The Chinese players leaving the pitch five minutes before the end following taunts from the Ultras Malaya. sports247.my picture.
IT was the perfect match which Paul Revington planned meticulously for, but Sunday’s 5-0 win over China's Liaoning Club almost turned ugly as unruly soccer fans almost invaded the National Hockey Stadium.
Malaysia are preparing for the World League Semi-finals in Johor Baru on June 29, and the four-match friendlies with the China club, which has 10 national players, was among the avenues for the coach to polish his squad.
But it turned into a harrowing experience not only for the China players as well as their coach Kim Young Soo, but also for South African Revington.
“The match was going just as planned and we had a good lead (5-0) and so the incident was shocking. For sure, I will not venture into a soccer stadium after this,” said a visibly shaken Revington.
Security was lax, as Ultras Malays supporters entered the hockey stadium at 6pm, while waiting for the Johor and Pahang FA Cup semi-finals to start at 8.45pm at the adjacent soccer stadium.
The soccer fans were, at first, supporting the hockey players with drums and constant singing and chanting.
However, with nine minutes left in the match, a group of the soccer fans went close to the sideline and started taunting the Korean coach Kim who also double up as an umpire.
They shouted racist words and showed him the index finger, which angered the coach and he ran to the sidelined to confront them.
The coach was followed by his charges, all armed with hockey sticks and there was a shouting match which lasted a few minutes before assistant coach Arul Selvaraj moved in to ease the tension.
“I had to apologise to the fans (even though it was not his fault) before they moved away and allowed the match to resume,” said Arul.
There were no Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) officials watching the match, and the Malaysian players as well as officials were the ones who had to defuse the situation all by themselves.
“This is an unusual situation which happened because of the soccer match next door. Normally hockey fans are not violent and so we did not expect such an incident to happen during a friendly match.
“However, now that a precedent has been set, MHC will be more vigilant and security will be be provided to any hockey match played on the same day as a big soccer match on the adjacent pitch.
“The incident in a regrettable one, and even I still have yet to receive any report from the national coaches on the incident, I will take note of it and plan accordingly in future,” said MHC secretary Johari Aziz.
Malaysia left for South Africa today for another four match friendlies against the national side.
In the World League, which is also a World Cup Qualifier, Malaysia are in Group B with Pakistan England and South Africa.
In Group A are world no 1 Germany, South Korea, Argentina and Japan.
