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| READY TO ROCK AND ROLL … launching of the club at the IKMKK in Sepanggar on Friday. |
Cebagoo will be the fifth local club to have made it into the competition after Taya, Likas United, Internacionale, Gunosukod Pangaits and Beverly FC. It has been five years since Beverly FC featured in the tournament. Beverly did well to reach the final before bowing out to Proton FC 4-2 in the final. Despite the defeat, they were among the four teams that earned promotion to the Premier League.
The other two teams were Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and Felda United. Unfortunately, they decided to pull out obviously due to their financial status. Of the four, only Felda United still remain in the M-League where they have grown in status and are currently among the Super League teams.
Cebagoo FC president Mohd Joh Wid said this will be another milestone for the club that was established in 1991. “It started from a small village team. Initially, it was known as Cebagoo Star before rebranding it to Cebagoo FC some time later,” he revealed at the launching of the club held at the IKMKK Theatre in Sepanggar over the weekend.
“Then majority of the players are from the same village, before slowly taking players from nearby villages. But today, Joh revealed, their players are from all over Sabah, and this is in line with their desire to grow bigger. “After 20 years, we finally managed to become champion,” he said referring to their feat of lifting the KK Carino League title last year.
“We are also registered with the Malaysian Sports Commissioners office. Our application was approved last year,” he said. Club advisor Datuk Mohd Hasnol Ayub, Sabah FA Secretary General Alijus Hj Sipil, Ben Wong from Ararat Sports & Souvenirs Sdn Bhd, who will be one of the club’s sponsor, as well as Ajahar Abd Latif, IKMKK Sports Coordinator were also present at the launching.
Joh also confirmed that they have been given the nod to represent Sabah at the FAM Cup by the Sabah FA. However, he admitted there are several requirements they need to fulfil before their dream can become a reality. Among the requirements are, they need to secure a whopping some of RM300, 000 security as well as must have at least RM50, 000 in the club’s account and they must have qualified coaches for the team. But a lack of a good training field is a problem for Joh.
“This is one of the challenges we will be facing,” stressed Joh. Meanwhile, Alijus said that they will try their best to assist the club in any possible way. In relating to the qualified coaches, Alijus, who is also in the FA of Malaysia Competition Committee, said that for Cebagoo FC, they need a FAM Cup Licence B coach to lead the team, as the new ruling of wanting teams to have Licence A for both the head coach and assistant coach, will only be implemented in 2015 (for FAM Cup).
Alijus also said that the FA is proud with what Cebagoo FC is doing while hoping that they will continue with the good efforts. “We hope they will continue with their commitments and efforts and on our part we will try our best to assist and cooperate with the club,” said Alijus.
