FMT
July 31, 2020
The early Hotspurs team
that set the tone for success (from left) Letchumanan, Rajoo, Santokh Singh, N
Nallathamby, Thomas Arokiam, Seluadurai, Ahmad Makbul, Genggaraju, Terence
Leong, Tommy Pereira, and P T Rajan. (Hotspurs pic)
KUALA LUMPUR: In the late 1960s, a certain Santokh Singh was the
ball boy for the Hotspurs, a football team in the tiny village of Setapak Hot
Spring here.
He did that while waiting his turn to play as a striker because
there were better players on the pitch.
When he finally managed a regular place in the team, there were
two other ball boys, K Rajagobal and R Subramaniam.
Santokh would go on to become a household name as one of
Malaysia’s best defenders while Rajagobal and Subramaniam made headlines as a
striker and fullback, respectively.
Other Hotspurs players who made it big were former national youth stars N Nallathamby (later national referee) and S Supramaniam.
Football ran in the Hotspurs family: Rajagobal’s older brother,
the late Gengarajoo, played for Malacca in the 70s while Subramaniam’s brother,
the late Ramachandran featured for Selangor.
Nallathamby’s son, Suresh, was a regular with the Kuala Lumpur
youth and senior teams along with his pal Ishak Kunju who is now Police FC
coach.
Other unlikely heroes from the village were hockey
internationals Avtar Singh Gill, his younger brother Balbir and Updesh Singh.
They played by the side of the football field, placing small
goal posts, and competed in six-a side tournaments.
The ebullient stories of the sportsmen are a portrayal of how sports transformed a dot on the map into a wondrous place.
Sports changed the complexion of the village that was notorious
for gangsters and drug addicts.
Hot Spring, 6km from the capital city, was among the new
villages in Malaysia established in the 60s to segregate primarily Chinese
villagers from contact with the communists.
The hot spring, a large steaming pool, today lies in the
compound of the Resource Springs Apartments and is open to the public.
The exploits of Hotspurs’ famous sons burst with excitement as
several of them came together recently for breakfast at Rajagobal’s house to
relate their experiences to FMT.
It took off in 1964 when a resident, Thomas Ariokam, gathered
some youngsters to form a team to keep them away from gangsterism and drugs.
Arokiam, 73, said then neighbours Tommy Pereira and P T Rajan
helped him to form Hotspurs.
He said since their village was Hot Spring, they named the team
after double-winning Tottenham Hotspur, who won the English First Division
League and FA Cup in the 1960-61 season.
They knocked on doors asking for donations to manage the team,
bought second-hand jerseys for $40 and played their first match in 1964 against
the Comets.
Self-trained, they won the match. Fan support increased and
donations poured in.
In their first tournament, Hotspurs won the trophy donated by a
resident, Lieutenant G. Thavakumar.
Pereira – a Hotspurs player and Statistics Department employee –
got the manager of Selangor league team, Cholan Youth, the late Joseph Jagan,
to assess his teammates.
He said among the Hotspurs players who made the cut for Cholan
Youth were Rajagobal, Subramaniam and goalkeeper S Gunasegaran.
Pereira said since Hotspurs did not have funds to play in the
Selangor league, they decided to be a feeder team by providing experience for
young players with an agreement that those successful could join clubs in the
higher divisions.
The clubs that benefited from Hotspurs included TPCA, PKNS,
Cochrane Youth Club and Selangor Indian Association.
“Soon, we became a feeder for the national youth, state and
national teams,” said Pereira, 70, who retired as army lieutenant colonel and
is the current president of the Cobra Rugby Club.
Santokh, now 68, said he was asked by Arokiam to first play for
Cochrane Youth Club, coached by the late police officer Jeswant Singh.
He said while playing for the club, he was picked to represent
Selangor in the 1971 Burnley Cup, a national youth tournament.
PKNS then employed Santokh who brought in Rajagobal in 1974 to
build a formidable team with the likes of the late Mokhtar Dahari, R Arumugam
and Reduan Abdullah.
“I owe it to Hotspurs for laying the route to success,” said Hot
Spring-born Santokh who made 104 appearances for Malaysia from 1972-1980 and
who played 365 times for Selangor from 1972-1985.
Rajagobal, 64, said that it was Arokiam’s vision to form a
football team that saw many players make the grade.
“We owe it to the pioneer members of the team for where we are
today,” said Rajagobal who has also excelled as a coach at state and national
levels.
“It is unique that a small village like ours produced many
talented football and hockey players,” he said.
Subramaniam, 63, said it was a rare honour for Hotspurs in the
mid-70s when he played with Santokh and Rajagobal, his schoolmate at Setapak
High School, at the same time for Selangor and the nation.
The first player to put Hot Spring on the football radar was
midfielder Nallathamby who made the Selangor Burnley Cup squad in 1968.
