{"id":375,"date":"2019-10-04T16:02:18","date_gmt":"2019-10-04T16:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mysportsflame.com\/sportsflame\/?p=375"},"modified":"2020-02-29T17:55:05","modified_gmt":"2020-02-29T17:55:05","slug":"get-out-of-ipoh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mysportsflame.com\/sportsflame\/2019\/10\/get-out-of-ipoh\/","title":{"rendered":"Get Out of Ipoh!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"By<\/em>
\nGeorge Das:\u00a0<\/strong>It was blazing hot. The sun was unkind on this mid-afternoon in November of 1979. I stepped on to the Ipoh Municipal ground, a picturesque ven- ue nestled in the centre of this once-rich tin mining city of Ipoh in Malaysia.<\/p>\n

Walking beside me was the late Jamaluddin Yusof, a sports journalist colleague from Bernama, Malaysia\u2019s national news agency.<\/p>\n

As we arrive within hailing distance of the hockey pitch, we could see a large crowd of fans, numbering about 5,000. They were\u00a0 there to watch the Malaysian Under-23 final. The match was between Malaysia\u2019s Junior World Cup side and Perak Under-23. I was uneasy as I felt that many were glaring in our direction while snide remarks were being hurled.\u00a0 At that moment I wasn\u2019t sure if it was me they were after.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, I didn\u2019t know which was worse: the scorching sun or the invective emanating from a partisan crowd.<\/p>\n

Sniggering, derisive laughter, and caustic remarks told me something was not right and that I was the brunt of their ire.<\/p>\n

Then Jamaluddin pointed to the banners being displayed directly opposite from where we were standing.\u00a0 There were several held high by the Perak supporters.<\/p>\n

All of them had\u00a0 the same wording: \u201cGeorge Das — get lost from Perak.\u201d<\/p>\n

I did not know whether to be proud of the recognition or disturbed by it, but that\u2019s when I knew that I was the butt of their animosity.<\/p>\n

All this was due to a story I wrote for the New Straits Times, calling on the Perak players to play hockey instead of trying to \u201cmaim\u201d their opponents.<\/p>\n

The Perak fans did not like my article one bit. I learnt very much later that this was an organised protest to vent their displeasure on me.<\/p>\n

Several years later I had to run for my life. It was a different scene altogether. This happened in Alor Star when nearly the whole Kedah team made a beeline towards me after the match.<\/p>\n

On this occasion, I was with M.Bala of\u00a0 The Star when the players with flaying hockey sticks dashed towards us outside the venue.<\/p>\n

The quick thinking Dasheer Noh, an umpire, bundled us into his car before any harm befell us.<\/p>\n

All this was part and parcel of our working life. I continued covering hockey at these venues, meeting the same supporters and players, some of whom became friends and they would joke about those incidents with a laugh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By George Das:\u00a0It was blazing hot. The sun was unkind on this mid-afternoon in November of 1979. I stepped on to the Ipoh Municipal ground, a picturesque ven- ue nestled in the centre of this once-rich tin mining city of Ipoh in Malaysia. Walking beside me was the late Jamaluddin Yusof, a sports journalist colleague […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":176,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hockey-malaysia","category-malaysia"],"yoast_head":"\nGet Out of Ipoh! - My Sports Flame<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mysportsflame.com\/sportsflame\/2019\/10\/get-out-of-ipoh\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Get Out of Ipoh! - My Sports Flame\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By George Das:\u00a0It was blazing hot. The sun was unkind on this mid-afternoon in November of 1979. I stepped on to the Ipoh Municipal ground, a picturesque ven- ue nestled in the centre of this once-rich tin mining city of Ipoh in Malaysia. 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