REST IN PEACE JASWANT

JASWANT’S UNDYING LOVE FOR FOOTBALL

The late DSP (Rtd) Jaswant Singh is among the rare breed of football lovers who did so much for game, but who was hardly in the limelight.

Jaswant in his 80s passed away today and may not even remember him because he was from the 60s to 80s era.

He founded the Malays, Indian, Chinese and Others FC (MICO) in the 70s – a club formed for boys staying around Cheras and they trained at the JKR field.

He was president, manager and coach all wrapped out in one.

Jaswant was also a referee from the 60s and rose to become national and then FIFA referee for a couple of years. After he retired as a referee he was the referees assessor with FA of Malaysia.

He was national referee in an era we had many notable referees like S. Kathirvale, Othman Omar, Koh Guan Kiat and Mohd Noh Saud to name a few.

MICO played in the Selangor League initially before crossing over to Kuala Lumpur FA.

Jaswant was among the pioneers members, led by former FA of Selangor secretary, late K. Rasalingam who passed on recently, who were founder members of KLFA in 1975.
Other founder members include the late Goh Ah Chai, late Hamzah Muhammad, late Shaeiff Mustafa, late T, Manickarajah and M.J. Vincent.

“In 1977 when KLFA organised their first League, Jeswant’s team MICO were given the honour to kick-off the inaugural league match  to play against Bunga Raya FC in a Division match at the Merdeka Stadium witnessed by the first president of KLFA late Tan Sri Hamzah Abu Samah,” said Datuk K. Sabaratnam a former referee with Selangor who crossed over to KL and was a former Council member of KLFA for decades.

 “Jaswant besides coaching and managing his team, being a founder member of KLFA, he played a key role in the development of referees in KL besides having refereed in the League. He was also manager of KL youth teams” said Sabaratnam who was KLFA referees board chairman too.

Datuk George Joseph, former FIFA referee, who was one of the linesmen at the Merdeka tournament where Jaswant was refereeing to attain his FIFA badge in the late 80s said the deceased was passionate about refereeing and always gave his best.

“Those days the Merdeka tournament was one of the few international tournaments where referees were assessed for the FIFA badge and we had referees from Korea, Japan, Indonesia and Singapore doing their assessment,” said George.

Another former police officer, Geoffery Sivanathan, said Jaswant was a gentleman, caring, a joker and live-wire of any gathering but committed in whatever he did.

“I and five players others from our village – Air Panas in Setapak – played for MICO for two years from 1978. In the first year we won the Division One title,” recalled the 61 year-old Geoffery.

“Datuk Santokh Singh, also from Air Panas, told a few of us that there was no place in the Air Panas team – Hotspurs – which was laden with talent and told us to play for teams outside the village if we wanted to improve our game.

“We went to join a team in Kampong Pandan and we did not like it. Then we heard of Mico in Cheraa and went to join them, although we had to travel a distance from Air Panas. The rest was history and Jaswant played a key role in moulding us.

“I became a police officer because of Jaswant who submitted my application form,” said Geoffery whose late father was a police officer.

“When I wanted to apply for a job in the Police earlier, my father torn up my application. It was Jaswant who sent in my application much later and I got the job.”

Former KL and international goalkeeper, M. Pavalamani, said Jaswant recruited him to play for MICO when he was playing for the KL Razak Cup team in 1982.

“I played for a season for MICO, as I also stayed in Cheras. It was memorable moments with Jaswant who was so passionate about the game and trying to mould players from the area,” said Pavalamani.

I have personally known Jaswant since I first started reporting in the late 70s.

I even managed to persuade Jaswant to coach the KL Malay Mail FC team for a season.

He was stickler for fitness and a no nonsense coach, but a great friend and company.

The KL Malay Mail FC team with Jaswant went for a training stint which included matches in Manila and Baguio City in Philippines.

Fond memories will always be remembered by all whom Jaswant had touched through the beautiful game of football.

Rest in peace dear Jaswant coach, manager, referee and friend.

Rasa's hope for KLFA's rise

By Tony Mariadass

As one of  Kuala Lumpur FA's founding members, Datuk K. Rasalingam,  is counting on the team to regain their status as one of M-League's top sides after being in the doldrums for a long time.

Rasalingam who turned 75 recently, hopes with the new management in KLFA under president Datuk Seri Adnan Ikhsan, the chief secretary at the Federal Territory Ministry, things will look up for the city and eventually regain their status as among the top teams in the M-League.

