This led to several interviews, conducted here and
across the causeway with family and friends. Many well-wishers, upon hearing of
this book, came forward to readily share their memorabilia including photos and
trivia never seen or heard before,” said Thaiya who was resented with the ‘Vibrant
Football Culture Award’ by the FA of Singapore last November in recognition of
my contributions to local football.
The 57,530-worded book which should
easily run into more than 300 pages, is indeed a work of pure love, intense
research and sheer passion for the game and that it was completed in just two
years, underlines Thiyaga’s determination to fulfil Isa’s wish and dedicates
the book to him.
Thiyaga’s continued passion
and patriotism for football was underlined three years ago when he forked out
S$8,000 (RM25,000 then) of his own money to organise a “Singapore Legends
Appreciation Night” on Jan 1 at Ceylon Sports Club in Singapore.
Thiyaga
is not a wealthy person neither was he seeking publicity. What he did was done
out of unadulterated love for Singapore-Malaysian football and his appreciation
of the players who brought glory through the Malaysia Cup.
He
had 54 plaques to be presented to people who had contributed to Singapore
football, including players, coaches and sports journalists from Singapore and
Malaysia and 45 were present to receive their respective souvenirs.
Indeed,
the ROAR will serve as an encyclopaedia of Malaysia-Singapore football and of
the players who had graced the stadiums for 80 years, especially to the younger
generation.
Salutes and kudos Thiyaga.
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