ANOTHER NEW YEAR BUT SAME OLD SONG FOR MALAYSIAN SPORTS

ANOTHER NEW YEAR WITH A BROKEN RECORD

By Tony Mariadass

FOR as long as Malaysian sports try to achieve success through short term programmes, incompetent sports officials making key decisions with personal agendas as their priority, constant changes to programmes, coaches not having their say, external interferences, foreign coaches being bounced back and forth because of indecisiveness and a whole lot of decisions which are questionable, we will be facing disappointments over and over.

The problem in Malaysian sports is at the top. We need to make drastic changes where it needs to be done to put things right and wait for success.

Nothing happens over night and no magic wand can give you instant results.

Even long-term programmes planned by some associations are soon forgotten and want overnight results.

There is no short cut to success. Only hardwork, proper planning with the right qualified personnel helming programmes, with no interference, one or two Olympic cycles planning, patience, determination, proper and fair selection with the best players being given the opportunity – which means combing the length and breath of the country with more than 30 million population to look for new, the best and young talent to be given the opportunity - will there be a flicker of hope to see Malaysian sports make a turn around for the better.

It is pointless coming out with beautiful roadmaps, all looking great on paper and impressive launches, but not implemented with same vigour and commitment and more often these plans collecting dust on the shelves in some corner.

Talent scouting by ex-internationals for all sports should be immediately implemented to search for talent at every nook and corner of Malaysia.

Foreign players to be naturalised is NOT the answer.

Yes. sports these days is borderless. Maybe at worst we can resort to mixed parentage players, but it should be done with proper scrutiny and done by technical officials and not team managers and agents, who more often are more interested in the money they can earn with these dealings.

And national sports bodies alone cannot be held responsible for the ills of Malaysian sports.

The national bodies can come up with elaborate programmes, but the implementation of these programmes largely is the responsibility of the affiliates – besides states, districts, schools and even at the grassroot with the academies playing a huge role. It is collective effort.

It is pointless collecting data or making selections, but only to collect dust and not utilised.

Analysis and recommendations must be done by qualified technical officials and not team managers who hold a string of posts in their national body, which clearly makes their report a conflict of interest.

In fact, in many cases team managers have been the cause for the failure of teams but in their reports which is supposed to be transparent, switch the blame to everything and everybody else, but themselves.

There have been cases where team managers who are hardly qualified in the game make decision and get involved in line-ups and sometimes even naming players into the squad, both local, naturalised and mix-parentage.

Some heads of associations who have been dragged through mud for their incompetency in managing their state or national associations, still hold on to their post and even stand for elections in political parties.

Sports associations for many has become a platform to promote themselves and achieve their personal agenda rather than look into the promotion of the sports and taking it to the next level.

Failure after failure, controversy after controversy and incompetency, never sees them shun the limelight to continue to hold on to their sports portfolios.

Some even are heads of several sports bodies and more often is seen as a conflict of interest. But do they care?

And who are we to blame for this sad scenario in their Malaysian sports? None other than the affiliates who vote them in because of favours, positions and money promised.

How can Malaysian sports have any proper continuity, vision, or direction, when we have three Sports Ministers in one term!

Each one comes with their own agenda and the ones to suffer are the sports associations and athletes.

Some have even quit or prefer to be independent sportsmen or women because of all these uncertainties at the highest level.

Sports Associations themselves must start to stand on their own feet and manage their association like a company.

They cannot depend on the Ministry of Sports or National Sports Council (NSC) to be funding all their programmes and training of their athletes.

As National Sports Association (NSAs) they are responsible for their sports.

Any aid from NSC’s is welcome but that should not be their sole source of funding for their programmes and activities.

It is pointless in complaining that NSC is holding court when it comes to the training of their respective sports’ athletes, when the NSA’s themselves surrender to them.

Malaysian sports need a drastic overhaul immediately for it to have any hope in the future.

But are the National bodies, NSAs and the affiliates ready to make the bold move and change?

If not, stop mourning, groaning, and complaining and just accept that Malaysian sports is doomed.

A Very Happy New Year and sports bodies if you are making a resolution, make the right one that makes a difference. Otherwise, just sit back and continue to enjoy the ills of Malaysian sports.

