The Kallang Roar! (Part Two)

It was a soccer-crazy school circa 1974 at Tyrwhitt Road. Boys would form 2 teams and play with a plastic ball before or after school at the basketball court and suddenly when you could hear a pin drop that was when the discipline master just stood there watching. When there was a friendly match at the school field, the old school doors left wide opened was ideal, only the teacher conducting lessons was a distraction. When ordered to shut the doors, half of our spirit just died. Fresh from a Malaysia Cup game over the weekend, some teachers would begin by talking about the game - how good Kim Song was, etc. Our school teams were always in the Schools Final be it C, B or A Division.

We packed Farrer Park soccer pitches on many Saturdays for social or inter-class games. It was a dream come true when the National Team would sometimes train at our school pitch when Jalan Besar was occupied and I watched first hand how the legendary Uncle Choo Seng Quee trained his charges. That was in 1977. It was soccer fever all over the land. We had the English League, F.A. Cup and the European Cup, the World Cup and Malaysia Cup. I spent a fortune from pocket money on soccer magazines like Match, Shoot! and World Star Football. It stirred a deep passion in me and many others. There were no replica kits of Liverpool or Manchester United those days so we would just buy some cheap jerseys with similar colours and passed on as "it".

Those were the days where Leeds United under Don Revie was the flavour of the season. In this pix you can see from back row (L-R) Paul Madeley, Norman Hunter, Trevor Cherry, Joe Jordan, Gordon McQueen, Stewart, David Harvey, Eddie Gray, Allan Clarke, Paul Reany. Front row (L-R) Peter Lorimer, Johnny Giles, Billy Bremner, Terry Cooper, Bates, Frank Gray and Terry Yorath. Some of you die hard Leeds fans will love this.

I started to take an interest from 1975 when Singapore lost 0-1 to Selangor in the Final. Then we lost 0-3 to Selangor again in 1976. Finally after 12 long years, Uncle Choo Seng Quee led Singapore to victory with a 3-2 win over Penang after overcoming Selangor in the semi-finals. In 78 and 79 we lost to Selangor again before Jita Singh led a new team to a 2-1 victory over Selangor. At the time Penang had the Bakar brothers, Ali and Isa while Selangor provided the back bone of the Malaysia team - Spiderman goalie R. Arumugam, big and tough defender Santokh Singh, Captain the "Towkay" Soh Chin Aun who bossed the team playing like Franz Beckanbauer, midfielder, Wong Choon Wah and the best striker of all time I have seen Mokhtar Dahari. When you at look at it from an angle where Malaysia at the time was even acing their game against Asian giant South Korea beating them in the Merdeka Cup you will know how formidable they were. In this pix, you see young looking Eric Paine shaking hand with the Sultan of Pahang, Lim Chiew Peng, Samad Allapitchay, N. Ganesan.

Mokhtar Dahari was a striker extraordinaire. He scored lots of goals from all angles, distances from both head and feet. He had great power and speed and was greatly feared. Once he took the ball and ran he was unstoppable. Singapore fans feared him and even the mighty Koreans could not stop him. Choo Seng Quee was the only one who led Singapore to victory over Selangor in the 1977 Malaysia Cup over two legs to set a date with Penang in the Final. Many years later in 1988, Mokhtar Dahari succumbed to a muscular disease and died at the age of 37.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwMFEuZR36k (Mokhtar Dahari)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTutVJSSZSc (NatGeo)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOR9l42iwJI&NR=1 (NatGeo)

Soh Chin Aun was the Malaysia and Selangor captain. He was called the Towkay due to his unhurried style like Franz Beckanbauer. Another Malaysian legend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7g7ukwBcrA (Soh Chin Aun)

Santokh Singh was a tower in defence. Unbeatable in the air, very strong with crunching tackles. Indomitable. Ask Kim Song, after he clashed with Santokh he could not find his contact lenses.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiOvgdCqBHY&NR=1 (Santokh Singh)

James Wong hailed from Sabah and was a gangling and strapping striker at 6 ft 3 ins, a giant and a top scorer. There was also Hassan Sani, a prolific scorer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoGEg2BE-lw&NR=1 (James Wong)

Liverpool became Champions of Europe in 1977 and the price of the magazine increased horrendously by 10 cents form 1975. Arghhh!!! How can they do that?

