'sharpshooter' Shaharuddin Was A Disciplinarian, Says Son Shafiq

TAIPING, Dec 28 (Bernama) -- Strict and disciplined but full of caring. That was the attitude of the late national football legend, Shaharuddin Abdullah, 75, who died of asthma at Taiping Hospital early this morning.

The sixth son of the deceased, who was famously nicknamed ‘Sharpshooter’, Shafiq Shaharudin, 29, who is a Kuala Lumpur Rovers striker, said his father was always firm in every decision, especially when advising his children.

“My father was ill for the past two years, but in his ailing state, family and grandchildren were his utmost concern and recently he would spend every waking moment with the children.

“He was also the most important ‘mentor’ in my career as a footballer, I would seek his counsel on anything, now everything has become a memory,” sighed Shafiq when he was met here today.

Also nicknamed ‘The Black Cat’, Shaharuddin was Malaysia’s first goal scorer at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games in Germany, and hailed from Bagan Dalam in Butterworth, Penang, and is remembered as one of the pivotal characters in the country’s football history.

Shaharuddin, who wore the Malaysian jersey from 1967 to 1981 and won bronze in the 1974 Asian Games in Teheran, Iran, leaves behind seven children.

He is also the younger brother of the late Malaysian captain Datuk Namat Abdullah, who died in December 2020 from stage four colon cancer after the disease was first detected in August 2017.

Shafiq added that although he and his siblings felt very sad, they considered his father’s departure as a dictate of destiny from Allah SWT.

“It’s just that I made a mistake because yesterday I was in Taiping but after being informed that my father would recover in a few days, I decided to return to Johor.

“When I arrived in Johor, I received a call from my sister saying that my father had passed away and I wasn’t by his side in the very last moments. Maybe wisdom prevails because I returned (to Johor) to bring my wife and children to my father’s funeral,” he said.

According to Shafiq, he admitted that his talent in football was inherited from his late father and it was a path chosen of his own free will.

“It is true that my father is my idol even though I have never seen him play football, but only watched him in videos but he is the one who motivates me.

“Apart from my father, the late (uncle) Pak Long Namat also often followed the development of my football career and these two people were so close to me, their every advice still rings in my ears,” he said.

He said, one of the last pieces of advice from his father was to take care of the family members and look for a job that guarantees the family’s needs after he is no longer a footballer.

Meanwhile, one of Shaharuddin’s fans, Rus Bakar Ruraini Shafie, 65, said he received news that the deceased was hospitalised and tried to come to Taiping to visit him.

“I have been interested in ‘The Black Cat’ since I was 11 years old because there was no attacking player like him before the appearance of the late Mokhtar Dahari, starting as a midfielder then as a venomus striker.

“I have been planning to meet up with him for a long time, but it was not possible after the news that he had passed away, truly a great loss for the national football arena,” he said.

-- BERNAMA