SHEBBY GONE TOO SOON

SHEBBY LEAVES A LASTING IMPRESSION

By Tony Mariadass

LATEST UPDATE: 

Shebby's body which was in the wake from yesterday evening (Thursday) at the Nirvana Memorial Centre ib Skudai, Johor, was brought this morning  to the Loke Yew crematorium. The wake at the Sukhmani Sahib at the Loke Yew crematorium will be from 2pm and followed by the cremation ceremony at 4pm.

All wishing to pay their last respects are requested to strictly adhere to all Covid-19 SOPs in place.

FORMER national football defender Serbegeth (Shebby) Singh passed away yesterday evening  suspected from suffering a heart attack while cycling in Johor Baru.

Shebby who had turned 61 on Aug 20, indeed was a household name as a player and television pundit.

News of his passing away was indeed a shock, as he was still young and a considered a very fit person.

A national player from 1982 to 1991 who hails from Kluang, Johor, made his name with Kuala Lumpur whom he played from 1984 to 1990, where he won the Malaysia Cup for a hattrick time, League Cup and FA Cup.

At a reunion luncheon for the KL team in 2001, Shebby speaking on behalf of his teammates had said: “It was the close relationship among the players and officials that made us a family, and leading to our success.

"We were very lucky in the sense that we all gathered together as a team at the right place and right time and we had a great coach (the late Dr Josef Venglos) to mould us."

His teammates with the city team included the Singapore trios – Fandi Ahmad, K. Kannan and Malek Awab – and local players - Rashid Hassan, Mohamad Noor Basri, M. Pavalamani, Razip Ismail, Tang Siew Seng, Chow Siew Yai, Kamarulzaman Yusof, See Kim Seng, Nasaruddin Mat Din, Ramlan Askolani, S. Balachandran, Subadron Aziz Hashim Marman, Mat Zan Mat Aris, Saidin Osman, Lim Teong Kim, Nazim Din and the late Mohamad Zaid Jamil.

The man responsible for bringing Shebby to the bright city lights was the late KLFA and City Mayor, Tan Sri Elyas Omar and coach late S. Subramaniam.

 I played a small part in Shebby’s arrival in KL, as I as a rookie sportswriter went with Subramaniam to Kluang in 1983 to meet Shebby and his parents to offer him to play for KL.

 I have known Shebby personally since I covered my debut Sea Games in Singapore in 1983, when the former was turning out for the national team.

 Shebby was turning out for Johor from 1978 till 1983.

It was a weekend after the Sea Games in Singapore, that I drove coach Subramaniam to Kluang from Kuala Lumpur.

Subramaniam, a day before had called me and asked if I could follow him to Kluang and if I could drive him, as he was going alone to make a surprise visit on Serbegeth.

Obviously, I obliged, and the rest was history.

We arrived in Kluang and went straight to the LLN (now TNB) office, where Shebby worked.

Shebby was not in the office, as he was on holiday visiting his girlfriend then, former national athlete Harbans Kaur, whom he went on to marry.

We met a close friend of Shebby who works with him (a Chinese boy by the name of Ah Chew), who took us to Shebby’s home to meet his parents.

The late Subramaniam who passed away about five months ago, told Shebby’s parents that he wants to offer their son a professional football contract with Kuala Lumpur and asked their permission to allow him to move to the city.

The parents objected as they did not want to see their son move to KL and leave them, but Subramaniam assured them that Shebby will be looked after by Tan Sri Elyas and he personally will be responsible for the well-being of Shebby and he will look after Shebby like his own son.

And rest was history after Shebby returned home after his holiday in Penang and came to KL to meet Tan Sri Elyas and Subramaniam to sign up for KL.

But what followed, rocked Malaysian football as Shebby was banned by Johor FA for moving to KL without their permission and fine RM500,000.

Shebby served the banned and went on to play for KL after that where he made a name for himself and even captained the KL team.

Shebby and I became close friends, and I followed his playing career from KL moving on to Pahang (1991 – 1992), back to KL (1993-1994), Negri Sembilan (1994-1995) and Perak (1995-1996).

As a player, Serbegeth was a disciplinarian who trained hard, watched his diet, slept early, a teetotaler, never smoked and loved reading on football.

On field, he got his job done, although some players complained that he would be very vociferous and got into argument with his teammates.

He was just being very competitive and always wanted to give his best and win matches,

After his playing career, he made a name for himself as a football pundit and was still involved in football as coach of MyTeam, Technical Advisor of Malacca (2007), ‘Global Adviser’ for Blackburn Rovers (2012-13) and technical director of JDT.

As a pundit, his audience either loved him or hated him for his style of presentation.

But without doubt, he made his lasting impact.

Indeed gone too soon.

Condolences to his family and may he rest in peace.

Goodbye my dear friend Shebby.