KUALA LUMPUR − The Malaysian football fraternity lost another icon yesterday with the death of former Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and Kuala Lumpur Football Association (KLFA) technical director, S. Subramaniam.
According to the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), Subramaniam, who was also a former KLFA coach and a FIFA instructor, passed away in the evening. He was 85.
Subramaniam, who received the AFC Gold Service award in 2011, is remembered as an important figure behind the KLFA youth development programme that unearthed many footballing talents, such as Azrul Amri Burhan, Azmin Azram Abdul Aziz and T. Gopinath Naidu.
“With his record as Selangor’s Burnley Cup coach, assistant coach of the national squad under Dave McLaren, and his two stints as Kuala Lumpur team coach, from 1981 to 1984 and 1993 before being appointed as AFC technical director in the same year, Subramaniam leaves behind a proud legacy as a football development expert.
“He was a part of the FIFA Technical Study Group for the 1998 World Cup and laid the foundations for the AFC coaching guidelines for various levels that have become a reference and training module for AFC level coach instructors starting in 1990,” the FAM said in a statement on Facebook.
Meanwhile, veteran sports reporter, Tony Mariadass, said Subramaniam played a pivotal role in bringing former FAM technical director, Richard Bate, and former national coach, Dr Josef Venglos, to Malaysia.
“A former school teacher... he was the man who was responsible to bring Serbegeth Singh from Johor to KL under the guidance of the late Tan Sri Elyas Omar.
“Subramaniam was later the technical director of KLFA and was largely responsible for their grassroots programmes, which were very successful. He also worked with FAM and AFC on technical aspects,” he added. – Bernama, September 1, 2021
