Outside the LRT station
Can you find the Negri fans?
Gomo Kelate Gomo
The lineup
Err.. right
The teams
The players
The frustation
The smoke
The fire
The 'ca alif but'
If you want to watch the Malaysian Cup Final football, you can do it in the comfort of your home, inside your air-conditioned room holding a cup of Nescafe with your Persian cat sleeping on your tummy. But I don't want to do that. I want to feel and experience what is like to be inside the stadium with the most notorious fans in Malaysia. And I am not to be disappointed. It feels more like in a battle field really. And I love it!
We arrived early around 5pm and loitered near LRT entrance where thousands of Kelate fans already gathered. Any groups of Negri fans will be pelted with water bottles and chased away by the 'gedebe' Kelate fans. This is the prelude of what will be happening inside the stadium. Once we were inside, almost three quarters of the stadium already turned red, and it's still three hours from the kickoff time. There were singing and Mexican wave every few minutes and the occasion was quite joyful. Negri fans were loud but they were simply overwhelmed by the boisterous Kelate fans.
When the match started, Kelantan started nervously and their defenders were really shaken and before we knew it, they got punished when one of the Negri strikers capitalised on it and drove a powerful shot past Halim Napi, the Kelantan goalkeeper. The whole stadium was quiet except the small section of Negri fans. However, the Kelate fans keep on cheering on their team to get an equaliser and by the end of the first half the optimism is still there.
Things got to worse when Hairudin Omar of Negri scored in a first minute of the second half. And hell broke loose on the 60th minute when Negri add another goal through a penalty. Suddenly the whole stadium felt like it was being invaded by some foreign army. Fireworks were exploding everywhere and lots and lots of flying bottles were thrown into the fields like missiles. Enol got hit by a water battle but fortunately he was not hurt. One of the fireworks exploded so near to my face that I can smell the sulphur. Chairs got burned and thrown toward the FRU personnel who did nothing but to keep close watch on the unruly fans. By then we just could not take it any longer and decided to move from our seats near the field towards the entrance. We watched the remaining of the match standing far away from the field and went outside the stadium way before the Negri players lifting up the Cup.
Will I be going to another Kelantan match? Hell yes!
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