Today is Sir Bobby Robson day.
There's only one Bobby Robson. Indeed it is. Very few would command such respect from fierce rival fans. Two years had gone and he is still in my memories.
A song dedication and I'm sure Sir Bobby Robson will like this one.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Saturday, July 23, 2011
1991 AISS Inter-Class Football Tournament Flashback - 4K vs 4A
July, 1991 Flashback: On this month 20 years ago, 4K made it to the 1991 Inter-class football final on this day with a 2-0 victory over tournament favourite 4A. 4K midfielder Zulkeflee scored the opening goal by sliding in from the far post & remember 4A protested against the goal, can't remember for what reason. Striker Yongquan added a second goal later on to complete a shocking victory.
4A was deemed to be one of the two hot favourite for the 1991 inter-class tournament due to the school team players that they have. Notable 4A players include our ex-3K team-mates Rudy and Mohd Noor. Their playmaker was a very short Malay boy who play for the schoolteam and possess Maradona like skills. Think his name was Na-im.
Due to Mary Loh husband escaping from reality on that day, I had to play in defence and back then, my best hope for this game was a draw. Expect them to come hard at us. I had requested to Ghazali that he had to play as goalkeeper, not outfield as we needed a strong defence against formidable opponents. He did and together, we kept a clean sheet. Actually, 4A wasn't as strong as what we had perceived and we were quite comfortable in this game after Zulkeflee gave us an unexpected early lead. There was big protest from 4A players, regarding the goal. I can't remember what is the exact incident but I feel should be a legal goal. Even after the game ended with us winning 2-0, there was talk about 4A lodging an appeal against our victory. We didn't follow up on that and coupled with our victory over 4I, 4K advanced to the Inter-class football final as the finalist, having top the group.
It should be noted that perhaps the 4A game was play first before 4I game but both matches are played on the same day. Last week, I've written its 4I game first but thinking back, it might have been the other way. Either way, 4K had advanced to the final and it was ole ole ole for the class.
It is also noted that Mary Loh's husband is about to get his share of music themed " Escaping from reality" back in class for missing the two games.
4A was deemed to be one of the two hot favourite for the 1991 inter-class tournament due to the school team players that they have. Notable 4A players include our ex-3K team-mates Rudy and Mohd Noor. Their playmaker was a very short Malay boy who play for the schoolteam and possess Maradona like skills. Think his name was Na-im.
Due to Mary Loh husband escaping from reality on that day, I had to play in defence and back then, my best hope for this game was a draw. Expect them to come hard at us. I had requested to Ghazali that he had to play as goalkeeper, not outfield as we needed a strong defence against formidable opponents. He did and together, we kept a clean sheet. Actually, 4A wasn't as strong as what we had perceived and we were quite comfortable in this game after Zulkeflee gave us an unexpected early lead. There was big protest from 4A players, regarding the goal. I can't remember what is the exact incident but I feel should be a legal goal. Even after the game ended with us winning 2-0, there was talk about 4A lodging an appeal against our victory. We didn't follow up on that and coupled with our victory over 4I, 4K advanced to the Inter-class football final as the finalist, having top the group.
It should be noted that perhaps the 4A game was play first before 4I game but both matches are played on the same day. Last week, I've written its 4I game first but thinking back, it might have been the other way. Either way, 4K had advanced to the final and it was ole ole ole for the class.
It is also noted that Mary Loh's husband is about to get his share of music themed " Escaping from reality" back in class for missing the two games.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
1991 AISS Inter-Class Football Tournament Flashback - 4K vs 4I
July, 1991 Flashback: On this month 20 years ago, the crucial next stage of the AISS inter-class football round robin matches began. 4K was drawn into the same group as 4I and the tournament hot favourite 4A. The winner of the group would advance to the football final in August. We were scheduled to play 4I first and they had an SBC TV actor playing for them.
After the victory over 4H, it had once again created football buzz in our class. There were discussion about the upcoming football games & who would play. I've been promoting to our captain Ghazali about the specky boy nicknamed "Si Pang" (Square) who seated in front of me in the class whom I think probably packed the most powerful shot in our class. Very good for clearing ball as a defender. However, Ghazali feedback there were limited places in the team and I think (i might be wrong) there's an allocation of malay and chinese players in the team as to balance. So my recommendation of "Si Pang" to the football team did not work out but we became team-mates in the interclass badminton tournament, playing in the double.
Team captain Ghazali had asked me to play in defence in the upcoming games but I've informed him that the team did ok against 4H and I'm ok to be just backup and let the original team take to the field. Didn't expect to be much involved. The first game against 4I was scheduled at around 3pm but as the kickoff time approaches, there was still no sight of Mary Loh husband, who can play in defence or midfield. There's had been lots of attention & talk on the football games and added to the nervy win over 4H and the prospect of facing the tournament hot favourite 4A, I'm not sure if pressure is mounting for some of us. We had reminded him to turn up on that day but he never did. It had remain a mystery even till today on why Mary Loh husband did not turn up on that particular day. So I became a last minute back-up and would start in central defence against 4I. I can't remember who's my partner for that game, maybe Imran or maybe Eddy.
