19th Nov 2022 marks another important day for Malaysia as the rakyat decides on the next
government of the day. On this same day albeit on much smaller scale, another significant event
took place – our long awaited interport game with RBSC (last played over 2 decades ago), which
was held at Kiara Sports Annexe.
As the rain held back for PRU15 election day, so too for our game vs RBSC. The cloudy weather,
after a wet morning, and the well rolled pitch (as well as it could be rolled, at least) served a perfect
evening for some entertaining hockey.
However, due to the overwhelming response of our section members, we had to form 3 RSC
teams to allow everyone a chance to play.
The young RBSC team
And the rest of the many RSC players who turned up for the game
The RBSC team came with a largely young team, and was originally planning to play in our RSC
9s tournament, until it was called off indefinitely due to PRU15. The youngest RBSC player was
only 15 (or so they said!) with majority of the other players in their 20s and 30s.
As usual, our RSC teams were a mix of youngsters, middle aged (I would say this “saluran” is the
biggest group) and many veterans - including K Balasingam and guest player, Franco De Cruz.
Despite the diverse team mix, everyone played to the strength and ability of each player on the
field. This made the game very much enjoyable for the young and the not so young, as well as the
spectators.
Our “supporters” on the sidelines
The RBSC team played their first game vs the RSC Reds team, and deployed a hard running
game. However, experience (another term for “ageing players”) and our grass pitch slowed them
down a little, as we held them to a 0-0 draw.
This was followed by a goals galore between the RSC orange and RSC white team, with the
orange boys coming up tops!
Dio and Jay taking the game to the RSC whites team
Finally, after the “warm-up” games, we played a well contested RSC-RBSC interport match in the
late evening. The score was 1-0 in our favour from a fantastic cross by Dio, which was connected
into goal by Pinko. Nonetheless, both teams had many opportunities and displayed good
teamwork, running and skills to entertain the rest of us at the sidelines.
We gave no quarter, and neither did they!
Dinner followed by the usual formalities saw Ter and Pop being chosen as the best player and
most promising player from the RBSC team. RBSC reciprocated by choosing Muru as our best
player - according to RBSC, it’s because they could not get any goals past him today. Whilst
Jaidev was identified as the most promising player amongst our young talents.
Nav, from RBSC presenting the awards, followed by a toast form the RBSC team
A second opportunity was given to the RBSC team to redeem themselves in a boat race, but our
drinking team proved to be too superior on this night! Our guests were so impressed by our first
guzzler, they requested for demonstration. The demo ended in 3 seconds. Thanks Ben for
accommodating the RBSC request!
Looking at the line-up, the RBSC boys didn’t stand a chance.
By this time, the beers were already flowing at a good pace and the noise level escalated in
tandem. Hence, it was decided that it’s time to call the formalities to an end!
A big thank you to RBSC for visiting us, and we certainly look forward to seeing you in Bangkok
next year!