 

Then Holland met West Germany again in 1978 (here you can see Johann Neeskens and Sepp Maier squaring off) and the price of the magazine shot up to $1.80 by 40 cents. A fool and his money is soon parted. Because money back then was as big as a bullock cart wheel I should have saved them up and got properties instead. Sigh, young and foolish!

Kevin Keegan joined SV Hamburg from Liverpool for a record 500,000 pounds and became European Footballer of the Year twice. By now you do get a sense of perspective of the times?

Singapore would often made it to the semi-final or final but whenever they meet Selangor they would lose because with R. Arumugam, Santokh Singh, Soh Chin Aun, Wong Choon Wah and Mokhtar Dahari they were the backbone of the Malaysia team at the time a giant. Here you can see Seak Poh Leong who captained Singapore till 75-76 and played for Farrer Park. He went on to secure the highest coaching qualification in the land with a Class A coaching licence from Germany which means he could coach a German team in the Bundesliga. He later became Director of Coaching and National coach.

Uncle Choo

The late "Uncle Choo" was the legendary Choo Seng Quee - coach of the 1977 winning team that brought home the Malaysia Cup after 12 long years. He was a good player in his younger days. He has a hawk's eyes in spotting young talents before anyone else could see it much like Arsenal's Arsene Wenger and he taught them young. Farrer Park, the birthday place of Singapore soccer was a favourite hunting ground. Uncle used to own a small sports and trophy shop nearby. Farrer Park is still there but the heartbeat is no more. 

Every team trained by him achieved success. His strategies and tactical acumen was unmatched. He was a great motivator and above all a brilliant coach and a genius. Almost every famous local player was trained by him. He was very well known in Asia and his knowledge of the game was unsurpassed. He was especially well respected in Indonesia when he coached the team that held powerhouse Yugoslavia to a 2-2 draw. The Indonesian team went to Hong Kong and broke all records beating All Hong Kong 4-1, HK Selection 3-2 and HK Combined Chinese 5-1 and finally Singapore 4-1.

When he left Malaya to come home, PM Tengku Abdul Rahman wrote to him: "This will certainly bring calamity to the football fraternity in Malaya and I hope you will withdraw your resignation." Haven't you heard that a prophet is seldom or never welcome or appreciated in his own home town? When lawyer N. Ganesan became FAS boss, he brought in Uncle Choo who may not be well liked by some because he always speaks his mind much like Brian Clough was at Nottingham Forest and never became England boss. This was the first step to success but it will not be easy.

I was fortunate and privileged to have watched Uncle put the boys through their paces at the Jalan Besar stadium or at the old Victoria School field next door. His booming voice often filling the air as he shouted: "Timbak!" or shoot! when he sees the perfect time for a shot during practice. There was an incident where during intensive training it was raining in the morning, all the players took it that training would be cancelled so they took their time and strolled out one by one. There he stood Uncle Choo alone on the pitch and in the rain without a word. He would also make them sing the national anthem each time.

Clips from the movie Kallang Roar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoytgcPNtLY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjfMHZcf-90

The Uncle Choo trained Singapore team went on to put on a sterling display in the World Cup qualifying stage in the same year where we hosted. Uncle Choo said just one thing to the newspapers. "Come, watch us play". Singapore opened with a 2-0 win over Thailand then proceeded to shock Malaysia 1-0 with a Mat Noh penalty against R. Arumugam and drew tournament favourite Hong Kong 2-2 coming back after trailing. Hong Kong was strong and already had a professional league those days. With the top 2 teams qualifying, Singapore met Hong Kong in the final but lost 0-1. Watch:

1977 World Cup Qualifying: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGOtw9nV-KY (Singapore vs Hong Kong). Lau Wing Yip of Hong Kong was a top notch winger.

I think in the team was Eric Paine, Hasli Ibrahim, Samad Allapitchay, Lim Teng Sai, Robert Sim, Zainal Abideen, Nasir Jalil, Mat Noh, Dollah Kassim and Quah Kim Song. A taste of Malaysia Cup action:

93 QF vs Pahang: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsjcV5enHqU

94 Champs Singapore: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJHZKqsAiEE

Sundram Magic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDt7tMr4i4w

Malaysia Cup Goals: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Sw8GyxbefU&feature=related

Kallang Roar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMNgdCLXLc4&feature=related

Kallang Wave: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy60fnNagao&feature=related

To Be Continued.....