Continue to look for excuses for the poor performances and blame it on Covid-19, the weather, lack of funding etc., as other nations with lesser means continue to soar and embarrass us.

The choice is yours. Either we move forward to year 22 or go back to 20!

 

HUAREN RC BAGS DATUK HAMIDIN MOHD AMIN CHALLENGE TROPHY

HUAREN RC BAGS DATUK HAMIDIN CHALLENGE TROPHY

Co-organising chairman B. Rajkumar presenting a momento to Datuk Siva Sundram, Deputy President of the FA of Malaysia

OPENING CEREMONY

Huaren Recreation Club emerged champions of the inaugural Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin Challenge Trophy XMail FC Veteran 9s Football Tournament when they beat International Football Club (IFC) 1-0 in the final last Saturday at the Mini Stadium in Kuala Kubu Bahru.

Datuk Siva Sundram, Deputy President of the FA of Malaysia (FAM), who represented FAM President Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin, presenting the Challenge Trophy and Cup to Huaren RC president Datuk Jimmy Hoo

KL Wednesday FC took the third spot and RM300.00 after beating host KL XMail FC 1-0, while Melwood FC emerged Losers’ Pool winners after beating Rawang Indian FC 1-0 and took home RM200.00

Huaren RC who had the services of former Perak players Chee Wan Hoe, Lim Seng Kong, Ching Hong Yik and goalkeeper Mohd Nazreen Chong, won RM1,200.00 in prize money besides the winning Cups.

They also bagged the Top Scorer’s award (Chee Wan Hoe – 3 goals including a goal in the final) and Man-of-the-match award (goalkeeper Mohd Nazreen).

IFC besides the runners-up Cup took home RM600.00

The best goalkeeper’s award was also won by IFC’s Gurvinder Singh.

On hand to give away the prizes was Datuk Siva Sundram, Deputy President of the FA of Malaysia (FAM), who represented FAM President Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin.

Also in attendance were Datuk Sivarajah Chandran (former MIC Vice President) and Balasundaram Kumarasamy (MIC Chairman Hulu Selangor Branch).

A total of six teams competed in this inaugural tournament adhering to all SOPs with the Covid-19 requirements which included double dose vaccination and the second vaccination 14 days before the competition, registering with MySejetera at the Stadium, adhering to social distancing, and wearing the mask when not playing.

 

ROLLOF HONOUR

 

Champion: Huaren RC

Runners-up: International Football Club (IFC)

3rd: KL Wednesday FC

4th: KL XMail FC

LOSER POOL CHAMPION: Melwood FC

LOSER POOL RUNNER-UP: Rawang Indians FC

INDIVIDUAL PRIZES:

TOP SCORER OF TOURNAMENT: Chee Wan Hoe (HUAREN FC) 

BEST GOALKEEPER: Gurinder Singh (IFC) 

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH (FINAL): Mohd Nazreen Chong Abdullah – Goalkeeper. HUAREN FC)

TARA HAS LEFT A LEGACY FOR CLUB FOOTBALL IN THE COUNTRY

 MEDIA COVERAGE BY THE STAR AND NEW STRAITS TIMES LINKS;

Tara’s legacy of turning a small club into giant killers will live on https://www.thestar.com.my/sport/football/2021/12/04/taras-legacy-of-turning-a-small-club-into-giant-killers-will-live-on#.Yaq0iays5O4.whatsapp


https://www-nst-com-my.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.nst.com.my/amp/sports/football/2021/12/751119/death-legend-selangor-club-football?amp_js_v=0.1&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&prerenderSize=1&visibilityState=visible&paddingTop=32&p2r=0&csi=1&aoh=16385517537264&viewerUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Famp%2Fs%2Fwww.nst.com.my%2Famp%2Fsports%2Ffootball%2F2021%2F12%2F751119%2Fdeath-legend-selangor-club-football&history=1&storage=1&cid=1&cap=navigateTo%2Ccid%2CfullReplaceHistory%2Cfragment%2CreplaceUrl%2CiframeScroll

 South City FC’s 50 years in existence and a grand dinner was held three years ago and Tara was honoured by their current managed led by president V. Sunderaj and secretary R. Sivakumar.

BY TONY MARIADASS

A football legend on his own rights, Tara Singh Pall Singh, who passed away on Oct 28 at the age of 74, has left behind memories of how he worked wonders with a small football club – South City FC – in Selangor, which will live forever.