He was followed by Supramaniam in 1971 when he represented
Malaysia in the Asian Youth tournament in Tokyo.
Supramaniam also did the village proud by graduating as a lawyer
from University of Malaya. He is now the president of the Malaysian Evaluation
Society.
Another Hotspurs player who became a lawyer is Steven Puung.
The Hotspurs ‘football factory’ stopped rolling in the late 80s
when many residents moved out.
A new team by the same name emerged in the 2000s but the
pioneers decided against assisting them due to differing vision and political
party involvement.
An emotional Arokiam says Hotspurs will always stand tall for
having immensely contributed to national sports as a village outfit.
Hot Spring village and Hotspurs FC, boils over to do nation proud
Tony Mariadass
Standfirst: Unknown football club and village achieves
what many can only dream of
KUALA LUMPUR: A village and community football
team – Hotspurs – must surely go into the annals for their achievement of sorts
in producing national football players, coaches, referee, hockey players,
government servants and professionals.
Hotspurs famous football sons include national
footballer players Santokh Singh, K. Ragagobal, R. Subramaniam, national youth
players N. Nallathamby (also national referee) and S. Supramaniam, while in hockey,
internationals Avtar Singh Gill, Updesh Singh and Balbir Singh Gill a former
hockey coaching director with the national body, came from the village of Hot
Spring.
Several others like late K. Gengarajoo
(Rajagobal’s older brother) played for Malacca in the 70s, while many others
from the later era in the 80s like late Ramachandran (Subramaniam’s brother),
A. N. Chandrasegar, N. Suresh (Nallathamby’s son), Ishak Kunju (now Police FC
coach) played for Kuala Lumpur youth and senior team.
Hot Springs, 6km from the city, was among the new villages in Malaysia established to segregate
primarily Chinese villagers from contact with the anti-colonial guerrilla
fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA), which were led by the
Malayan Communist Party during the Malayan Emergency.
Then it was sparsely populated
but now has grown into a densely populated area with many high rise
condominiums around the village style plot landed houses.
In the 60s, it was one of the pioneer resident, Thomas Ariokam,
who decided to gather a group of youngsters who were crazy of football, to form
a village team to keep them out of trouble and also spend their time useful on
the field in a sporting activity.
“The village had gangsters and drug addicts then, and to keep as
many youngsters away from these vice, I and few friends decided to set up a
football team as we had a field right in front of our houses where we used to
have kick-about,” said recalled the 73-year-old Thomas at the breakfast
gathering of past members of Hotspurs at Rajagobal’s home.
“It was people like Lt
Col (Rtd) Tommy Pereira and P.T. Rajan, who assisted me to form the team.
“We used to go around the village knocking on door to door
asking for donations to manage the team. Some gave us coins or at most a dollar
or two, but some turned us away as they said their children did not play
football.
“We bought the team’s first set of jersey – a second-hand jersey
– from a friend of a different club for 40 dollars (then dollars) and played
our first friendly match in 1964 against a team called Comets.
“But soon our team became the entertainment for the villages
when we had almost the whole village turn up and surround the field to support
the team. Not only did we get fan support to watch the game, many came forward
to support the team monetarily for our friendly matches.
“We organised our first tournament with a Challenge Trophy with
a trophy donated by a Lieutenant G. Thavakumar, a resident of Hot Springs.”
On the name of the team, Thomas said Tottenham Hotspurs were
riding high then (the first team to win the double in the 20th
century when they won in 1961) and since their village name Hot Springs, they
decided on the name.
Tommy, did play long for the team, but he did the groundwork to
find teams to play friendly matches, got his friends to support the team and
got a club team – Cholan Youth – who were playing in the Selangor League to
come and have a look at the Hotspurs players.
“I was working in the Statistics Department soon after school
and met the late Joseph Jagan who was working there too. He as managing the
Cholan Youth team and I invited him to look at our club players,” said Tommy
who later joined the army and left for England for training at The
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
“Among the players from Hotspurs who played for Cholan Youth
then include Rajagobal,
Subramaniam and goalkeeper S.Gunasegeran,” said Tommy who is currently the
president of Cobra Rugby Club, the game he picked up while in England.
“We
were not a registered club in the League because we did not have the funds, so
we decided that we will be a feeder team for League teams in the Selangor,”
said added Tommy.
“But
soon, we became a feeder for the national youth team, State teams and national
team,” said the 70-year-old Tommy proudly.
Other
club teams who benefited from Hotspurs include TPCA, PKNS, Cochrane Youth Club
and Selangor Indian Association.
Santokh
who started playing for Hotspurs as a striker in the late 60s, said he started
off as a ball picker with the team.
“There
were so many talented players in the team and we had to wait for our time to
find a place in the team,” said Santokh who said the cows grazed the field and
acted as grass cutters those days.