Rasalingam a former council member of FA of Selangor from 1970 to 1972 and secretary frm 1973 to 1974, together with the likes of Datuk Goh Ah Chai, Hamzah Muhamad, MJ Vincent, Shariff Mustafa, Jeswant Singh and T. Manickarajah were responsible for the birth of Federal Territory Football Association in 1974.

FT as known then, made their debut in Malaysian football league in 1979. They renamed themselves as KLFA in 1986.

“We are the youngest FA in the history of Malaysian football but had worked hard from being whipping boys to emerge as a force to be reckoned in Malaysian football. We have won trophies (League champions twice in 1986 and 1988, Malaysia Cup champions for three consecutive years – 1987-1989, Charity Shield three times – 1988, 1995 and 2000 and FA Cup thrice – 1993, 1994 and 1999) many dreams who have longer history are only dreaming about,” said Rasalingam who is confined to a wheelchair these days.

“It was under the leadership of Tan Sri Elyas Omar (1985-1996) that the city team rose to become a powerhouse. It was his vision and commitment which saw the rise of city football.

“We also had one of the best development programme in the country and at one time were the factory of talent players and supply to the nation.

“We had done equally well in youth tournaments – the President, Razak Cup and age-group tourmaments.

“Our youth teams even did well internationally in world renowned tournaments like the Gothia Cup in Sweden,” said Rasalingam who was a FAM Council member from 1978 to 2000.

“Together with a good administration team working hard work we built KLFA. But to see them come down crumbling from a once powerhouse to be relegated to play in the FAM Cup (in 2013), was indeed sad.”

KL are indeed lucky that they are still playing in the Premier League this season after the dubious honour of again being relegated to the third-tier FAM Cup competition after they finished 11th in the 12-team Premier League last season.

However, the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) reinstated KL in the second-tier league following the exclusion of Singapore’s Lions XII from the Super League.

“There is no substitute to professional administration and making decisions in the interest of the game and players. Of course funds is an essential part of the football setup. But everyone has to work hard to raise the funds and cannot just depend on one or two individuals.”

KL were even plagued with match fixing woes which further tarnished the image of the association.

But Rasalingam hopes that all that is a thing of the past and just a bad dream as KL make an earnest effort to move forward.

The Kuala Lumpur football team received sponsorship of about RM12 million sourced from various sponsors for the new season, double the amount received previously.

If properly managed it could well be tonic to the revival of the city team.

Adnan has expressed confidence the team will progress under new head coach Ismail Zakaria. He has also expressed confidence that KL Kuala Lumpur will earn promotion from the Premier League to the Super league by end of this season.

KL’s last silverware won was the FA Cup in 1999.

KL have signed up a host of experienced players in Azlan Zainal, Helmi Remeli (from Terengganu), A. Thamil Arasu (Selangor), Badrulzaman Halim, Mohd Fadil Hashim, Isma Alif (Police), Mohd Shoufiq Khusaini, Fahrul Razi Kamaruddin, Abdul Halim Zainal (Sime Darby FC) and Mohd Rasyid Aya (Felda United) and together with their foreign signings - Modibo Konte (Mali), Mario Karlovic (Australia), Leonardo Moreira de Carvalho and Anselmo Arruda da Silva (Brazil), expectations will surely be running high among diehard city fans.

Will KL do proud to their diehard fans and the officials who were responsible for the birth of city football?

It is left to be seen, but they have no excuse to let veteran football officials like Rasalingam see all their passionate effort to build KL football go down in ashes.

Remembering KL's nostalgic days

This article was written 14 years ago.

Date :	05/04/2001
	Headline :	KL walk down memory lane
	Byline :	By Tony Mariadass
	Text :