 Tara was an example of what passion, dedication and sacrifices can even make a small unknown club like South City FC, become ‘giant killers’ and get noticed.

 Tara who worked with JKR Salak South since 1967, started his involvement with the ‘beautiful game’ playing for seven-a-side team – Red Devils – a ‘Village team’ where he stayed at the JKR quarters at Salak South.

 This team went to win many seven-a-side tournaments and it was in 1969 that Tara decided to change their team’s name to ‘South City FC’ and made its debut in the FA of Selangor Reserve league in 1976.

 Training at the community field at Salak South, Tara a goalkeeper, was a rare sight, as it was not common to see a Sikh boy play the goalkeeper position.

Goalkeeper Tara Singh standing second from left with South City

 He made his impact and helped his team win the Selangor Reserve league title in 1978 and earned promotion to Division 3.

 One year later South City won the Division 3 title and earned promotion to Division 2 where they played in the Division till 1981, when they won the title to move up to Division 1 in 1982 and Tara won all titles as a player with the team.

South City earned promotion to Selangor Premier League in 1982 which was the highest league at that point of time, before the Dunhill league was initiated in 1984.

Tara took a break from the game from 1982 till 1983 and return to manage South City as a manager from 1984, where South City emerged as the Premier league champion and promoted to Dunhill league in 1985, where they finish 5th from 12 team league.

It was in 1986 that South City stole the thunder and got noticed when they created history to qualify as Selangor’s representation to the FAM Cup – the national club tournament.

South City qualified for the 3rd round only to lose to RMR from Armed Forces.

Tara’s dedication to football was noticed by the football administrators of FA of Selangor and was offered a seat as a council member in FAS but he declined as wanted to focus on development of football in rural areas.

Among the players that were groomed by him include P. Somasundaram, Basil Johnny, R. Kannan, and R. Sivakumar to name a few.

Tara was a very outspoken in giving his views on football especially development of football in Selangor. Tara also easily stood out, as he spoke fluent Tamil and was hit among the Indian players at tournaments, when he used to give encouragement in Tamil.

Sadly, he did not have the means and support to implement development programmes the way he wanted.

Soon he realised that as a small club like South City, it was difficult to compete against the ‘big boys’ in the Klang Valley, where more and more banks, government agencies and corporate sectors started setting up football teams and used employment and money to lure the better players from small clubs like South City to join them.

 South City found the going tough with the drain of their top players to join bigger clubs and soon they were demoted to Selangor Premier league and kept dropping down season after season.

Today South City still exists but the current management see their team more involved in ‘social veterans’ matches and tournaments.

Three years ago, was South City FC’s 50 years in existence and a grand dinner was help and Tara was honoured by the current managed led by president V. Sunderaj and secretary R. Sivakumar.

In recent years before Tara passed away, he was regular at veteran tournaments to lend his support and his sons Kiranjit, who used to play for Public Bank, is the president of the veteran International Football Club (IFC) and Shiranjit who played KL Malay Mail in Premier II, now plays and is the convenor of the Kelab Aman Football team.

“We are going to miss him greatly. Our involvement in football is because of our father with whom we followed from his younger playing days. Later years he supported our involvement and was always there to lend his moral support,” said Kiranjit.

“Life is never going to be the same without our father. Football was his life, and it played a great part in our lives too. Him not being around is going to leave a huge vacuum in our lives,” said Shiranjit.

Tara leaves behind his wife, Manjit Kaur and another younger son, Sanjit.

 Tara may no longer be around, but his memories and legacy left behind will always be remembered and cherished.

 

FACTS OF MALAYA/MALAYSIA CUP

MALAYA/MALAYSIA CUP FACTS:

Compiled by TONY MARIADASS

PICTURE COURTESY OF MEDIA 247

1. First Malaysia (Malaya) Cup final was held in 1921 in Kuala Lumpur between Singapore and Selangor. Singapore won 2-1 and the referee was R.S.M. MacDonald.
2. 2    The first Malaya Cup final in 1921 was played at the Selangor Padang. (Dataran Merdeka) and it was the favoured final venue for many more finals.
3. 3.     Four finals were played at Selangor Padang before it was played in Singapore Anson Road Stadium – Singapore beat Selangor 2-1, before it returned to be played Selangor Padang.
4. 4.     Other venues the Malaysia cup final was played include Chinese Assemble Hall, Ipoh (1931), Rifle Range Road, Singapore (1933), City Stadium, Penang (1969, 1974) and Perak Stadium (1971).
5. 5.     Following the 1956 final, the Cup final moved to its permanent home – the 40,000 capacity Merdeka Stadium – except for the years 1969 and 1974 when it was held the Penang City Stadium.
6. 6.     The visit of the HMS Malaya, the battleship presented by the then Federated Malay States to the British Navy during the First World War, to Malaya in 1921 opened a new era for football in the country.
7. 7.     The Malaya Cup competition was founded on 20th August 1921 (100 years ago)
8. 8.     Captain Buller, his officers, and men, in gratitude for the hospitality shown them by their Malayan hosts, presented a trophy – the H.M.S. Malaya Cup – and the rest is history.
9. 9.     Prior to this for more than 30 years, football was played in all parts of Malaya and Borneo – mostly localised with frequent inter-state games which were mostly great social events rather full-blooded matches.
10. 10.The Malaya Cup began as a village fete where fans were reminded not to ‘go beyond the rope and invade the field” or ‘attach the referee or linemen or throw things on the pain of arrest or fine’.
11. 11.There was no controlling body for football in Malaya when the inaugural competition was organized.
12. 12.Some States and Settlements (the Straits Settlement of Malacca and Penang) had no central organisation until late 20s.
13. 13.The organisation of the Malaya Cup competition was vested in a Special Malaya Cup committee which comprised leading government officials and representatives of some of the leading clubs in the country.
14. 14.The Malayan Football Association was formed and in 1933 or thereabouts, the name was changed to the Football Association of Malaya.
15. 15. By the early 30s, almost all the states and settlements except Pahang, Kelantan, Perlis, and Terengganu had formed “control” bodies.
16. 16.In 1936, the Malaya Cup-committee relinquished its responsibility of organising the competition to FAM.
17. 17.The period 1921 to 1941, saw Singapore dominant with 12 straight victories and two drawn finals against Selangor. Selangor itself won the Cup five times in 15 appearances. Perak won twice, with Penang twice finalists and Kedah once to add their name to the Cup honour rolls.
18. 18.There was no competition between 1942-1947 (six years) because of the Second World War.
19. 19.The Malaya Cup competition was revived in 1948.
20. 20.Following the revival, Pahang FA was formed in 1951, the Kelantan FA came to being, followed by Terengganu a year later and Perlis in 1953.
21. 21.All states and settlements joined the fold as full affiliates and were eligible for participation in the competition.
22. 22.The Malaya Cup continued to be the much favoured and popular tournament despite three other competitions emerged – the FAM Cup, the North versus South match, and the Federation of Malaya versus Singapore annual.
23. 23.The format of the competition, with the full participation of states spanning the length and breath of the country, saw the adoption of zonal competition – North, South, and East over a time span of several months.
24. 24.The period from the revival of the competition to 1967, when the competition was renamed the MALAYSIA CUP, saw a more equitable spread of Cup finals honours with Penang and Negri Sembilan, occasionally challenging the might of Selangor and Singapore.
25. 25. With the Malaya Cup retired it now resides at National Museum in Kuala Lumpur.
26. 26.Perak were the first team to lift the Malaysia Cup at the Merdeka Stadium in 1957.
27. 27.In 2019 the Malaysia Cup final returned to the National Stadium for the final between Johor Darl Ta’zim (JDT) and Kedah. The National Stadium last hosted the final in 2014.
28. 28. The last four finals prior to 2019 was held at the Shah Alam Stadium as the National Stadium had issues with the pitch and was undergoing renovations.
