Y.N.W.A. KOPITES 4 EVER!!!

The new season is upon us and like at the start of every season, the dissapointments of the last are soon forgotten. Ask a Spurs fan and he will totally agree...they have been doing that for ages.

It took the Mighty Reds, some time to financially match their bitter rivals so that we can put in a serious challenge for the title. But the summer has not only been busy for Britain's Greatest Football Club, but also for the Scums, Spurs, West Ham, Chelsea, Arsenal, Newcastle and even newly promoted Sunderland who can now boast having the most expensive goal keeper. Speculators, supporters, bookies, and couch managers have tipped us to be League Champs for the 19th time come May 2008.

What do you reckon? I know one hardcore supporter, who picked Liverpool University to read Law not because of its fantastic Law faculty but because he could be near his beloved Liverpool FC., who would be pessimistic For his dedication and efforts to choose Liverpool University, he was not only rewarded with a small scholarship from the university but also had the honour of standing (yes "standing") on the Kop before they installed seats. Some one just like me, and countless other Malaysian Reds, his love for this club which spans over 29 years, started when we were wee lads of 8 years watching recorded games on telly in black and white. It was happening at that time. Liverpool were "The Team".

It was that faithful Saturday, when I was forced to watch this football match by my older brother, who had already made the biggest mistake of his life by choosing to support Spurs. In his excitement about "his team", which could boast some pretty decent players like Ossie Ardiles, Glen Hoddle, Ricardo Villa just to name a few, he made me sit with him to watch a match he had already anticipated would be a white wash by Spurs. Being annoyed of having been forced by him, I decided to support the opposing team which I found out was named Liverpool. Made me feel a bit sick when I heard the name as I had my share of bad encounters with liver. Nevertheless, this team was mine for the next 90 minutes. Liver or no liver, this team in darker shade of grey was mine.

Spurs, a team that had two players from World Champions, Argentina seemed to look the stronger. But nevertheless, I wanted the other team just to make him eat his words. The match started and all I remember is the fluid movement of Liverpool. The speed in the passing made the opposing team look almost non-existent. Then it happened the goals started coming in starting with Daglish. By half time it was 3-0. My Spurs loving brother was in a foul mood. Like any 10 year old, he decided to complain to our Arsenal supporting father about my teasing. Did he get any sympathy? None!!! At that time we could not understand why?

"Fittingly, Liverpool saved the best till last. Breaking out of defence, Dalglish collected possession midway inside his own half and quickly laid the ball out to the right wing for David Johnson. Looking up, Johnson sent a long crossfield ball with the outside of the right foot into the path of the onrushing Steve Heighway. Without breaking stride Heighway sent over a raking cross to the far post where the marauding Terry McDermott arrived to head beyond Daines. It was a marvellous goal to cap a wonderful performance, arguably the finest given by any Liverpool team, and they churned out plenty of good ones during the 1970's and 80's. All around the pitch Tottenham players were left with hands on hips as pockets of Liverpool players celebrated both a goal and a performance which perhaps most adequately defined them."

By the end, which could not come soon enough for me bro, but too soon for me, it was 7-0 to these men from Liverpool. The voices of the fans singing You'll Never Walk Alone made my stomach tingle even through the speakers of that little 14" black n white tv. The scenes of hundreds of fans moving in rhythm on what I later learned was The Kop, made me stand in awe.

That was it!!! It was the start of a life long passion and obsession. It was the start of rivalry between brothers which still continues 29 years on. It was Liverpool or nothing. I had surrendered to the Anfield charm. Passion that has not only led to pure joy but also to total sadness. This Club has done it all to me! We have seen it all. Victories!! Disasters!!! Yet the anthem sings on!!! It just has to. That is what it is all about. "When you walk through a storm, hold your head up high....".

Even if we never win another trophy, the anthem will go on. The passion and obsession will not die, for we are The Mighty Reds!!!! No one can take that away from us. Money, big commercial deals, high profile players and managers that come and go and new high tech stadium will not change Liverpool FC unlike what it has done to other clubs which have affiliations with teams accross the Atlantic in totally different sports, like baseball (no prizes for guessing which sell out team that is). Money will never replace the passion of The KOP!!!!

2007-2008 will be, I believe, a season to remember. We will see one of the closes title challenges. The title could be won by one of 6 teams. No doubt I will pray that when the dust settles it will be the Red Scousers from accross the Mersey holding aloft not only their 6th European Cup but also their 19th Leauge Trophy!!!!

COME ON YOU REDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ATTITUDE!!!