KUALA LUMPUR relived their glory days last night when the cast of their greatest team in history held a reunion with Czech Dr Josef Venglos at a hotel in the city. Venglos, hailed for building up the great KL team that swept three consecutive Malaysia Cup from 1986 to 1989, is in KL to conduct an Asian Football Confederation coaching course. Fandi Ahmad and Malek Awab, both who turned out for KL then, flew in from Singapore for the nostalgic gathering. The reunion of the legendary team, which was their first, was the result of a joint effort by former KL coach Chow Kwai Lam, former KLFA president Tan Sri Elyas Omar and a few other officials. The players who were there to share heroics were Rashid Hassan, Mohamad Noor Basri, M. Pavalamani, Razip Ismail, Tang Siew Seng, Chow Siew Yai, Serbegeth Singh, Kamarulzaman Yusof, See Kim Seng, Nasaruddin Mat Din, Ramlan Askolani, S. Balachandran, Subadron Aziz and Hashim Marman. The others who could not be present were Mat Zan Mat Aris, Saidin Osman, Lim Teong Kim and Nazim Din. The other member of what used to be the greatest team in the land was the late Mohamad Zaid Jamil. Among the officials present were Dato Seri Mohamad Noor Abdul Rahim (former KLFA vice-president), Raja Datuk Seri Abdul Aziz Raja Salim (former KLFA deputy president and team manager), Low Lee Cheng (former KLFA vice-president), Goh Ah Chai (KLFA treasurer), coaches S. Subramaniam, Kwai Lam, Hamzah Hussein, team doctor Gurcharan Singh and physiotherapist K. Prabaharan. Ashwin Singh - the son of Gurcharan - who as a toddler, was the team mascot then, and now 15 years old, was also present. "KL has become my second home. I have enjoyed working with KL especially under the guidance of Tan Sri Elyas, who was responsible for the rise of KL soccer," said Venglos, who after his stint KL, coached Czechoslovakia to the World Cup. "And meeting the players almost 15 years after is like being with the team again. These players were a great bunch and seeing them today has really made me very happy." Venglos then went on to talk about the many trips that the KL team made to Europe for exposure and the invaluable experience gained made them among the best teams in Asia. "Infact, from my stint with KL, I learnt to be a better coach. I had a great group of people to work with, from Tan Sri Elyas to the coaches (S. Subramaniam, Kwai Lam, Hamzah Hussein) and the team manager (Raja Datuk Seri Abdul Aziz Raja Salim) and the players and everyone associated with the team." Elyas said: "Venglos certainly played a major role in the rise of KL from whipping boys to championship material, not only for one season but three," he said. "This is indeed a great occasion and to see all the officials and players together again reminds me of the many happy moments 15 years ago. "Some players now look like officials while some officials look like players. But today this certainly makes most of us feel 15 years younger," quipped Elyas. Elyas added that it was good to see that many of the KL players have made it in life after their playing days. Among the players last night were politicians, successful businessmen, coaches and soccer pundits. Serbegeth Singh, speaking on behalf of the players, said that it was the close relationship among the players and officials that made them a family, and leading to their 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 to mould us." As the present KL team brace themselves for a hard time in Premier One this season, it was yesterday once more for their team of the glorious past.

Time for city football to rise

KUALA LUMPUR may be the baby of Malaysian football, but they have gone through a complete cycle.

Kuala Lumpur Football Association (KLFA) was formed in 1974 as Federal Territory FA (FTFA). It was a breakaway from the FA of Selangor (FAS) and was led by former FAS secretary Datuk K. Rasalingam and his team comprised Goh Ah Chai, the late Hamzah Muhammad, M.J. Vincent, the late Mohd Shariff Mustafa, Jeswant Singh and T. Manickarajah.

The late Tan Sri Hamzah Abu Samah was the association’s first president and after he became the FA of Malaysia’s president in 1977, FTFA deputy president Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen Tengku Ismail took the helm. That year FTFA organised its first league with 30 clubs.

The city team entered the Malaysian league in 1979 as Federal Territory and was renamed Kuala Lumpur in 1987.

The city team started as minnows but rose to dizzying heights in the late 1980s before coming back to earth with a thud.

They were crowned league champions in 1986 and 1988 and won the Malaysia Cup from 1987 to 1989. They continued to enjoy success in the 1990s, winning the FA Cup in 1993, 1994 and 1999. The Charity Shield was theirs in 1988, 1995 and 2000.

The man who must be credited for the city team morphing into a powerhouse is former KL mayor, Tan Sri Elyas Omar. He replaced Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen as president in 1984 and held the position until 1996.

When professionalism was an alien word to Malaysian football, Elyas recruited players from other states and Singapore and hired top class coach Dr Josef Venglos.

As a mayor he was dedicated to making the city a sports hub and had various stadiums built in Bandar Tun Razak, including the KLFA Stadium, the KLBA badminton hall and a cycling velodrome.

Following their FA Cup victory in 1999, KL were relegated from the then Premier 1 in 2002. It took them seven years to return to top flight, finishing fourth in the Super League in 2009.

But they were relegated in 2012 and suffered the embarrassment of dropping to the FAM League the following year.

But after a season at the club level and third tier of Malaysian football, KL clawed their way back into the Premier League after finishing runners-up in the FAM League under coach Tang Siew Seng, a member of the victorious team of the 1980s.

