Courtesy: Electric News Paper


WHEN GIRLS MEET BOYS

By Ashikin Hashim

April 19, 2008

THEY'RE a team with both male and female players

Which is a rarity - especially in the thriving male-dominated social weekend football scene here.

But for these ever-zealous players who call themselves Team Play Cheat, it's all about sustaining their 11-year friendships - and relationships.

You see, the women in the team are actually long-time girlfriends of the players - all seven of them.

'For five years, I watched the guys when they played their Sunday morning games,' laughed Norizan Hairuddin, a 22-year-old valuer.

'But I was never interested in playing the game.'

However, along with her fellow females, she was adamant not to be labelled a 'WAG' or a mere sideline supporter.

(WAG was coined in England to describe the wives and girlfriends of professional footballers.)

Over time they became tired of just being spectators. They too wanted a piece of the action and, just like that, a women's team was born.

'There were a few futsal tournaments with an open category for women's teams. The guys encouraged us to take part but we didn't have any formal training,' said Sulastri Kamaruddin, 22, a nurse.

'Eventually, we decided to go for it. We reckoned it was never too late to learn.'

Until then, the last time Sulastri kicked a ball was at a mini-football camp in primary school some 15 years ago.

COAXING

Last month, with a little bit of coaxing from her boyfriend, she strapped on a pair of $150 boots, socks and shin pads and was ready to go.

But not without any basic ball training.

That came courtesy of the male players. They were ever ready to help.

Syaifuddin Mohamed, 23, a server technician, acts as the unofficial girls coach, often discussing pre-match tactics and leading their training sessions on Thursdays.

'We'll just have a kick-about to see if the girls can pass the ball properly, dribble and shoot. Of course, communication is not a problem because they talk a lot anyway,' he joked.

According to the girls, it was difficult at first to grasp the technicalities that went into the game.

'It was awkward for me because I found it hard to dribble and control the ball,' said Jannah Sulaiman, 19, a student.

'It was quite frustrating. They (the guys) really pushed us the first time and made us run 3km down East Coast to see if we had the stamina to last a full match.'

Nur Hana Mohd, 22, a nurse, whose sister plays for the national women's football team, was also visibly excited to be playing her first football game.

'I play netball and I kayak a lot more than I play football. But I'm glad to be part of history today,' she said.

'We're going to expand the team and hopefully, more girls will join us.'

Despite their courageous words, the men are not willing to be overshadowed by the women just yet.

Their biggest achievement was probably in May 2006 when they defeated a team of visiting Brazilian futsal players in the open-category of a beach futsal tournament.

CHEATING

'Everyone thought just because they were Brazilian, they were going to beat us. But we proved them wrong and won 2-0,' said Syaifuddin proudly.

'There wasn't any cheating involved though - although the guys thought that adding a pinch of humour to their team name was harmless fun.

'We picked the name 'Team Play Cheat' randomly and it has stayed with us ever since,' said Surizwan Sulaiman, 22, a student who also plays for the team.

Indeed, the male 'division' is comprises brothers, cousins and friends who have been active in futsal and field football since 1997.

But do they think their female players can match up to their history?

Said Surizwan: 'For now, I think we've got the advantage because we're more skilful. But give the women time and they might get better.'





Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com