For the game against 4I, their notable players are two track & field athletes chinese players. One of them actually acted in the TV drama as a Japanese solider and he's football fanatic as well. He's dressed up like a professional footballer with boots and shin pads. During those days, many of us don't wear these gears & I can't remember if I played with double coin shoes or boots for the game. The other track & field athlete in the 4I team was a fellow nicknamed Bullet who is primarily a basketball player and x-country runner.
So the 4I game kickoff and in goal for 4K is once again Khaire. Our first choice goalie Ghazali wanted to play striker for this game. My main focus was to mark out the SBC TV actor who's playing as forward. Remember sticking to him closely and he didn't have much impact on the game. 4K was dominating the game and scored early. Think Ghazali scored first and Yongquan then got his first ever goal in the inter-class tournament. There were few high balls pumped in from 4I but I cleared them all apart of one which created confusion between me and goalie Khaire but it was cleared to safety. The other high ball incident, I practically stood there like a beanpole and let the ball drop on my head to complete the clearance. It drew laughter from the younger sec school girls & I enjoyed that moment.
4K ran out clear 4-0 winners over 4I with Ghazali and Yongquan, each scoring two goals. But we're not celebrating as we focus on the most important game of that day, against the favourite 4A. We're the underdogs for that game. I'm getting nervous.
After the victory over 4H, it had once again created football buzz in our class. There were discussion about the upcoming football games & who would play. I've been promoting to our captain Ghazali about the specky boy nicknamed "Si Pang" (Square) who seated in front of me in the class whom I think probably packed the most powerful shot in our class. Very good for clearing ball as a defender. However, Ghazali feedback there were limited places in the team and I think (i might be wrong) there's an allocation of malay and chinese players in the team as to balance. So my recommendation of "Si Pang" to the football team did not work out but we became team-mates in the interclass badminton tournament, playing in the double.
Team captain Ghazali had asked me to play in defence in the upcoming games but I've informed him that the team did ok against 4H and I'm ok to be just backup and let the original team take to the field. Didn't expect to be much involved. The first game against 4I was scheduled at around 3pm but as the kickoff time approaches, there was still no sight of Mary Loh husband, who can play in defence or midfield. There's had been lots of attention & talk on the football games and added to the nervy win over 4H and the prospect of facing the tournament hot favourite 4A, I'm not sure if pressure is mounting for some of us. We had reminded him to turn up on that day but he never did. It had remain a mystery even till today on why Mary Loh husband did not turn up on that particular day. So I became a last minute back-up and would start in central defence against 4I. I can't remember who's my partner for that game, maybe Imran or maybe Eddy.
For the game against 4I, their notable players are two track & field athletes chinese players. One of them actually acted in the TV drama as a Japanese solider and he's football fanatic as well. He's dressed up like a professional footballer with boots and shin pads. During those days, many of us don't wear these gears & I can't remember if I played with double coin shoes or boots for the game. The other track & field athlete in the 4I team was a fellow nicknamed Bullet who is primarily a basketball player and x-country runner.
So the 4I game kickoff and in goal for 4K is once again Khaire. Our first choice goalie Ghazali wanted to play striker for this game. My main focus was to mark out the SBC TV actor who's playing as forward. Remember sticking to him closely and he didn't have much impact on the game. 4K was dominating the game and scored early. Think Ghazali scored first and Yongquan then got his first ever goal in the inter-class tournament. There were few high balls pumped in from 4I but I cleared them all apart of one which created confusion between me and goalie Khaire but it was cleared to safety. The other high ball incident, I practically stood there like a beanpole and let the ball drop on my head to complete the clearance. It drew laughter from the younger sec school girls & I enjoyed that moment.
4K ran out clear 4-0 winners over 4I with Ghazali and Yongquan, each scoring two goals. But we're not celebrating as we focus on the most important game of that day, against the favourite 4A. We're the underdogs for that game. I'm getting nervous.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
1991 AISS Inter-Class Football Tournament Flashback
July, 1991 Flashback: On this month 20 years ago , the AISS inter-class football tournament kick-off and my class 4K was drawn against 4H in the 1st round. The NPCC girls turn up for the game but too bad, I didn't play due to muscle strain and became linesman instead. Nevertheless, did make them laugh a bit during the game with my linesman antics. There are changes in the 4K team, different from 1990 team.