There was a change in the top management last November with the chief secretary of Federal Territories Ministry Datuk Seri Adnan Md Ikshan elected president. Former president Datuk Astaman Abduk Aziz demoted himself to deputy president. Another former KL player from the 1980s, Ramlan Askolani, is the secretary.

However, it is sad Siew Seng has been replaced by Portuguese coach Ricardo Formosinho, who has been hired to get KL back to the Super League.

With Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor as the patron and KL mayor Datuk Ahmad Phesal Talib and Putrajaya Corporation president Tan Sri Aseh Che Mat as advisers, the association has enough financial clout.

KLFA, recently besieged by a matchfixing scandal and financial problems, has allocated RM10 million for the Premier League and age-group competitions. It also gets income from outdoor advertising.

KL will also return to their real home – the Merdeka Stadium – as the KLFA Stadium is undergoing major renovations.

While everything points to better days ahead, it is hoped a tight rein is kept on the administration and management of the team, which has been one of the reasons for KL’s fall from grace.

The new officials will have to stay away from politics and put KL back where they rightly belong.

It won’t be quick – nothing happens overnight – so patience and continued support for KLFA and its team come into play.

A fortnight ago, KLFA held a gettogether for its clubs, past officials and coaches and introduced the players and officials for this season.

When I met Elyas Omar on Tuesday, he said he hoped this was the beginning of better times for the city team.

“It was really nice of them to invite me. I wish them all the best and hope they will see the glorious days of the 1980s again.

It is not going to come easy and they will require a good team, on and off the field, for the professional management of the association and the team,” he commented.

Indeed, the future is looking bright for KLFA but they must not start dancing or they will never see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Too good to let go!

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2014 - the malay mail

WHAT is it with sports officials who want to cling to their posts and fight tooth and nail to stay on as long as they can?

Certainly, it cannot be that they want to help the sport because they don’t seem to have done much good during their tenure.

And how the affiliates are blind to all that is happening and keep voting in the same officials is baffling.

And what happened at the Kuala Lumpur Football Association’s (KLFA) annual general meeting last Friday takes the cake.

When names were to be submitted for election, there were a lot of jostling at the table as to who was to be nominated and who was to be elected for certain positons and in the end, those named were elected without contest. What a farce!

Making all this happen was a “king maker”, acting on behalf of a new group wanting to make its way into the KLFA.

What happened next was even more astounding — incumbent president Datuk Astaman Abdul Aziz settled for the deputy president’s post, Datuk Seri Adnan Mohd Ikhsan, the Federal Territories secretary-general, was made the new president of KLFA, and incumbent deputy president Datuk George Frederick demoted himself to executive council member.

Then, we have executive council members who have been in the committee since the 1980s still keeping their seats, although they have done practically nothing to help KLFA except to use it for their own benefit.

It is learnt that Astaman agreed to become the No: 2 man in the association so Adnan can call the shots in an effort to resurrect KLFA.

Astaman is said to have accepted the demotion because he is trying to recover some RM2 million he is said to have lent KLFA. Apparently, he has been paid a partial amount and one way to get back the rest is to remain in the system.

Question: Since when did the president lend money to the association?

Isn’t he supposed to help source for funds from sponsors or fund the association if he has the means?

So, while the players were punished when KLFA was rocked by a match-fi xing scandal recently, how come the officials who managed the association during the period have not been brought to book?

KL, who started off as minnows when they made their debut in the national league in 1979, emerged as kingpins in the late 1980s, but had to suffer the dubious honour of being relegated to the third-tier FAM League after finishing second from the bottom of the table in the Premier League. They have bounced back after a season to return to the Premier League next season.

Astaman apparently agreed to play second fi ddle in the association.

Meanwhile, KLFA do not have a stadium as the Kuala Lumpur Stadium is closed for renovations. The association has even had to move their office to a shophouse.

Hopefully, the new president, with the assistance of the FT Ministry, will be able to improve KLFA’s current position.

But with the same people who had orchestrated the election named the main committee, one wonders if things are going to change at all.

Ramlan Askolani, a former city player, has been named the secretary-general and it is learnt that he was the man behind the revamp. Hopefully, Ramlan can help put things right at KLFA.

For starters, the new management have already given the walking papers to a very powerful lady in the association, who was from the previous camp. Others who saw the axe coming down on them have switched camps.

In a nutshell, everything points to KLFA being used for personal agendas and not for the game.

When we have officials who speak without thinking or knowing the real facts, how can we expect the association to head in the right direction?

Astaman was reported, after the AGM, as saying the KLFA want two teams when the M-League is privatised.

