Story By FRANCIS XAVIER & Pictures By UMESH RAJAN
KOTA KINABALU: Head coach Jelius Ating is not about to be bothered by the team’s new mascot, insisting that his top priority is to help guide his side to do well in the 2019 Malaysia League campaign. After all, he said what is more important is that it is a Sabah team, and will still be a Sabah team despite the change of mascot. He also urged the local fans to be united in supporting the State senior squad this upcoming new season.
Jelius insisted that the fans play a crucial part of any team in the world with Sabah being no exception. “I hope the fans will stand together and support the team. If they can do that it will be a huge plus for the State team,” he said when met at the ‘Meet-The-Fans’ session hosted by Sabah Football Association (Safa) in collaboration with Ararat Sports & Souvenirs Sdn Bhd at one of leading shopping malls here, yesterday.
Jelius said this when asked to comment on the matter as Sabah football fans seemed to be divided by the change of the team mascot from Rhinos to ‘Tambadau’, which is local slang for Seladang (Gaurs). “My hope for the fans is that let us be united this year regardless of what the team mascot or logo is. Usually, the mascot can be changed but not the logo. So, if we want to see the team become successful, all of us need to be on the same page…we win together and likewise when the result is unfavourable.
“So to our fans, whether in Sabah or in Peninsular Malaysia, please continue to come in numbers to show support to the team. Our hope for this year is to be successful and perform much better the in the past years,” said Jelius. Also present were the seniors’ team manager Henry Saimpon, Ararat’s managing director Ben Wong, officials and players of the senior, Under-21 and Under-19 teams. Meanwhile, Henry is calling for all-out support from the fans when they kick start their campaign against Johor Darul Ta’zim II at the Likas Stadium on Saturday.
“I want to thank those fans who came for the ‘Meet-The-Fans’ session. Hopefully, we will see a huge crowd on Saturday,” he said. On behalf of the Sabah FA, Henry also expressed his gratitude to Ararat Sports & Souvenirs Sdn Bhd, particularly to Ben, for their generosity in sponsoring the team’s jersey. Ararat is the manufacturer of the local sports brand Carino and will be the official sponsor for the state team’s kit for the third year running. In all, Ararat has been the official attire sponsor for more than five seasons now.
