Today I had a try

Yes, we had a game of rugby this afternoon. For the above forty or so it was meant to be.

The game had been playing my mind since last Wednesday, 3rd August, when told by Colonel Charlie Wong, an ex-Malaysian Military Attaché to Korea. He informed me this immediately after giving me the upsetting news that Malay College was not selected by the State Education Department to represent Perak in the MRSSM Cobra Under-16 Qualifying 10s Tournament last Saturday, 6th August 2005, organised by the Cobra Rugby Club. Top 4 teams here would qualify for the coming HSBC Cobra Invitational Rugby 10s from Sept 9 - 11. See, http://www.cobrarugby.com/

MCKK non-qualification for the Cobra Under-16 Tournament plagued me until last Saturday, when I went to see the event for myself. There I met Mohd. Shukri Hussin (Class of 71), the Liaison Officer for MRCCP, seated next to the Cobra Rugby Club President, Dato' Krishnan Tan. And what a relief that was, for Shukri who was dying to see me and me to see him after the sad news.

But Shukri was rather excited instead of sad and I was extremely surprised. Although I found out later that the Schools Tournament was sponsored by Commerce Asset-Holding Berhad (CAHB) to the tune of RM 200,000 and he is the CEO of the company, ( http://www.commerz.com.my/directory/ ) which I only just found out when the announcement was made over the PA system. Shukri had been keeping this an open secret from me, even though I was moderating for MRCCP and all operational expenses came from him personally but paid by MCOBA.

Saturday, Shukri had been to the MCKK Speech Day in the morning but skipped the Sports Day to be at this qualifying tournament. He had spoken to some of the MCKK Under-16 Rugby Boys and they were upset for not able to meet their winning opponents from SMS Sultan Mahmud, whom they lost to in the recent SBP 10s at Kuala Pilah. ( http://www.cobrarugby.com/news28a.htm )

What excited Shukri that day when he saw me was that he had just learnt that a Thailand school team had pulled out from the September event. ( http://www.cobrarugby.com/news25a.htm ) And he had spoken to the Organisers to strike a deal to allow maybe some 5 MCKK Boys to play in their Cobra Selections side. He called me to speak to Dato' Krishnan Tan and requested that I should oversee how our MC boys would cohere with the rest of their members squad. And whilst this was going on, Col. Charlie came reminding me of today's game in front of everyone.

I turned up today's game as usual and on time. We meant to play an Over-40 side called Midland from Perth, Western Australia but there were only 8 or 10 of them and just so happen all the oldies came attired in their own training jerseys. Mine matched Midland and I had to play on their side.

The game went for 2 halves and my Midland side did well in the first session using these special rules brought by them. More importantly, in the 2nd half I had a try. And when I went out briefly to get my refreshments, I was very surprised to see Shukri watching the game. His only comment was "at 53 you sure can still play this game." My return comment was "That was what worrying me since last Wednesday. It was whether I can still run and not injured myself!"

Today I had a try.


Rosli a.k.a Mat Ali
Class of 69 (65-71)
Idris House