RM1.36mil boost for hockey veterans’ World Cup dream

KUALA LUMPUR: Most sporting careers end quietly. The cheers fade, the boots go into storage and the pursuit of victory gives way to the realities of everyday life.

Malaysia’s hockey veterans chose a different path.

For more than four decades, the Sultan Ahmad Shah Veterans Hockey Association (SAS) has ensured retirement never meant walking away from the game.

Yesterday, that enduring commitment received its biggest endorsement yet when the association raised RM1.36 million to support five Malaysian men’s teams competing at the 2026 World Masters Hockey World Cup in the Netherlands and Belgium.

The amount had reached RM1.1 million before sponsors and corporate partners pledged another RM260,000 during an event at the St Regis Kuala Lumpur.

For many of the players, the support means more than financial relief. Registration fees, flights, accommodation, equipment and insurance have often come from their own pockets, even after decades of serving Malaysian hockey.

They kept playing because hockey had become more than a sport. It had become friendship, purpose and a lifelong bond.

Association president Tengku Fahad Mu’adzam Shah described the campaign as an investment in people rather than simply a fundraising exercise.

“Your contribution is not a donation. It is an investment in Malaysian sport, in healthy living and in national pride,” he said.

He urged corporate partners, agencies and supporters to continue backing the campaign so that no deserving Malaysian would miss the opportunity to represent the country because of financial constraints.

Malaysia will field teams in the Over-40, Over-45, Over-50, Over-60 and Over-65 categories at the biennial championships from July 22 to Aug 16.

Together, they represent players who have refused to let age define the end of their sporting journey.

Their commitment continues to bring results. At this year’s Asian Cup in Hong Kong, Malaysia’s Over-50 side won the title for the first time, while the Over-60 team successfully defended its title.

Those victories came through discipline, preparation and years of commitment, not nostalgia.

The afternoon also celebrated hockey’s long connection with the Pahang royal family.

Al-Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah thanked donors by singing three songs – “Kisah Seorang Biduan” , “Kenangan Lalu” and the Hindi classic “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai” – in a light-hearted gesture that reflected his family’s enduring support for the sport.

A former hockey player and former president of the Malaysian Hockey Confederation, the Pahang sultan has continued the legacy started by his late father.

A legacy that endures

The late Sultan Ahmad Shah founded SAS with fellow veterans and officials in 1981 to bring former players back to the game and ensure the veterans’ hockey had a home in Malaysia.

Forty-five years later, that vision continued under Al-Sultan Abdullah, who later entrusted the association to his brother, Tengku Fahad Mu’adzam Shah.

Together with deputy president Majid Manjit Abdullah and vice-president Surinder Singh, they have strengthened the programme, giving veteran players the coaching, support and opportunities to keep representing Malaysia.

The bigger achievement is what SAS has built over four decades: a community where friendship outlasts competition, the national jersey never loses its meaning, and retirement is simply the start of a different chapter.

Most sporting careers end quietly. Malaysia’s hockey veterans simply refused to let theirs end with the final whistle.