“As
we were not a registered team and nobody came to spot players in the village, I
was asked by Thomas to play for Cochrane Youth Club coached by the late DSP
Jeswant Singh who passed away recently,” said the 68-year-old Santokh a member
of the national team who qualified for the Moscow Olympics in 1980 but did not
go because of the boycott.
“It
was with Cochrane Youth Club that I was spotted to represent Selangor in the
Burnley Cup (national youth tournament) in 1971.
“Then
was given employment with PKNS and I brought in Rajagobal to join me in 1974, as
PKNS in was in the process of building a formidable team with others like the
late Mokhtar Dahari and R. Arumugam, Reduan Abdullah and others all joining the
team,” said the burly defender then.
“I
owe it to Hotspurs to giving me the path way,” said Santokh who was born in Hot
Springs and who has gone to represent Selangor from 1972-1985 (365 appearances)
and the national team from 1972-1980 for 104 appearances.
Rajagobal
said that it was Thomas’ (front) vision to form a football team that saw so many of
them make the grade and do well in the game.
“We
owe it to Thomas and the pioneer members for where we are today,” said
Rajagobal who not only excelled as a player but also as a coach at State and
national level.
“Our
grandparents and parents bought land here in this village and it is indeed
unique that a small village like ours has produced so many talented football
players,” said the 64-year-old Rajagobal.
Subramaniam,
63, said it was another feather in cap for Hotspurs when three players - Santokh,
Rajagobal and himself – played at the same time for Selangor and the nation.
“I believe it is a rare occasion to see three
players from the same village play for the State and nation at the same time in
the mid-70s,” said Subra who was schoolmates with Rajagobal at Setapak High
School.
The
football honours for Hot Spring Setapak, then known only for its springs, began
rolling in 1968 when midfielder Nallathamby (second from right) made it to the Selangor Burnley
Cup.
The
next player to bring honour to the village was Supramaniam in 1971 when he
represented Malaysia in the Asian Youth tournament in Tokyo.
Supramaniam
also did the village proud by finding a place in University Malaya and
graduated as a lawyer and now is the president of the Malaysian Evaluation
Society.
Another
one who became a lawyer from Hotspurs FC is Steven Puung.
And
the football factory began to roll until the late 80s when many moved out.
A
new team by the same name emerged in the 2000s, and while the pioneers wanted
to assist them, they decided against it when their vision differed and had
political parties backing them.
“As
much as we wanted to help and continue the legacy of the original Hotspurs
team, we decided it was best we stay away. But we from the original team from
the 60s still meet regularly for fellowship,” said Thomas.
Indeed,
Hotspurs will always stand tall for a small village team who contributed to
sports immensely.
Ends.
1. A majority of the players from
Hotspurs Fc studied Setapak High School which was 800m from the village and
they walked to school.
The
school football master was the late Philip Adolfus, a product from the Dave
McLaren and late N. Raju coaching course for teachers. Among other teachers who
were certified from this course who went to coach in schools include
Kirubakaran Rokk (St John), late Bernard Khoo (La Salle PJ), Gerard Rozells
(national schools team).
2.
In the
1970s the hot spring was merely a large hot steaming pool. There was a
dilapidated hut at one corner and several run-down zinc-roofed baths at the
other end. It was adjacent to a lalang grown field that was used by an Indian
dhoby operator.
A caretaker at the pool charged 10 sen for the
rental of a roped bucket used to draw water from the pool.
It was not known when the pool was discovered or
who found it. It could probably be as long as the suburb itself.
Today, what remains of the pool that gave Hot
Spring its name is swallowed up by development in the area.
The pool lies in the compound of the Resource
Springs apartment but it is still open to public, daily from 7am to 8pm. For a
small fee of RM2 one can have a hot bath here.
3. Santokh, Rajagobal and Subramaniam
and most who made the Hotspur Fc all used to gather around the field to watch
friendly matches and used to help pick the ball each time it went out of play
before they were invited to join the team in training before making the team.
4.
Hockey
forward Updesh Singh, a member of the 1st National Junior World team in 1997, who
finished fourth in Versailles, France, went to sign up on a two-year-contract
with Racing Club de France to play in the French First Division League who has
now made France his home.
5.
Avtar
Singh Gill who worked at PKNS went to represent the Malaysian hockey team and
had the honour of playing at the 1976 Olympic Games in Canada
6.
The hockey
players in smaller in number used to play at the side of the football playing field,
placing small goal posts and competed in six-a side tournament.
7.
Updesh's older brother Malkeet also played
with the team. Malkeet has migrated to Canada.
8.
Both Updesh and Malkeet from St John's and
Avtar Setapak High School.
10.
Jersey
bought from Nahar Sports (Jalan Mountbatten – now Jalan Tun Perak) – near Masjid Jamek
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