Looks like the General Elections is on the way. The "Dictator" of Sarawak, predicts that it would be after Hari Raya. That is like just a few months away. So what does this government do? It starts clouding people's vision with all these so called Malaysian Plans like Inskandar Project and NCER (don't know if I got that right). Hoping that money and progress will get them the votes. Chances are it may.

We Malaysian's like all people around the world do want to see our nation progress. But what does progress entail? Does it mean having the tallest building in the world or the fanciest airport in the region or high tech sytems to catch speeding motorist. Projects. Projects. Projects. Projects. So called opportunities to benefit the nation. We all know that only a select few, who already have, will benefit from these projects. Relatives and friends of Ministers and officials are laughing to the banks.

That is not the topic of my post. What does it mean for this country to be fully developed? It is not all that I have mentioned above. That is only a small part of it. What is the point of having all these fancy high tech spectacular infrastructure when we have people with the wrong attitude in life manning and using them. Lets go down to the micro level. Take for example our road system. We have highways that have cut short travelling time around the country. Highways that should make driving a pleasure and not a nightmare. A nightmare is exactly what they are now. Motorcyclists using the main highways and not the motorcycle lanes. Lorries and buses speeding on the fast lane. Little Kanchils and Kelisas that were designed for town driving flying at break neck speeds without proper safety features. Where is the enforcement??? Where is the right attitude of courtesy and consideration for your fellow road users?

Let me go into something that happened to me more recently and does happen on a regular basis. I am an avid golfer. I have the luxury of being a member at one of the oldest and most prestigous golf clubs in the country. A club that can boast 2 championship courses and has hosted many Malaysian Opens. There is an amazingly long waiting list for membership. As there is a quota system, the waiting list for Chinese is about 15 years, while for Indians it is about 8years. I do not know about bumiputeras but I reckon about a year or so. Anyway, my point is that to the golfing community, we members are the envy and I have had numerous request from friends for invitation to play a round on the magnificent course. Golf has always been known as a true gentleman's game. You should not hear shouting or any unrully behaviour on the course. Pitch marks and divots are to be repaired and replaced so as to not inconvenience the next group of golfers coming up behind you. Play should be at a pace so as not to keep the group behind waiting too long.

Religiously on Sunday afternoons, I play around of golf with my dad and a couple of family friends. I particularly look forward to these few hours in the sun with my dad which ends on a high note of a nice ice cold beer that goes down even more smootly as one of the other 3 had to buy the drinks for losing the round of golf. Yes, like every single amatuer golfer around the world, betting is common. Some do it for drinks and food while some stakes are much higher. I can only say that I onced witnessed a red faced gentleman, writing out a cheque for RM 35,000 to a giggling "friend" of his after a round of golf. I can only imagine what else goes on with other golfers. This need to win high stakes not only takes away the enjoyment of the game, but it affects others on the course. On Sunday, we had the misfortune of playing behind a group of 4 "gentlemen". These golfers, who had obviously a lot riding on their game, started off rather slowly taking their time to address the ball and hit them. One could only guess what the stakes were. After 9 holes of feeling frustrated and annoyed at having to wait for these guys to get out of range so I may hit my next shot, I summoned the course marshal and complained about their disregard for time. The marshal rode up to them and politely advised them to speed up play as there has been a complain. One would expect that being a gentlemen's game, that the group infront would either let us pass or at least speed up play. That was not to be. These so called "gentlemen" decided to slow down their pace even more. They obviously decided to rather be angry about what had happened than to acknowledge they were slow and speed up play. Once again attitude has created animosity between fellow Malaysians.

Greed and envy seem to be the main ingredient in most Malaysians. Just look at the number of contract killings and murders that are being reported. People get angry too quickly. One cannot give feedback without risking being attacked. How can we expect unity among the people when these so called leaders of the country are not united themselves. There is more racial and gender prejudice in the cabinet than anywhere else. Lets face it, who are we kidding, if we were really a peaceful multi-racial country, there would not be a need to keep mentioning it. Through out the reign of Dr M, there was constant reference to racial harmony and multi-culturalism. The same with the current administration. Why keep saying it? If we were all considered as one nation rather than various races in a country, why the need to keep reminding everyone that there are various races in this country unless the agenda is to maintain division among the races.

Until we all accept it that the man sitting next to us on the bus or the lady standing infront of us at a check out line is our fellow Malaysian and not another Malay, Chinese, Indian, Eurasian, or whatever ethnic background, we can forget about being a developed nation. We would only be a country with all the facilities and infrastructure being enjoyed by a bunch of racist monkeys!!!

It all starts with our attitude and how we are going to take the new day on. Are we starting the day with the intention of making a difference or are we just going to go out there and try to just make as much profit even if it destroys other people's lives. As long as we each only focus on our own needs and not the needs of others, there will no unity nor peace in this country.