MALACCA: The Malacca football scene garnered added boost with the official registration of the Malacca Veterans Football Association. And Malacca Portuguese-Eurasian Association (MPEA) is pushing for its own community annual inter-state series much like the established Sultan’s Gold Cup, Bardhan Cup and the Malaysian Chinese Football Asso-ciation (MCFA) annual tournaments which have been around since the fifties.
As for motorsports, Malacca which successfully staged Round three of the Malaysian Rally Championships at Tanjong Bidara in October is all set to witness the setting up and starting-up of operations of a world class rally drivers training academy at the Hang Jebat Stadium Sports Complex in Krubong come April 2012.
Community stalwart s: The Portuguese- Eurasian team players from Malacca, Penang and Kuala Lumpur on parade with the Christie Shepherdson Challenge Trophy. The state veterans football association formation comes in the wake of a reunion of some 50 former national and state stalwarts and head coaches including legends Datuk Soh Chin Aun and Robert Choe at the Malacca Club Rotunda in Tanjong earlier this year.
Other noteworthy greats who turned up for the high tea affair were Fong Seng Meng, Wong Kou Four, Ng Joon Tai, V.Kalimuthu, G.Torairaju, C.Ramachandran, G.Selvamohan, Anthony Koh, M.Selvakumar, Jantan Ali and ex-state Malaysia Cup coaches Halim Darimi, Ibrahim Sotin and Mahmood Hassan.
A spokesman for the association Melvin Tan Ching Yang, said the reunion spurred the formation of a club to cater to former national and state players who had long called it a day but wanted to keep up with the game on a social basis.
Melvin said “Apart from talking about the good old playing days and renewing ties and friendships, some twenty over former national and state players expressed enthusiastic interest in coming together to set up the association into motion.
“In fact, for starters, we did compete in the Malaysia Day ex international and state players invitational tournament in Kuala Lumpur in October. Judging from the results and the players’ enthusiasm and skills, the local association is on a firm footing. We are now looking forward to more competitions, friendly matches and playing tours around the ASEAN region,” he said.
For the record, in the October tourney, Malacca drew with Sabah 2-2 and beat Western Ausralia 2-1. However, the state lost 0-2 and 0-1 to Thailand and Perak in the second round play-offs and failed to make the semifinals.
Johor beat Singapore 1-0 in the challenge trophy final while the Aussies edged Kedah 5-3 on penalties after a scoreless draw in extra time in the plate final.
As for the MPEA proposal, this follows the successful staging of the inaugural Christie Sheperdson Challenge Trophy football competition held at the St. Francis Institution ground in conjunction with the 500th Malacca Portuguese Heritage Commemoration celebrations this year. With Singapore pulling out at the eleventh hour, Malacca represented by the Portuguese Settlement Youth Football Club emerged champions in the one round league tourney beating Penang 6-0 and Kuala Lumpur 4-0 respectively. In the other fixture, Kuala Lumpur overcame Penang 3-0 to finish second best.
According to Malacca team manager Simon Buenaventura, Kedah, Perak, Sarawak along with Singapore had expressed keeness to participate if this inaugural series turns into an annual afair. The MPEA is very keen to keep the inter-state community based challenge going and not leaving as a one-off matters, noted Simon.
“Following initial discussions during the celebration festivities, we are thinking of holding the inter state series to be held during the annual San Pedro (Feast of St.Peter) celebrations at the Portuguese Settlement in late June. This date is on the local and national tourism calendar and known the world over. We are also keen on inviting a youth team from Portugal to take part together with at least five to six other Malaysian states along with Singapore where sizeable Portuguese-Eurasian communities reside.
This competitive format will turn out to be a worthwhile effort in the development and promotion context of the game and also prove an interesting listing on the local football scene’s annual calendar” he confidently added.
As far as motor sports is concerned, state tourism, culture and heritage committee chairman Datuk Latiff Tamby Chik disclosed that the proposed RM1 million academy would be a joint-venture between Wheel Sports Management Sdn.Bhd (WSMSB), the Sports Ministry and the Malacca Government.
He said: “Our focus at the academy is to get youths in the country who are keen on motor sports, especially in rally driving, to further polish their skills and potential within a professional setting of this most challenging sport where one has to be not only physically fit but also at the highest level of mental health.
At this moment, the nearest academy which one can go to train at rally driving is in New Zealand. However, with the proposed set up of the academy, Malaysia would be able to produce world clas rally drivers in the future in the mould of local champions like Gunaseelan Rajoo and Karamjit Singh, just to name two prominent ones.
This academy would also not solely focus on producing a new breed of rally drivers but would also offer various courses on the safety aspects of motor sports and also normal city and town driving”.
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