New Sabah Times
By FRANCIS XAVIER
KOTA KINABALU: Newly-formed Sepanggar Football Club is aiming high.
They are hoping to make it big by competing in the national football league. For a start, they have set their sights on making their entry in the national level competition next year.
The club’s patron, Datuk Mohd Azis Jamman revealed their plans after the meet-the-players session at the University Malaysia Sabah (UMS) Stadium on Monday.
The Deputy Minister of Home Affairs insisted that he is serious in wanting to see the team do well before pledging his fullest support, not only in terms of morale support but also financially.
However, he said they will be taking things one step at a time, at least for now.
“We don’t want to be a one-season wonder. We want to have a long-term plan and for a start, our target is to compete in the FAM Cup League next year (2020),” Mohd Azis said.
“We want to be one of the best clubs in the state and eventually in the country,” he added.
He said they will continue to develop and build the team by bringing in the best talent around.
Mohd Azis, who is also Member of Parliament for P171 Sepanggar, added that their immediate task is to do well in the KDM Football League, which is scheduled to kick off later this month.
Sepanggar FC, who will compete under the KDM Sepanggar FC banner, has been drawn in Group A along with KK City, Sipitang, Sepanggar, Kiulu in the competition.
They will kick off their campaign against KDM Kiulu on January 27.
“We have conducted selection trials and centralised training to form the team to compete in the KDM Malaysia Football League 2019.
From what I see, our preparations have been going on smoothly. I think the current set of players that we have, we will be able to mount a strong challenge.
“But most importantly, we must do it as a team. We need good teamwork, not only among the players, but also the coaching staff as well as the club management.
“If we can do this, I’m sure, it is not impossible for the team to do well,” he said.
“If we can do well in the KDM Football League, it is not impossible for us to compete in the bigger league such as the FAM Cup League, which is our aim.”
For the record, Sepanggar FC is spearheaded by quite a number of ex-state players with the notable one being left-back Julamri Muhammad.
The team is under the watchful eyes of former Malaysia women’s squad head coach Mohd Asyraff Fong Abdullah, who also had a short stint coaching the state senior side.
Earlier on, Asyraff had said that his side is ready for KDM Football League. “We have been training since November, and we will be using the remaining days to fine tune the team before we kick off our challenge against Kiulu FC,” he said.