Question: When KLFA can’t even manage one team, how can it handle two?

He went on to say: “Football is a business. By establishing two teams, we are bound to witness a healthy rivalry which will increase the quality of football. They will be governed by one parent body which is the KLFA , but they will be separate entities with separate sponsors and shareholders.

“Manchester has two clubs — United and City — while Merseyside has Liverpool and Everton.

The rivalry is intense and fans are treated to great games.” He is right about football being a business, but business for whom?

The rules are clear that each team will have to be a private entity totally and cannot be managed by one association. Just look at JDT1 and JDT2, which are managed by different bodies.

Professional football in the country has been in existence since we went semi-pro in 1989 and full professional in 1994 and if KLFA are still not a professional entity, how do they expect to become a professional outfit overnight?

And drawing comparisons with the Manchester and Merseyside clubs is truly laughable.

It is indeed sad to see KLFA languishing after all the hard work done by former presidents like Tan Sri Elyas Omar. Until and when it is run like a true professional football outfit, the city side is going to take a long time to see light at the end of the tunnel.

And this is a clear example of the state of football in this country as several other football associations are in the same boat.

TONY MARIADASS is a sports journalist with more than three decades of experience and is passionate about local sports. He can be reached at tmariadass@ gmail.com. Twitter handle:@tmariadass

KLFA must be made to pay

Level Field - 27th Dec, 2013

By TONY MARIADASS

tonym@mmail.com.my - The Malay Mail

’TIS the season to be jolly, but not as far as Kuala Lumpur FA is concerned. It is staring at a bleak 2014.

However, the officialdom at KLFA is oblivious of what it has done to the association and is still sitting pretty in office without a tinge of sadness or remorse.

Kuala Lumpur has a shorter but proud history in the annals of Malaysian football. Having only made its debut in the M-League in 1979 after the association was formed in 1974, it worked its way up from minnows to the kingpin of Malaysian football. But now, for the new season, it has plumbed new depths - club-level football, the third tier of the FAM League.

More humiliatingly, the association has been rocked by match-fixing allegations over the last two years. Last week saw its foreign coach for the season, its team manager, an official and five players banned for life from football and fined RM20,000 for match-fixing by the FA of Malaysia.

Another seven players are expected to be hauled up today and could well face similar action.

While it is commendable that the FA of Malaysia is serious about match-fixing, what sanctions has it meted out to KLFA? KL’s President Cup team was up to no good last season, but KLFA chose to turn a blind eye. And it put the KL team at further risk of match-fixing speculation when it enlisted a new sponsor for the 2013 season - Rising Sun Travel & Tours, which did not fully fulfil its sponsorship obligations.

What’s puzzling is that KLFA let the sponsor have a say in the hiring of the coach and players and even in managing the team when it is clearly stated by the FA of Malaysia that the team must be managed by the association.

When asked if late payment of salaries was the reason the players turned to bookies, KLFA secretary general Nokman Mustapha insisted that it was not. He claimed that KLFA paid its portion of the salaries, but the sponsor defaulted.

But the players sign contracts with the association, which makes it fully responsible for their salaries, not the sponsor.

According to Nokman, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had asked to observe the KL team early this season and KLFA had given its blessing to the investigation. So, KLFA knew something was amiss, but did nothing about it, including curtailing the powers of the sponsor.

It is fine to punish the guilty players, but shouldn’t KLFA president Datuk Astaman Abdul Aziz and his council also be blamed for the fiasco? The honourable thing to do would be to resign en bloc. Or the FA of Malaysia should punish them for their part in bringing the game to disrepute.

All the hard work former KLFA president and mayor of Kuala Lumpur, Tan Sri Elyas Omar, put in to raise the standard of city football has been undone. The efforts of founder members like Datuk K. Rasalingam (the then secretary) and Goh Ah Chai (the then treasurer) have all gone to waste.

To call KLFA poor would be a misstatement. With the assistance of KL City Hall, it has a home to call its own - the Bandar Tun Razak Stadium. KLFA manages the stadium and only pays booking fees to City Hall. Maintenance of the stadium is shouldered by City Hall. KLFA also get financial aid from City Hall.

However, the KLFA-City Hall relationship hit a snag. As a result, the field in the stadium was neglected and the FA of Malaysia would not allow KLFA’s M-League matches to be held there last season. The matches had to be played in Malacca.

Soon, KLFA will be without a home because City Hall intends to close the stadium for two years for renovations. The association is said to be negotiating with the latter for an alternative office space.

