I had A Dream
Some of you must be wondering what this "Tuesday Talk" is about. Well...sometime ago I ran "Tuesdays With Bapak" series, in which I relived (dark parts) of a past life. It was cathartic and I'm glad I religiously blogged about it for about a year.
Then Bapak passed away on Sept 4, 2008. I felt spent. There's nothing anymore I wanted to tell.
At the same time I wanted to dedicate a day in the week to just stories, tales, yarns...anything about life. Nothing so serious.
If you think that's not what you like to read, that's okay. You can pass and hit on another blog or website.
I've come to realise, for a long time now, that you can't please everyone. And I'm not about to start now.
So, today is the start of "Tuesday Talk". And I'm going to talk about a dream ("mimpi") I had the other night. It's got to do with the World Cup. I got up so breathless and needed a few moments to "wake up".
I dreamt that Malaysia was in the World Cup. Yes yes... and we were playing against a team (unknown and unidentifiable). We were in red and white while the other team was in blue.
I know that as I was dreaming this, my heart was beating very fast because our Malaysian football team was so awesome.
I must be watching it all on TV because I could see the crowd cheering for Malaysia. Now these people were definitely not Malaysians but they were cheering for our team.
People from foriegn lands cheering "go Malaysia, go Malaysia!"
And yes. I could see some people hitting the kompang.
It was thrilling. In my dream, most of the Malaysian players were familiar faces of some of the Selangor footballers of the 70s and 80s. It must be because I used to go all the way to Stadium Merdeka to watch matches that Selangor played.
I'm not a football fanatic but I do love to watch good football. Great football, aah, all the better.
No prizes for guessing how my dream of Malaysia in the World Cup came about. Yep. it's the World Cup madness, and the sense of disappointment and resignation when talking about Malaysian football.
"We could have been there!" or "What happened to us!" everytime we see the two Koreas and Japan played. Or some third-world country making their people proud by qualifying for the World Cup.
Well. you know, there was a time when ....aaah... to go down that road and reminisce about Malaysia's football greats makes me feel so wistful.
Young Malaysians have no recollection at all that once upon a time, we played football.
25 comments:
Yeah dream on ms. You are entitled to dream but the reality is that's all a wishful thinking, if you ask me. Let me assure you that as long as politicians are at the helm of sport bodies in Malaysia, you would only have NATO - No Actions Talk Only, for heaven sake.
regards,
Solicit-successor
I had dreams too, dear Nuraina. Honestly, it would be more of a wetting my pant nightmare to dream of our footballers at a world cup match, what more of a world cup final. That's truly isn't a dream; no matter how hard we try; it's probably fantasying. Dream are things that is probable, even if it's only 0.00001%. My dream is: Malaysia can truly be a nation for all Malaysians; t=and that's probable even though it may only be a fraction of a possibility.
maam nuraina,
when i was v young boy growing up in a kampung in spore, i saw on black & white tv (there was no colour tv yet) a match in the Olympics betwn malaysia and some team.
i saw on tv many times keeper arumugam made a save, soh chin aun gentel in midfield, and mokhtar dahari aiming at goal.
the history is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_national_football_team
today we often see semi value trying to save himself, chua soi lek gentel something, and anwar ibrahim aiming at some goal.
msians have decided to call this a Beautifool Game.
wake up from your dreams, will u guys!
Those were the days Ena and I was then a proud council member of the Football Association of Selangor. Looking forward to Tuesdays.
macam mana pasukan malaysia nak maju, para pemimpin yang mengurus pasukan tak mahu berundur walaupun pasukan kita asyik kalah.
tengok pasukan perancis, bazil dll. bila kalah cepat2 ganti pemimpin dan pemain.
kita pulak ambik raja jadi pemimpin pasukan. raja kita tak boleh suruh berhenti!
Aunty Nuraina,
You're indeed reliving the tidur bola, makan bola, mimpi bola era... We're doing just that down here. The dream is for Australia to host the World Cup in 2020... who knows, maybe Malaysia qualifies then. har har har *evil laughs*
nice one...enjoyed the posting.
I'm old enough to remember the time from 1971, when Malaysia qualified for the Munich Olympics. We managed to beat South Korea in Seoul! And before that, Japan were beaten 3-0. In Munich, we also defeated the United States 3-0 (but lost 3-0 to West Germany and 6-0 to Morocco). Then there was that glorious bronze medal in the 1974 Teheran Asia Games.
Yes, like everyone else who are old enough, the years after 1979 were/are disheartening. I had somehow assumed that it would always be the same... that we'd always be bitter rivals with South Korea. And that our second team would beat Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia. I have almost total disinterest in the national team now.It's not that there's "no patriotic feeling" - I just hate to see Malaysia losing; simple as that.
NAS!
