More on Malaysia Cup Final 1977

This came from the New Nation newspaper of Monday 30 May 1977...the centrespread of page 10 and page 11.

Tears of Joy!

Robert Sim hugging Winning-goal hero Kim Song at the end of the match which we won 3-2. Coach Unk Choo Seng Quee...the greatest unsung hero of the day!

[ Click on photo to read ]

I was at Merdeka Stadium on Cup-Final Night 1977

For unk Dicko and many of my generation who had the good fortune of watching our national footballers since the early 60's , I think the large majority would agree that the 1977 Malaysia Cup-winning team was the BEST Singapore Football team to date.
Everyone in that team, including those on the bench, was a household name and led by the legendary coach Choo Seng Quee, brought the whole of Singapore to fever pitch...the night of the Cup Final in Merdeka Stadium, KL in May 1977.

I was seated among the 38,000 crowd watching the Final. That was the only Cup Final across the causeway that I ever attended. As I said, many of us had caught the "fever" as our boys in blue progressed through the competition from the Q-finals, then S-finals and the actual Dream Final. I can't really explain it but I felt like this ( never felt it the same way before ) ...if I did not bother to go all the way to KL to support OUR team, then somehow, I didn't think they could win. We all knew what an intimidating atmosphere it would be in the Merdeka stadium for our team, our officials and our loyal supporters. In reality, it was a hundred times more than just intimidating!
They really hated us....Singapore that is!
Scores of Singaporeans were hauled away by their police just for shouting very vehemently ," Referee KAYU! Referee KAYU! " Some of them were detained overnight and only released the next day.
The referee for the match was Selangor Referee Koh Guan Kiat who, in the dying minutes
of extra time, when our boys were holding on to their 3-2 lead...for unknown, strange and inexplicable reasons, awarded a freekick to Penang at the top of the penalty box. The crowd was stunned. Even my very good and close friends from KL, whom I was seating with, were stunned as well! No rhyme or reason to award one and Ref Koh...awards! That happened very often in many of our gut -wrenching Malaysia Cup matches over the decades and years. Thus the shouts of "Referee Kayu!" which was actually very mild compared to some of those shouted by Ah Bengs, Alis and Samys which went...." Ref....kn**2-**#!#!!! u! @@#!!U!!! "
In the end Shukor Salleh, Penang's midfield general, took the freekick tamely which posed no problem for goalie Edmund Wee.

When the final whistle was blown.....not only did the players cry tears of joy, unk Choo cried, our supporters inside Merdeka stadium cried and jumped, then jumped and cried...back home, I dare say many would have cried in sheer happiness too.

And me...using my hanky, I had to wipe away the corner of my eyes which welled up.
I had never felt happier shedding such tears!

The SUNDAY NATION front page of May 29 1977 ( above) is part of my extensive collection of archives.
Many of those papers have been kept as they were...uncut in their original condition.
To scan parts and portions of such a large page for uploading onto my blog here is quite a challenging task. I have to ensure that I do not damage the fragile page as I fold it into a more manageable size for scanning. I do not want to cut it into smaller portions, preferring to keep it whole.
So I do apologise if the photos have creases and folds here and there.

More original newsclips...1977 Malaysia Cup Win, part 2

This newsclip is also from my original uncut copy of the New Nation edition of Monday 30 May 1977.

The report was written by Jeffery Low who was associated and identified with good soccer writeups in those days.

Much beloved coach Unk Choo gave a very interesting interview and account after the game was over.

Click on the picture to read.

The 1977 Malaysia Cup Victory!

This was the front page of the Sunday Times edition of May 29 1977...32 years ago.
Photo showed an estactic Samad Alapitchay lifting the Malaysia Cup which we won. He was surrounded by his team mates. Super -sub Nasir Jalil was next to him. Goalkeeper was Edmund Wee.
If any one reading this needs more info on the line-up
or anything about the match, just let me know and I can fill you in.




This news clip was from page 19 of the New Nation daily of May 30 1977.
The photos showed how Nasir Jalil scored the equalising goal to make it 2-2 at full time.
In extra time, our local darling and crowd favourite Quah Kim Song headed in a diving goal to give us the Cup and victory at last!
3-2 was the final scoreline.

Bottom photo showed a very happy Trevor Hartley, adviser to the FAS hugging our much-beloved coach Unk
Choo Seng Quee.

That Unforgettable Malaysia Cup Win in 1977!

In my recent post I blogged about old news clippings from my precious archives collection. I showed a portion of a front page colour photo and posed some questions.
Here are the full details:
The excited crowd of loyal supporters was at the Singapore Airport to welcome home our Malaysia Cup heroes of 1977.
They were all hoping to get not just a glimpse but a touch of the most coveted soccer trophy in our local history...the glittering Malaysia Cup.
I was there as well among the crowd.
As a matter of fact I was also at the Merdeka Stadium for this most incredible Cup Final on Saturday May 28 1977. It was the only Cup Final across the causeway that I ever attended. So much happened that day that unk Dicko will relate more in another post. Back to the main story for now.


All of Singapore waited 12 long years for that day to happen, for their collective dreams to be realised in the 105th minute of extra time when our "speed demon" Quah Kim Song headed in the winning goal after the score was deadlocked at 2-2....to make it a historic 3-2 win over our arch rivals Penang.
Coach, the late unk CHOO SENG QUEE will never, ever be forgotten by the grateful fans of that generation.
Photo:
Dollah Kassim the "Gelek King"hugging his then girl-friend with one hand on the cup and S.S. Dhillion [ sec-gen SNOC ] holding on too. Dollah was made captain in the 2nd half after Captain Samad Alapitchay was substituted by Lee Teng Sai. It was super -sub Nasir Jalil [ crazy horse] who came on for S Rajagopal [ banana kick specialist...aka the Camel] who equalised for S'pore in the 71st minute for a 2-2 scoreline.
The last time before that day when we won was way back in 1965 when Lee Kok Seng was the captain fantastic who motivated his team mates to snatch a great victory in the last 15 minutes of the game...winning 3-1, after trailing 0-1 for most of the match.