SEREMBAN: Negri Sembilan Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan admitted that he was banned for life from participating in official football tournaments in the state after receiving a red card some 40 years ago.
The admission by Mohamad, who is also the Negeri Sembilan Football Association (PBNS) president , followed reports in the social media of the life ban which cut short his playing days as a tough tackling defender in the 1970s.
Mohamad said the life ban followed an incident in 1977 when he was playing for Negeri Sembilan Malays in a match against Negeri Sembilan Indians at Seremban Municipal Council (MPS) ground.
“Earlier, I committed a foul on G. Torairaju, a national player at that time, and was given the yellow card by the referee. I protested and kicked the ball and hit him (referee). He flashed the red card and I grabbed the ball and threw ball which got stuck on a tree. The matched ended 1-1.
“It was my last official match and fittingly, it was the final between NS Malays and NS Indians. In those days, the local league was great and later it was taken over by the Dunhill League. I played in central defence.
“I wanted to make Torairaju retire from football,” he told reporters after chairing the State Executive Council meeting at Wisma Negeri here, today.
Mohamad said seven or eight years ago, there was a motion from PBNS members to lift the ban on him but it was rejected.
“I am still banned although I am the PBNS president. There is an attempt to lift the ban but I do not want it because I was wrong and deserved to be dismissed and banned.”
The ban was only effective in the Negeri Sembilan football league. - BERNAMA