Way to go!
Abdul Ghani,Dutton,SpiderAru - to name a few.
Yes those were the days when your bapak used to be at stadium merdeka at the reporters room!
Well!
We could become great again - as we have beaten Korea etc before!
Godspeed.
Jeya
Here's my two cents...
Heroes are made...not born. Trouble is, we always wait for heroes and they are few and far between. They come once in awhile.
What we need is proper coaching of the youth. Plan and guide. Then you can have 10 Mokhtars, 10 Soo Chin Auns and 10 Arumugams generation after generation.
And to do that you need a bunch of good leaders in the sports and educational field.
Till then, it's 2AM shouting at the mamak's TV screen for another country's football team to score a goal.
Hi Ena
It pains me to share this sentimental journey with you on our glorious football past.
Yep we were once great. Who don't know Super Mokh, Towkay Soh Chin Aun, Santokh etc.
Never missed watching the Merdeka Cup and what have you when my kids were young.
Everyone then were shouting hoarse for team Selangor.
Now I tell my 3-year old grandson, eat well and I will make sure that you will be in team Malaysia if ever we get into the WC.
Even if I am bongkok tiga, I will be there to cheer for him. IF.
I wonder most times, with tears in my eyes when I see Chile, Serbia or Nigeria play.
Chile had earthquake recently. Nigeria is so poor and Serbia was once war-torn.
What's wrong with us? Not enough to eat? Not strong physique?
Look at Korea. I remember our team troucing them once upon a time.
Who have the answers to revive our dismal football performance?
They are paid much, much more than our football greats.
They are indeed a pampered lot. but nothingto show for it.
P.S. Great you are kicking off your TWB.
Have always been a cheer-leader of TWB, albeit a silent one.
It's a breather from our sickening politics now.
Write on.
Here's a picture of the young Mokhtar Dahri at:
http://lunwt.blogspot.com/2009/10/1968-part-2-for-what-is-memory-worth.html
Where are his successors today?
Get rid of the politicians and royals from the sports set up. Engage qualified and experiened professionals. That's the only way forward and for success!
I met Super Mokh many a time as a young kid at Timur field when he played for PKNS. I was always there playing small sided game with friends and used to always wait for the end of the PKNS practice. Mokh would always come over to us at the end with his fiery eyes and encourage us to continue to work at our game. He knew the responsibility he had and he knew he was a role model. He took on that responsibility and till today, living in the USA, when people ask who was the best footballer, I smile cause in my mind Super Mokh comes up but I cant say it out loud as not too many know about him. But he was my hero!
We've done everything in our effort to improve Malaysian football. Except one thing: trying out a new numero uno.
where do the problems in FAM truly lies? some peole are saying the TOP management should move out!
Dear Puan Nuraina
Nice article, Puan Nuraina... When I watched Third World Countries playing football, I feel ashamed of our current National Football Team except the young Harimau Muda... They are our future in Football....
NAS, a very memorable posting.
I only pray FAM officials read this blog, then they know how to right the wrongs. Changes must start from the top to the bottom and not the other way around. FAM need a total revamp of all positions & officials. Like in politics, FAM must establish limits to every terms of positions like 3years. HRH Sultan Pahang can be alleviated to FAM Patron.
Namza Norman
Seems like all we can do is look backward...
...better football...
...better traffic...
...better prices...
...better people...
...better environment...
...better safety...
...better transport...
...better times...
Your dream will remain a dream; until they remove all the royals and politicians from FAM and all the state football associations.
hak55
You do not agree with my views about Malaysian football and how the current very sad state of affairs in FAM all the state football associations can be improved, do you?
Salaams.
HAK
Thanks for posting my comments.
hak55
Malaysia can have a chance to be back to it's glory days...only IF we do not have anymore LIFE president...until then we can always dream...
I too remember the day when Hassan Sani had made his dazzling run from midfield into the penalty box and passed to James Wong, who dummied and scored the goal that brought Malaysia to the Olympic games ..... 31 years later, i still got a buzz when I saw it on the Maxis ad. Did you see the tears building up in James Wong's eyes as he related the story? That was a time when we were truly 1Malaysia, without the need for campaigns and constant reminders to be so.
I still have faith that Malaysian football can make it ..... I saw glimpses of it in 1996 when Dell Akbar Khan managed the Malaysia team in the Tiger Cup in Singapore. Some of the goals that were scored by Malaysia made my hair stand on end.
Most Malaysian football fans can name all the players, including the reserves and coaches, of their favourite teams playing in the EPL. Try ask them to name all the players representing the current Malaysian national team, what do you think most of the answers would be?
Don't know!
hak55
Dear Nuraina.....ada persamaan kat sini...mcm mana team bola merosot....mcm tu lah jugak UMNO....!!!
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