The day a future King of Malaysia came to our rescue

THE tragic stampede in Malang, Indonesia, brought back mixed memories for me personally to the day when a small group of sports journalists survived a harrowing incident in Hong Kong.

It was in May 1999 when a future King of Malaysia came to our rescue as hundreds of Nepali fans invaded the pitch minutes before the final whistle of an Olympic football qualifying match in a group which featured Japan and the Philippines as well.

Pandemonium broke out after an 88th minute equaliser for Nepal off a goalmouth scramble cancelled Malaysia’s opening goal courtesy of Kedah striker Rafdi Rashid, who replaced Khalid Jamlus in the 72nd minute.

In celebratory mood, hordes of Nepali fans stormed onto the pitch, causing a commotion as the two teams were preparing to restart the game.

A shirtless Nepalese supporter grabbed the ball from Rafdi and Khairun Haled Masrom reacted to take the ball back before being punched.

All hell broke loose as the unarmed Hong Kong police, numbering less than 50, made the logical choice of forming a shield over the Malaysian bench as their top priority, but at the expense of protecting other players who were running for their lives.

Four players – S. Jayaprakash, Tengku Hazman Raja Hassan, Sany Fahmi and Rafdi – barged through the Nepal supporters, climbed over the safety barriers and ran to the upper level behind the Malaysian bench to seek protection in the executive suite.

While Jayaprakash escaped unscathed, Tengku Hazman was tripped and kicked while Rafdi had to scurry over the barrier after he was kicked at the hips and legs. Keeper Sany suffered a concussion.

In the middle of this chaos, Zainu’l Azhar Ash’ari from Utusan Malaysia, the late Hazli Hussaini from Harian Metro and I made our way from the media tribune to the grandstand, with the hope of recording an eyewitness account as the events unfolded. Oh, what fools we were. A group of Nepali fans recognised us as Malaysians and one of them yanked my accreditation card from my neck.

There was no time to think as we scrambled for safety and we saw through the executive suite glass window that Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, at that time the deputy president of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), was signalling to us to make our way to the suite.

Much to our relief, we made it safely to the suite where Al-Sultan Abdullah, at that time Tengku Abdullah, expressed his concerns over the safety of his boys.

Eventually goalkeeper coach Mandiaty Fall and fitness trainer Aleksandar Bozenko who risked their lives to protect the players, escaped with minor injuries, while Rafdi, brother of current international Akhyar, was stretchered off to the first aid room with suspected broken ribs and later hospitalised for two days at Pamela Youde Eastern Hospital. The final whistle was never blown.

Later the Malaysian media corp were permitted to board the team bus, usually out-of-bounds for non-team members.

Nearer to home, fortunately, similar incidents in the local football scene had been nipped in the bud and swiftly dealt with by the FAM as the governing body.

In 2003, for example, the Sabah FA were fined by the FAM following a pitch invasion by hundreds of fans angered by the referee’s decision to disallow a goal by Robert Gasper in an FA Cup semi-final clash at the Likas Stadium.

Negri Sembilan’s Mohd Aiman Wong had to be carried to safety after he was knocked unconscious when a bottle of mineral water struck his head, while K Rajan suffered a torn lip from a punch. The match was abandoned in the 83rd minute.

The Malang tragedy was indeed unfortunate for our neighbours Indonesia.

For Malaysian fans, as long as they keep their emotions in check and with the security measures and evacuation plans by the authorities all in place, a football tragedy here is unlikely to happen.