29. 29.The Bukit Jalil National Stadium with a capacity of over 87,000 seats, was first used for the Malaysia Cup final in 1998, which saw Perak emerge champions for the sixth time beating Terengganu on penalties.
30. 30.While the previous tournaments had been segmented into geographical zones, the 1979 edition saw every team play each other in a 17-team competition.
31. 31. New entries were Federal Territory (now known as Kuala Lumpur), the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, as well as the independent sultanate of Brunei.
32. 32.In 1981 the quarterfinals stage was introduced.
33. 33.In 2002, MMPJ FC became the first club and a non-state team to win the Cup.
34. 34.Teams representing two of Malaysia’s neighboring  countries have been involved in the competition, but Brunei won the Cup in 1999 in and all Borneo team final defeating Sarawak -2-1.
35. 35.The 1999 final at Merdeka Stadium was the last time the Malaysia Cup was held at the venue.
36. 36.Singapore has won the Cup 24 times since their inaugural appearance in 1921 and are the second most successful team. They were runner up 19 times.
37. 37.After Singapore last win in 1994, they withdrew from the competition.
38. 38.Singapore was back in the competition in 2012 but were represented by LIONSXII
39. 39.Singapore won the Malaysia Cup 14 times (twice as joint champions) and were finalists 21 times in the pre-war years between 1921-1941.
40. 40.The competition which was managed by FAM was transferred to be managed by Football Malaysia –LLP – (previously known as Malaysian Football League – MFL -) in 2016.
41. 41.Most successful team is Selangor having been victorious 33 times and runners up 16 times.
42. 42. Perak is the third team in ranking in winning the Malaysia Cup for 8 times from 11 finals.
43. 43.Perak first Malaysia Cup was won in 1967 when they beat Singapore 2-1 and M. Karathu scored the first goal. Karathu donated the winning medal to the National Museum.
44. 44.Perak were the first team to lift the Malaysia Cup at the Merdeka Stadium in 1957.
45. 45.Former national badminton ace Datuk Ng Boon Bee had scored 10 goals to become the top scorer in the 1959 edition with the Perak team.
46. 46.M. Karathu played in four Malaysia Cup final and in second final captained Perak to defeat Kelantan 2-0 in 1970.
47. 47.In 1964, the Malaysia cup final was broadcast live on television for the first time, with Singapore winning its 20^th title after defeating Perak 3-2.
48. 48.The 2013 edition, saw Pahang managed to end a 21-year wait to lift the Malaysia Cup when they defeated defending champion Kelantan 1-0 and defended the championship the following season
49. 49.A new format was introduced for 2016 season where only the best eleven teams from the Malaysian Super League and five teams from the Malaysia Premier League qualified to play in the Malaysia Cup.
50. 50.The Malaysia Cup was played at the end of each year’s football season until the 2016 season where it was changed to be played near the end of the football season to promote competitive league within the Malaysian football league.
51. 51.Kuala Lumpur team founded in 1974 (then known as Federal Territory) and now known as Kuala Lumpur City FC, won the Malaysia Cup for three consecutive years from 1987 – 1989 and is the last team to achieve the feat. All three times defeating Kedah.
52. 52.Kedah football team founded in 1924 had limited success until the appointment of the late Datuk Ahmad Basri Akil as the manager in 1985, when Kedah went to qualify for six finals in a seven-year period between 1987-1993 and won two Malaysia Cup titles. In total Kedah won 5 and emerged runners up 9 times.
53. 53.Tiny Perlis team founded in 1963, but currently suspended by FIFA, had won the Malaysia Cup for first time and was the major success in 2004 and won the Malaysia Cup for second time in 2006
54. 54. Johor had to wait 64 years in the history of the competition before they wrested the Malaysia Cup in 1986 beating Federal Territory 2-0.
55. 55. Other teams who have won the Malaysia Cup and number of times include Penang (won 4 times and runners up 9 times); Pahang (won 4 times and runner up 4 times); Negri Sembilan (won 3 times and runner up 3 times); Kelantan (won 2 twice and runner up 4 times); Johor Darul Ta’zim (won twice and runner up once) and Terengganu (won once and runner up 5 times).
56. 56.Teams who have never emerged Malaysia Cup and only were runners-up only – Sabah (thrice); ATM (thrice) and Sarawak (once)
57. 57.Australian Michael Urulako became the first foreign coach in Malaysia to lead a state team – Johor – to a double by winning the Malaysia Cup and League Cup – in one season in 1991.
