ON Tuesday, the nation bids farewell to the outgoing 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah, who shall return to rule his home State, Pahang.
His reign at Istana Negara was marked by the unprecedented swearing-in of four prime ministers, a hung Parliament and the impact of Covid-19.
The sports terrain, after all, remains the perfect training ground to equip leaders of men with the intricate techniques of political pugilism – the uppercut, the jab, the body swerve, the clinch, the killer knockout blow and even the occasional sucker punch.
For more than three decades, Al-Sultan Abdullah survived numerous leadership and management crises in the football fraternity.
As the second in command of a national body that are everyone’s favourite punching bag and most convenient scapegoat, Al-Sultan Abdullah was in the thick of the action when the game was rocked by the match-fixing scandal, the failure of the FAM academies and a Roadmap that led to nowhere.
By the time he was made the president to succeed his father in 2014, the Sultan could not have picked a more wicked time to occupy the hotseat.
He came in armed with an 11-point manifesto which was to transform the landscape through governance, privatisation of the Malaysian Super League, stakeholder engagement, technical development, a competition pyramid, enhancing financial distribution, referees’ development, an independent judicial body, and even a key performance index for the president.
But after a year, his carefully-thought of plan for redemption was dealt a severe blow when the Dollah Salleh-led national team suffered a humiliating 10-0 defeat to the United Arab Emirates in September 2015 that led to devastating effects as political and sports leaders were quick to assign blame that landed squarely on the Sultan’s shoulders.
The sad part was that Al-Sultan Abdullah took the fall for the blunder made by the inward-thinking members of his exco and the secretariat.
Following the failure to land Philippe Troussier as the head coach, the Sultan insisted on the FAM hiring a foreign coach, by hook or by crook.
Unfortunately, the exco and the secretariat opted for Dollah, and the Sultan was made to fall on a sword that was not of his doing.
It spelt an unceremonious end to the Sultan who entered the fray as a council member in 1984, as a trusted lieutenant to his father as president before he was made the deputy president following an amendment to the FAM constitution in 1992.
Al-Sultan Abdullah was a reformist who led the evolution of Malaysian football from its amateur status to what it is now, being fully professional. The first baby step began in 1989 with the inception of the semi-pro league, gradually easing into a full professional league in 1994.
But well before the inception of the semi-pro league, the Sultan proved to be ahead of his time by signing Singaporeans T. Pathmanathan and R. Suriamoorthy for Pahang in late 1982. Kuala Lumpur then followed suit by luring Fandi Ahmad, Malek Awab and K. Kannan in 1985.
And with foreign players from other parts of the world converging on the semi-pro league in 1989, the complexion of the league changed in more ways than one.
Unfortunately, its popularity was also its bane, as bookies swarmed into the league, making a killing from illegal betting and match-fixing.
Al-Sultan Abdullah led the crackdown against football bribery that saw the banishment of more than 100 players and officials in 1994 and 1995. It was only in 2009, when Malaysia won the SEA Games gold after a 20-year lapse, that football started to show signs of recovery.
This was followed by the AFF Cup victory a year later and again the SEA Games gold in 2011.
Al-Sultan Abdullah was being primed to succeed his late father as the AFF President until he was preordained for a higher calling in 2019.
A time to make a comeback to sports, perhaps, Your Highness?
Already a subscriber? Log in
Get 20% OFF The Star Digital Access
Cancel anytime. Ad-free. Unlimited access with perks.
