Let’s honour our 1972 football heroes too

The famous Malaysia national football team posing with the team mascot, Tuah the Tiger cub, before departing for the 1972 Olympic games in Munich, Germany.

I WISH to congratulate Astro for their patriotic and inspirational 1980 Harimau Malaya documentary featured on Malaysia Day this year. It was a monumental effort to piece together the real story of our 1980 football heroes who made every Malaysian proud of their achievement.

The 1980 Olympic qualifying goal by the Sabah duo of Hassan Sani and James Wong as well as the phrase “cucuk Hassan” used by the well-known local commentator Zulkarnain Hassan keeps ringing in our minds when we recollect that glorious night our national football team qualified for the Moscow Olympics after beating South Korea at Merdeka Stadium.

It’s been 36 years since and we are still waiting for the Malaysian football team to climb to such great heights in the most popular sport in the world again.

I applaud Astro and the online and print media for giving so much prominence to our football heroes of the 80s.

However, I am very sad that our 1972 national football team (pic) that qualified for the Munich Olympics have been all but forgotten. In my opinion, the team that qualified for the 1972 Olympic Games is the best ever football team this country has had to date.

This is based on the fact that this team played three matches in Munich, winning one and losing two.

They went beyond the qualifying mark and played in the Olympics. As such, they should be recognised as the greatest Malaysian team ever. About 16 of the 19 players in that great team are still around but it is very sad that they are not acknowledged.

The team that played in the 1972 Olympics consisted of Namat Abdullah, M. Chandran, Othman Abdullah, Soh Chin Aun, Khoo Huan Khen, Hamzah Hussain, Shahruddin Abdullah, Wan Zawawi, V. Krishnasami, Ibrahim Salleh, Harun Jusoh, Wong Kam Fook, Ali Bakar, Lim Fung Kee, Wong Choon Wah, Mohammed Bakar, Rahim Abdullah, Looi Loon Teik and Bahwandi Hiralal.

Datuk Soh Chin Aun is the only national football player who holds the distinction of representing Malaysia in both the 1972 and 1980 Olympic football teams.

However, it is very unfortunate that even the Football Association of Malaysia has forgotten these former players, some of whom are struggling to make ends meet these days. They deserve better recognition and help from all parties, including the respective state football associations.

These national players sacrificed a lot for the love of the game and loyalty to the King and country.

They did not earn fat salaries or allowances. Their pride and loyalty was in donning the national team jersey.

It was priceless recognition that every footballer of that era craved.

It was reported that all advertising and sponsorship contributions for Harimau Malaya 1980 by CIMB and Milo would go to the Harimau Malaya 1980 veteran footballers.

It is my humble request that the legendary 1972 team also be considered to receive some form of help from our corporate sponsors.

I strongly believe that we should give credit when it is due. It is never too late to acknowledge and recognise our 1972 Olympic football legends while we still can.

THOMAS SAMUEL

Secretary, Ex-State and Ex-National Footballers’ Association Malaysia