Lest we forget, Elyas had acquired eight hectares in Taman Melawati for KLFA. The land was recently given to a company to develop in exchange for building the KLFA Academy Football Centre on 3.28 hectares of it. But work on the academy was unsatisfactory and after much deliberation and restoration, KLFA decided that it would privatise the academy. The Ministry of Sports assisted by turfing the pitch.

A private entity currently manages the academy, which boasts a gymnasium, hostel and cafeteria, among other facilities. In return, KLFA got 10 per cent of the booking fees a month and now gets 30 per cent.

The sad fact is that KLFA’s teams do not get a chance to train at the academy. It is also learnt that the developer had given KLFA a condominium but whether there are any returns from the property is unclear.

Then, there is revenue from billboards also acquired during Elyas’ tenure, and surely KLFA can manage better with all this income.

Today, a personal assistant of Astaman, who was initially brought in as liaison officer and was not supposed to cost KLFA any money, is the assistant secretary with a paid salary and calls all the shots in KLFA. She has also found a place on FAM’s media committee.

Certainly, a great deal of things are not right with KLFA and need to be addressed immediately.

The people who have brought KLFA to its knees need to pay for their sins. KLFA is not going to look good by punishing teenagers when the elders themselves are guilty of wrongdoing.

TONY MARIADASS is sports editor of
The Malay Mail. He can be reached at
tonym@mmail.com.my

Twitter handle: @tmariadass

Wish for a glorious return

AS Kuala Lumpur celebrates its 27th birthday today, the wish of the Kuala
Lumpur Football Association (KLFA), who are a year younger, is to regain
past glory days.
KLFA, officially registered in 1975 as the Federal Territory Football
Association (FTFA) under a protem committee headed by Tan Sri Hamzah Abu
Samah, competed in their first official national competition in 1979 - the
Malaysia Cup.
Since then, the city side have come a long way, from whipping boys to
beating many associations who have a much longer history - dating as far
back to the 1920s.
Tan Sri Hamzah was their first president followed by Tan Sri Elyas Omar,
Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen was at the helm from 1977 to 1981.
FTFA, who changed their name to Kuala Lumpur in 1986, emerged as the
kings of Malaysian soccer when they captured the Malaysia Cup for three
consecutive years from 1987 to 1989.
As early as 1982, KL showed that they were on their way up when they
finished runners-up behind Penang in the League Cup that was introduced
that year.
KL were to later win every trophy at stake - triumphing in the Malaysia
Cup thrice, the League Cup (1986 and 1988), the FA Cup (1993, 1994 and
1999), the Charity Shield 1988, 1995 and 2000) and the Fairplay Trophy
(1991).
The man who took the city to their greatest height was Elyas, the former
mayor of KL as he showed a keen interest in the association and
contributed greatly.
In the new millennium, under the leadership of Datuk Seri Megat Junid
Megat Ayob, KL are looking at becoming a major power in the game again.
However, KLFA need the support of the private sector to be well armed
financially to start their conquest of Malaysian soccer again.
"One of the reasons why we did well in the 80s was because KL were
financially sound with good support from both City Hall and the private
sector," said acting KLFA secretary Goh Ah Chai.
"We had a good development programme going for age-groups and it
eventually bore fruits with an abundance of talent coming through.
"So much so KL became a reservoir of talent as many of our players
played for other States.
"We also had the means to hire some of the top players not only in
Malaysia, but also from across the causeway.
"But in recent years and even more so during the economic slowdown, we
were hit badly. Funds were not easily available and we had to depend on
City Hall and the FAM subsidy.
"But we are still proud to say that despite the stringent budget, we
have managed to manage the team well. With a relatively young team, we put
up a strong challenge and even won the FA Cup thrice in the 90s.
"We are indeed indebted to our present mayor Tan Sri Kamaruzzaman
Shariff, who has been supportive to the association and helped us to stay
afloat.
"But we are appealing to the private sector in the city to come forward
to support us too.
"We aim to get our development programmes going again in a big way with
youth tournaments and clinics throughout the city. But we need funds to
embark on the projects."
"We are also grateful to all the past officials and players who have
done their share to fly the KL flag high,' said Goh who together with K.
Rasalingam, the previous secretary, were founder members of FTFA.
And KLFA can also be proud that one of their affiliates, Kuala Lumpur
Malay Mail FC have also come of age. From being a club side in the KL
domestic league, the newspaper team are now in Premier II of the M-League.
Happy birthday KL, and may KL return to soccer glory.