Incidents involving Sarawak FA that would never be forgotten
June 18, 2019
Sarawak football which is represented by Sarawak FA team in the Malaysian football domestic competitions is not without landmark incidents which are remembered until today.
Based on information obtained online and through fans, there were three landmark incidents which are remembered by fans until today.
The incidents are as follows.
The Satok Bridge jump
Sarawak FA had always been underdogs in the Malaysian domestic league when it started. That said, qualifying for the Malaysia Cup, Malaysia’s most pretigious football competition was a huge deal for many. So when Sarawak eventually made the quarter finals of the competition for the frst time 1988, This included the then head coach Awang Mahyan. Due to the importance of the landmark, Mahyan decided to celebrate the feat flamboyant Mahyan led his team to jump off the bridge into Sarawak River to celebrate their triumph. The event itself was covered nationwide then, and remembered until today.
The Stadium Negeri Midnight fiasco
Sarawak’s surge in Malaysian football in the 90’s saw fans come in droves to Stadim Negeri in Petra Jaya. The stadium then could only accommodate 26,000 spectators and the number coming for the match against Kedah FA during the second leg of the Piala Malaysia on October 28th exceeded the Stadium Negeri’s capacity hence causing overcrowding in the stadium. The overcrowding happened when the stadium gates were breached as the security personel couldn’t contain the massive number of fans wanting to watch the match. Eventually, the match was called-off and posponed with a replay played in Singapore National Stadium three days later. Sarawak were knocked out of the competition on a 2-1 aggregate, going down by a goal in the match replay.
The Merdeka Stadium incident
The Stadium Merdeka incident happened on 3rd December 1989 in the finals of the second leg of the Pila aMaysia. It was the biggest incident involving Sarawak to date as it even caused national friction between Malaysia and Sarawak. During this incident, referee, Steven Ovinis misjudged a foul and penalised Sarawak’s players for time-wasting in the 35th minute despite the fact the player was really injured. Ovinis’ actions were perceived as being biased towards Sarawak in favour of Kuala Lumpur prompting the Sarawak players to request that Ovinis be replaced. When they were denied their rights, the players protested the injustice by staging a walk-out from the pitch but the Ovinis further claimed he was ‘pushed’. The Federal Reserve Unit came into action to protect the referee, with some Federal Reserve Units atacking the Sarawak players. The impact of the incident saw the Football Association of Sarawak (FAS) withdraw from the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and the ties between Sarawak and the federal government soured to a point ministers were advied not to go to Sarawak. The incident resolved after FAM sent its deputy to Sarawak to resolve the issue.
Also Read:
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This article is brought to us by our Sports Writers Club resident columnist – Cyril Dason.
