MAKE SOME (Organised) NOISE!
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The Ultras Malaya pumping up the crowd right before the start of the match outside the stadium. NOT PICTURED: kuaci-munchers and fucktards
By now, the success of the Malaysian team and the spirited display of support by the Ultras Malaya in the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup have gained some amount of attention on the national level, if not in the region. The ‘Tanah Tumpahnya Darahku’ banner, the giant jersey (thank you, Nike Malaysia. You guys must be swimming in piles of Malaysian kit-sales money by now.) and the infamous upside down giant Jalur Gemilang (again we unreservedly apologise for that screw-up, or do we?) have caught the attention of Malaysian football fans, for both good and bad reasons. People are now aware of the existence of a group of young men and young-at-heart men who call themselves the Ultras Malaya with their organised passionate support for the national team. Basically what we do is cheer our team on for the duration of the match regardless of the outcome of the match. For a more detailed explanation, do read earlier articles available on this website. And it is not only us that do it this way. It is basically what many other football ultra groups abroad also do to show their support.
However, there are still those who are mystified as to why we do it this way. People were asking questions like “Why the need to stand for 90 minutes?” “Tak penat ke nanti?” “But how can I pay my fullest attention to the game when I have to sing and there are guys standing up in front of me?” “Menang AFF ni masuk World Cup automatik kan?” (Ok the last question is not relevant to the discussion but the guy asking it was punished for his complete ignorance by being barred from attending local matches and made to watch English football instead. Lower league English football).
The answer to these questions lie in the fact that the Ultras Malaya believe that a more vocal support from the fans actually helps any team perform better. In regards to the Harimau Malaya, there are several more-or-less facts-based points that we would like to make in defence of our belief that we played a part in the recent years’ success. (What? You want a strictly factual article? You’re browsing the wrong website, you chump)
Firstly, since 2009, the Rajagobal-helmed national team had won almost all of their matches when those matches were attended by the Ultras Malaya, which mostly were home matches. They won against Syria, Yemen, Korea Olympic squad, Maldives and who could forget the two famous victories in the recently concluded AFF Cup against Vietnam and Indonesia. The only time they lost at home were to Uzbekistan 3-1 in a Asian Cup qualifying match in December 2009 and the other is the famous 3-2 defeat to the Manchester United vacationers (The Ultras Malaya attended the match, but somehow were drowned out by a sudden capacity-crowd turn out of suspiciously Asian-looking Mancunians. Hmmm, we never realised there are that many Mancunians in Malaysia.) Now we wouldn’t go as far as claim that we are the reason behind this success, but it is nice to believe, that we’ve had a hand in helping the players perform better and capture glory for the country.
Take your cue from the capo
The second point occurred during the home match against Indonesia. Now the details are a little hazy, after all who could remember exactly who did what and when, when your team is leading your regional rivals by three goals and complete strangers keep trying to hug and high-five you. (It officially ventures into weird-territory when a suspiciously effeminate-looking guy keeps trying to victory-hug you a few times, but that’s for a different article) During the match, one of the Malaysian players kept gesturing to the Malaysian fans to make more noise by repeatedly raising both his hands after every goal. Now if that isn’t a proof that players thrive on a vocal support of the fans, I don’t know what that is. Maybe someone can please spot this in any of the match highlights on Youtube and post it in the comments section?
The final proof that we would like to point out happened after the match against Vietnam. An assistant coach of the Malaysian team reportedly thanked the Ultras Malaya for doing our bit in unnerving their opponents. Can there be a bigger proof than this expression of gratitude from a team official? What exactly did we do? Well, if we tell you we’re gonna have to kill you and use your corpse as grass fertiliser for the Bukit Jalil pitch afterwards heheh. And no, we’re not talking about laser pointers ladies and gentlemen. Let’s leave such a primitive and obvious tactic to the Indonesian fans, shan’t we? (Yes, they totally did it during the opening match and no, the Ultras Malaya do not support such unsporting behaviour) We in Malaysia prefer to employ more overt yet also more efficient but no-less insidious methods. Cue evil laughter.
Capitalist Nike = BAD. A capitalist Nike-sponsored giant jersey for Ultras Malaya tifo = GOOD
And if all these points fail to impress you, there’s only one more thing to tell you. Singing and dancing in the stand during a football match is definitely way more fun than just sitting down, munching kuaci, hurling water bottles and yelling obscenities at underperforming players.
Of course there may be some people who say “I make noises too, I have vuvuzelas and horns!” The point here is to make organised noise, because if it is just a bunch of people making random uncoordinated noises, what we have is merely cacophony which the players on the field can’t make out and get pumped on. But were those efforts organised say, by singing songs the words to which many fans know, then you have 1,000 fans singing songs the words to which the players can actually understand and use to motivate themselves!
The conclusion is that being one of the ultras means being proactive in our support of the team. No more being helpless. It is a football revolution which begins in the stands all over the country. Gone now are the days of the teams being abused by their own supporters. We are now the unofficial stake-holders and stock-holders of our teams, we are in this through the good times and also the bad, which means we, through our vocal and visible support, have equally as much responsibility to our respective teams as the players and the management do. It also means showing to the management that there are still people who care about the state of Malaysian football and these are the same people who will burn the
To the new groups of Super League ultras, persevere. Established supporter clubs will envy you for not wanting to be affiliated with them, kuaci-munchers will verbally abuse you for being noisy (are they confusing the stadium for the library?), and fucktards will hurl half-eaten burgers at you because, well, they are fucktards and at home their family members hurl things at each other as a method of communicating instead of just talking. Simply ignore them and keep doing your thing, as we Malaysians are conditioned from a young age to automatically despise those who act, talk and dress differently than the mainstream society does. That’s essentially why we dont tolerate gays, mat rempits, deviant religious sects and that one particular kid when you were in school who liked hip-hop over rock music. In relation to the previous point, another thing about us Malaysians is that we are a flock of sheep. We will only do what the majority does. When you are established in your support of your respective teams, the same ‘sheep’ who once verbally abused and threw water bottles at you will suddenly want to join you even when they actually have no intention of standing for 90 minutes and cheering your team; because you are by then the ‘in’ crowd. When you are eventually succesful in getting people to join your ranks, make sure you weed out the lalangs who will abandon the team the first moment the team plays badly, and retain the true supporters.
We hope this article has helped explain more on the need to be vocal in your support. So come make some noise. Better still, come make some organised noise with the Ultras Malaya.
By -llclll-
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