Age-group football bridges paragraphs and passages seamlessly.

At every turn, a link shall surface. A series of shared moments, common acquaintances and those “winning” theories about football.

Everyone shall inform you to “keep it simple …”

This footballing mantra has survived decades with conflicting outcomes. The moment you received the ball, the mind returned to your first competitive match, in 1973.

Just what is this age-group football?

Football featuring players of a certain age has been deceptively called “Veteran football.’

You turn up for a friendly to see 35-year old players warming up. Nightmarish this.

Post-match photo in Mentakab

Ahmad Omar, our icon, turned 66 on Jan 10. He is not the protesting sort. He is fit. He seems to be playing football, may be three, four occasions a week. His Nescafe O is sugar free!

Some others are going to be pretty voluble in their criticism of the selection of opponents.

Naming your team requires very little mental struggle; the actual challenge is in choosing your opponents. This takes a fair bit of imagination, flair and research.

We founded the Sahabat football team in 2015.

We are this week scanning our next possible opponents, said to be “Johor92.”

The promise of night football in Larkin ahead of Ramadhan is nice.

The advice of keen footballer Zainal Abidin Rawop, a Johorean, was sought.

“They are too young bro!” That was last Friday.

Saidin Osman, 63, and Roslan Hj Mohd Yatim, 57

The next day we met a representative of Johor92 in Mentakab. “Umuq brapa?” Mohd Juhari Sulaiman said he is 52 but looks much younger. He was with Rashid Hanafiah, 58. This Rashid lives in Yong Peng, works in Sedenak and tends to show up for most Sahabat matches.

Such is the footballing camaraderie .
Mohd Juhari, the Johor92 rep was a former Johor footballer. His Johor92 team features Johor footballers of that period. He offered comforting words when met at a Patin Tempoyak place in Temerloh, suggesting that we would not be outplayed, terrorised. “You have not seen us play football ..this is about enjoying Patin Tempoyak.”

Mohd Juhari did agree to bring to their team several ex-Johor footballers who are 55 or thereabouts. Shall discuss this input with Zainal Abidin Rawop.

Rashid Hanafiah and Rashid, this reporter, operated the midfield department of the team that emerged champions of Liga Jeniang 1980, the year Saidin Osman accepted an offer to play for KL.

Never heard of this Jeniang tournament? The story made it to a sports magazine of that era.

We were jubilant. Hassan Musa our captain passed away a few years later at age 27-28.

Devastating. He made winning football matches a tangible ambition by means of cohesion and imagination.

On his part, Saidin Osman made it big by accepting this KL offer. Saidin kept his thoughts to himself in his debut game for Sahabat, against Persatuan Sukan dan Kebudayaan Perkhidmatan Pendidikan (PSKPP) Temerloh, at age 63.

He was cycling to training in Kangar earning a monthly salary of RM190 as a Government servant, and a daily training allowance of RM1.50 when a stunning offer to partner Fandi Ahmad for KL came. Fandi opted for Gronigen then. This Fandi – Saidin partnership materialised two years later.

In Mentakab on Saturday, Feb 11, Saidin’s striking partner was sub Inspector Roslan Hj Mohd Yatim, 57. And Roslan served in Perlis in the 1990s.

As for the Sahabat vs Temerloh match, Rashid Hanafiah won a third quarter penalty for Sahabat. Football of our age-group is usually contested over four, 20-min quarters.

Fuad Kassim, 58, my junior at school, stepped up to assume penalty-taking duty. Thank you Prof Redzuan, Ard, Imran Ahmad, Ku Azmi, Ibrahim Tuan Penasihat, Ayah Man, Hj Kamarulzaman Hj Karim, Baem, Ard, Jazli Lawas, Hasshim Man, Naset Prof, Hj Azahar, Hussain Salleh, Ariff Ariffin, Bad Bola and Razif Disa, 61, who worked tirelessly to set up this friendly match.

Thank you, Team Temerloh. Their key player addressed by teammates as “Ustaz” squatted besides me during the photo session. He is 60.

This Temerloh side taught us precious tips such as defending in numbers and precision. They had a grand total of four attempts on goal throughout the match. The final score was Temerloh 3 Sahabat 1.

We shall now promote a spectacular story. Mohd Junid Mohd Noor is playing football still. He is 79. We have secured the permission of his son to publish this bit right at the tail-end of this story. We hope to catch up with this footballing icon in Penang for a proper interview fairly soon.

The 79-year-old footballer still actively playing

Rashid Hanafiah was in Mentakab for the friendly match on Saturday. He met PLUS head of corporate communications Syed Mohammed Idid at the Ayer Keroh R&R Northbound after the launch of TNB EV charging stations by Works Minister