58. 58. Kedah born and former national player, Azraai Khor Sek Leng when coaching Kedah became the only coach to win double treble champions (FA Cup, Malaysia Super League and Malaysia Cup in successive 2006/07 and 2007/08 seasons. He went on to be awarded the Malaysian Favourite Coach award at the 100Plus – FAM National Awards and for 2007/08 season was awarded the Malaysian Best Coach award.
59. 59.Malaysia Cup was cancelled in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic
60. 60.Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) are the last team to have lifted the Malaysia cup in 2019 before the competition was called off in November 2020 due to the pandemic.
61. 61.N. Thanabalan 79 now, who turned out for Selangor and the nation from 1963 to 1971, has a Malaysia Cup record that stands till today – local player who scored the greatest number of goals in a Malaysia Cup final (a hattrick and the sixth goal) in Selangor’s 8-1 triumph in 1968 against Penang.
62. 62.In the Malaya Cup 1927 final between Selangor and Singapore, British expatriate J.E. King scored a double hattrick inside half-an-hour at the Selangor Padang in the 8-1 win.
63. 63.J.E. King went down to become the FA of Malaya’s first post-World War 11 president in 1947 and revive the competition the following year.
64. 64.The 1978 Malaysia Cup final is still the much talked about comeback victory by Selangor against Singapore where they came back from a two-goal deficit in a space of three minutes by scoring three times in the last 15 minutes for a 4-2 win. Ramli Junit scored first, before Soh Chin Aun equalised John Engkatesu and Ramli scored again for sweet victory.
65. 65.Penang born former police officer Ibrahim Mydin, who later played for Selangor and won three Malaysia Cup medals defeating Penang (1968, 1969 and 1971) was nicknamed ‘King of Kangkang (nutmeg), for his uncanny ability to outwit opponents.
66. 66.Singapore’s Dollah Kassim was known as ‘The Gelek King’ after in 1975 Malaysia Cup match at the National Stadium, Dollah then tricked the Pahang custodian Mohd Ridswan into diving for nothing twice before cheekily tucking the ball into an unguarded goal and nonchalantly walked away to thunderous applause from 60,000 home fans. Before that he had played around the six-yard box with a couple of body feints to send Ramli Mahmud the wrong way and Jamal Nasir, the Malaysian international right back, tumbling to the ground.
67. 67. The Kallang Roar as famously known was the most vocal supporters at the Singapore National Stadium which packed 60,000 fans who bring out the nationalism and patriotism which is patriotic cry and pulsating cheers between the 70s just past the millennium when the Grand old Lady made its final bow for new modern stadium.
68. 68.The kick that stunned the Kallang was the bicycle kick by V. Sundramoorthy, nicknamed ‘The Dazzler’ scored at the National Stadium in 1993 against Brunei in their 8-0 win.
69. 69.In recent years, in terms of importance, the Malaysia Cup has fallen behind the Super League and even the FA Cup. This is because the winner of the Super League gets to play in the Asian Champions Cup League, the highest level of football competition in the continent, while the FA Cup champion qualifies for the second-tier Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup.
70. 70.Arguably the top 21 Malaysia Cup players over the decade are: 1. Mokhtar Dahari (striker); 2. R. Arumugam (goalkeeper); 3. Soh Chin Aun (defender); 4. Santokh Singh (defender); 5. James Wong (striker); 6. Hassan Sani (striker); 7. Isa Bakar (striker); 8. M. Chandran (defender); 9. Abdul Ghani Minhat (striker); 10. Syed Ahmad (striker); 11. Shaharuddin Abdullah (striker); 12. Namat Abdullah (striker); 13. Zainal Abidin Hassan (striker); 14. Wong Choon Wah (midfielder); 15. Shukor Salleh (midfielder); 16. Ali Bakar (midfielder); 17. Edwin Dutton (defender); 18. Arthur Koh (striker); 19. Chow Chee Keong (goalkeeper); 20. Abdullah Yeop Nordin (defender); 21. N. Thanabalan (striker);
71. 71.For the first time the Malaysia Cup champion will get a ticket to the AFC Cup this year (2021).
72. 72.The Malaysia Cup is still regarded as the nostalgic trophy to be won and still rated the trophy to be won to add to the collection in Malaysian football trophies at stake.
73. 73.Kuala Lumpur qualifies for the Malaysia Cup after 32 years and their hattrick triumph from 1987 to 1989. They were runners-up in 1985.
74. 74.JDT as defending champion seeking consecutive wins after having won Cup in 2017 and runners-up in 2014.