Changes to the 4K team : Star defender Rudy & handsome Mohd Noor have swapped team & player-manager was no longer with our class. In came Mary Loh's husband, Sepak taraw/hockey player Khaire & military band player Eddy. Yongquan get to start as the first team striker for the 1st time after scoring goals in basketball court football & also good performance in last year tournament as a sub.
On the opposition team 4H, their star players include ex 1E/2E striker, the prefect Seenivasen, who taught me my goalkeeping skills. They also had my former 1D/2D top scorer team-mate, Lee Kim Gu (Jinyuan). Other than that, very little was ...known about their team. 4K start as favourite for this game and I took up the field on the far side as a linesman. Actually, my muscle strain isn't that bad but decided to opt out due to 1990 disappointment & also gave a chance to new team.
The game got underway and in less than 2 minutes, it was GOALLLLLLL!!!!Totally unexpected but it was 1-0 to 4H. Seenivasen had scored to gave them an early lead by nicking the ball past 4K goalie Khaire (or was it Ghazali). I think I remember it was Khaire in goal for this game.
The shock lead that 4H had make my heart sink a little as it bring back memories of last year exit. Nevertheless, the 4K lads on the field started to take charge of the game and I remember our school team player Peiqing made a double dummy dribble past the 4H defender on the right flank where I was the linesman. He make it look so simple to get past defenders.
Time was running out until 4K was awarded a freekick outside the 4H area. 4H line up the wall. Who's going to take the freekick for 4K? It was Peiqing. He curved it with a bit of acceleration and the 4H goalkeeper dive to palm it but it went into his goal. GOALLLLL!!!!! 4K has equalized...1-1.
There were no more goals after this, it was 1-1 at full-time and once again, 4K had to contend with a penalty shoot-out in order to advance to the next round. I can't remember who and who take the penalties this time coz I'm not taking one.... All I know was 4K won the resulting penalty shoot-out and proceed to the next round. For the 4H goalkeeper , the guy with specs, he was in tears after the game. I think he felt that he's the one that caused them the game when he left Peiqing freekick flew into goal. For me, I think his performance was quite ok. He was quite new to our school, didn't really speak to him before but saw him playing soccer regularly on the school field but not basketball court. A 15 or 16 year year old football passion is unbelievable eventhough to many, it is just a inter-class game. 4K is through to the 2nd round.
Forget to mention during the penalty shoot-up, our team captain Ghazali, the malay boy with the rocket hairstyle became the goal-keeper, taking over from Khaire.
Changes to the 4K team : Star defender Rudy & handsome Mohd Noor have swapped team & player-manager was no longer with our class. In came Mary Loh's husband, Sepak taraw/hockey player Khaire & military band player Eddy. Yongquan get to start as the first team striker for the 1st time after scoring goals in basketball court football & also good performance in last year tournament as a sub.
On the opposition team 4H, their star players include ex 1E/2E striker, the prefect Seenivasen, who taught me my goalkeeping skills. They also had my former 1D/2D top scorer team-mate, Lee Kim Gu (Jinyuan). Other than that, very little was ...known about their team. 4K start as favourite for this game and I took up the field on the far side as a linesman. Actually, my muscle strain isn't that bad but decided to opt out due to 1990 disappointment & also gave a chance to new team.
The game got underway and in less than 2 minutes, it was GOALLLLLLL!!!!Totally unexpected but it was 1-0 to 4H. Seenivasen had scored to gave them an early lead by nicking the ball past 4K goalie Khaire (or was it Ghazali). I think I remember it was Khaire in goal for this game.
The shock lead that 4H had make my heart sink a little as it bring back memories of last year exit. Nevertheless, the 4K lads on the field started to take charge of the game and I remember our school team player Peiqing made a double dummy dribble past the 4H defender on the right flank where I was the linesman. He make it look so simple to get past defenders.
Time was running out until 4K was awarded a freekick outside the 4H area. 4H line up the wall. Who's going to take the freekick for 4K? It was Peiqing. He curved it with a bit of acceleration and the 4H goalkeeper dive to palm it but it went into his goal. GOALLLLL!!!!! 4K has equalized...1-1.
There were no more goals after this, it was 1-1 at full-time and once again, 4K had to contend with a penalty shoot-out in order to advance to the next round. I can't remember who and who take the penalties this time coz I'm not taking one.... All I know was 4K won the resulting penalty shoot-out and proceed to the next round. For the 4H goalkeeper , the guy with specs, he was in tears after the game. I think he felt that he's the one that caused them the game when he left Peiqing freekick flew into goal. For me, I think his performance was quite ok. He was quite new to our school, didn't really speak to him before but saw him playing soccer regularly on the school field but not basketball court. A 15 or 16 year year old football passion is unbelievable eventhough to many, it is just a inter-class game. 4K is through to the 2nd round.
Forget to mention during the penalty shoot-up, our team captain Ghazali, the malay boy with the rocket hairstyle became the goal-keeper, taking over from Khaire.
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