Hello and welcome to FourthOfficial.com’s brand new feature – #MatchdayMadness! Through this feature, we will be documenting bits and pieces of what it’s like to be a local football fan and travel regularly to catch your team in action across all states within Malaysia.
For the better part of our lives, we’ve been brought up in an environment where skepticism trumps everything else when it comes to local football. So we’re not going to even dive into the negatives of Malaysian football here. Instead, we’re going to purely focus on the entire experience of travelling to a specific venue and experience the entire matchday atmosphere from before the game, during the game as well as after the game.
First location on our list? Tan Sri Dato Haji Hassan Yunos Stadium in Larkin, JB! We drove up to JB for JDT’s FA Cup tie against Negeri Sembilan, which turned out to be an entertaining game of football!
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THURSDAY | MARCH 3 2016
5.30 PM: We left approximately 5.30PM, with a Spotify playlist designed by yours truly, accompanying us on the journey. Of course, it included W.A.R.I.S’ ‘Rembau Most Wanted’! We were after all, on our way to catch Negeri Sembilan in action!
9.10 PM: Since we decided against booking a hotel beforehand, we literally drove into Johor Bahru and started hunting for a room at this hour. We wanted it to be near to the stadium, but we also opted to operate on a tight budget. So eventually, we found a room for ourselves at the Tropicana Inn in JB. As soon as we checked in, we left and hunted for a restaurant. The hunt eventually led us to ‘Malay Village’, which was pretty close to Padang Seri Gelam – JDT’s training ground.
11.00 PM: Now this is where the fun got underway. Immediately after dinner, we moved to Padang Seri Gelam. Now it’s not a secret that Padang Seri Gelam houses some of the best football training facilities within the country. And it’s absolutely gorgeous as well. But at night, when it’s empty, there’s a real special feeling about this place. After all, it did produce the reigning AFC Cup champions.
11.30 PM: But of course, we were never going to stop there were we? We ‘wazed’ our way to Larkin next, where we were treated to a majestic view of the Tan Sri Dato Haji Hassan Yunos Stadium!
12.30 PM: It was quite difficult to contain our excitement at this hour, but we had no choice! So we drove back to Tropical Inn and crashed on the bed.
FRIDAY | MARCH 4 2016
10.30AM: We woke up to a glorious view of the JB city from our hotel room window, though unfortunately, we did not take a good picture of it. But to give you a clearer outlook, here’s an image of it from the previous night.
2.00 PM: We had lunch and took a casual drive around JB. Since Friday is a public holiday in Johor the traffic wasn’t too bad, which allowed us to cruise along the Danga Bay. We made a quick stop at City Square to access the wi-fi at Starbucks, before eventually leaving for the stadium!
4.00PM: BOOM! We were here in Larkin and you could almost sense the excitement already. As soon as we parked, we started walking and exploring the entire area surrounding the stadium.
4.30 PM: Amazingly, we couldn’t spot a single stall selling fake JDT merchandises on the outside. Maybe we didn’t come across them, but considering that we walked quite a bit, our inability to spot a single one these stalls was absolutely impressive! Also, the crowd was starting to build at this point.
5.00 PM: We popped into the JDT store for a quick peek and one of us was also looking for the new JDT kit. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any in stock and it was quite a bummer to be told that new stocks would only be arriving in July!
5.45 PM: At this point, we were eager to get into the stadium and since we really wanted to experience what it felt like from eyes of a fan, we opted to sit with the fans at the grandstand area, instead of the media tribune. Also, the JDT media team were incredibly helpful in sorting that out for us! The most notable thing about this stadium was sheer effort that had been put into branding and creating a symbolic identity for themselves.
6.30 PM: We moved outside immediately to catch the arrival of the home team as well as the away team. While waiting for the buses to arrive, we managed to document the arrival of Negeri Sembilan fans as well! The kids who would be accompanying the players on their way out to the pitch, also arrived at this point. At approximately 7.15PM, the Negeri Sembilan players arrived in style, led by head coach, Gary Phillips as well as their skipper, Taylor Regan. 15 minutes later, the JDT lads also arrived to a loud roar from fans who were eagerly waiting near their arrival point.
8.00 PM: So we made our way back into the stadium as the atmosphere began to slowly build up. Players eventually came out for the routine warm-up sessions and as soon as they left for the dressing rooms, the atmosphere began to hit immeasurable heights! Folks from the Boys of Straits were absolutely killing it from the stands, before a few of them performed their usual pre-match cameo, merely moments before kick off.
9.00 PM: Kick-off! We were handed a decent game of football for the next 45 minutes or so. JDT broke the deadlock through Azniee Taib’s sensational strike within minutes into the game, before doubling their lead through Amri Yahya soon after.
9.45 PM: At half time, we left our seats to get drinks and guess what we found?
10.00 PM: Second half got underway! There was a bit more action after the break, with Negeri Sembilan increasing their tempo. They definitely started testing the JDT defence a lot more than usual. It was certainly keeping fans fully focused!
10.45 PM: Game over! Four goals were scored in the second half and JDT eventually clinched a 4-2 win, thanks to two goals from Jorge Diaz in the second half. Negeri were no pushovers, despite playing side that was well above them in terms of quality. But they were ultimately undone by a fantastic performance from Azniee Taib, who was the Man of the Match, in our eyes. Since it was a home win, getting out of the stadium incorporated plenty of fun as there was a positive buzz amongst the home fans! But of course, we had to take a quick peek of the pitch!
11.15 PM: After waiting for the roads to clear up, we finally left the stadium, and headed for the nearest McDonalds, which apparently was pretty close to Padang Seri Gelam. We arrived just in time to catch the penalty shoot-out between Kelantan and Kedah. For some odd reason, the entire McDonalds was filled with Kedah fans (or perhaps they were just not keen on seeing Kelantan win), so as soon as Kedah won the shoot-out, the place got really LOUD!
12.30 AM: We spent some time in McDonalds, looking back at the whole day. It’s one thing to see JDT play, but it’s a complete different thing to see them play at home, in front of a boisterous crowd. There’s no denying the fact that 50% of their battle is won outside the pitch. Larkin is no longer just a footballing venue for away teams – it’s a feared ground. The sheer amount of branding within the stadium and the professional way in which they conduct themselves as a club, often leaves opposition players in awe. It’s precisely why the Southern Tigers have a formidable record when it comes to home games. At 12.30, we packed our stuff and headed back to KL, having spent 24 fantastic hours in Johor Bahru.
Till our next trip!
#TeamFourthOfficial #MatchdayMadness
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