Sarawak FA

Full name	Football Association of Sarawak State Football Team
Nickname(s)	Ngap Sayot Bujang Senang The Crocs Sarawak
Founded	1974; 51 years ago (1974)
Dissolved	2021
Ground	Sarawak State Stadium
Capacity	26,000[1]
Owner	Football Association of Sarawak
Website	http://www.sarawakfa.com.my
Home colours Away colours

Sarawak FA State Football Team (Malay: Pasukan Bola Sepak Negeri Sarawak) was a football team which represented the Malaysian region (formerly state)^[2] of Sarawak from 1974.^[3] It was one of the state teams of the Malaysian football structure. The team's home matches used to be played at the Sarawak State Stadium, Kuching.

The team had won the Malaysia FA Cup in 1992, the old Malaysian Premier League in 1997 (which was Malaysian top-tier division league at the time) and the Malaysia Charity Shield in 1998. In 2013, the team won the second-tier division league, the Malaysia Premier League, in which they were promoted to the Malaysia Super League the following year.^[4]

The team last played in the third-tier Malaysia M3 League in 2020, but due financial constraints faced by FAS at the time, Sarawak FA did not register to compete in the Malaysia M3 League the following year.^[5] As the team did not compete in the 2021 Malaysia M3 league, many football fans in Malaysia saw this as the end to a once legendary team from Sarawak. Although there is a club, supported by FAS, which started to use the name Sarawak United, Sarawakian football purists only accepted the team as a "reincarnation" of the old Sarawak FA team.^[6]

Early incarnations of the team really existed after the creation of the Crown Colony of Sarawak. Although there were football activities which existed in present-day Malaysian region of Sarawak before World War I, most of the activities focused on local football league or cup competitions created by Europeans, mostly British,^[7] who settled in Sarawak at the time. It was not until the creation of the Borneo Cup football cup competition in the 1950s, that the world would see a football team representing Sarawak and using the name of Sarawak appearing in a tournament. Sarawak would go on win the tournament six times before the tournament was last held in 1988.

After the formation Malaysia in 1963, the team simply became known as the Sarawak State Football Team because it is a team funded by the Malaysian state government of Sarawak to compete and represent the state of Sarawak in the Malaysian football system. It was one of the 14 Malaysian state football teams that existed in the Malaysian football system before 2021. All the 14 Malaysian state teams operated just like the Sarawak State Football Team before 2021, in which they are not professional clubs but rather teams representing the Malaysian states or a Malaysian state football associations, funded by their respective state governments to compete in Malaysian football competitions. Outsiders who are not familiar with the Malaysian football system before 2020 would come to recognise these teams as state FA teams, hence Sarawak State Football Team was also known as Sarawak FA.^[8]

Despite already joining mainstream Malaysian football since the formation of the country in 1963, Sarawak State Football Team only competed in Malaysia national football tournaments for the first time in 1979. This was only after an individual known as Taha Ariffin made reforms to the association that governs football in Sarawak by creating the Football Association of Sarawak (FAS) in 1974.^[9] Sarawak FA were also founding members of the Malaysia's first ever national football league competition known as the Liga Malaysia which was first played in 1982. It was however an amateur football league which was created to determine which team gets to play in the Malaysia Cup competition from 1982 to 1988, before the introduction of the Malaysian Semi-Professional league in 1989.

During Malaysia's amateur football league era from 1982 to 1988, Sarawak were regulars in the league but had never achieved any significant success in the league or major cup competitions in the country. However, during the amateur era, it was the first time that Malaysian football fans would come to pay attention to the Sarawak State Football Team after the emergence of Awang Mahyan Awang Mohamed who was tasked by the FAS to coach the team from the year 1988. His era as Sarawak State Football Team head coach would come to be known by fans of the team as the 'Ngap Sayot' era.

Sarawak State Football Team's history in the semi-professional era of Malaysian football would forever be associated to Awang Mahyan's team. They were able to beat opponents who were deemed much stronger during the time. One of the most famous moments in Sarawak football was in 1988 when Awang Mahyan's team managed to reach the Malaysia Cup semi-final. Sarawak looked to be on the course to make their first final in the competition, but referee's misjudgement during the quarter-final match saw the team controversially eliminated. Some of the players claimed that there was a brawl between them and law enforcement after the match. The incident also strained national integration in which the FAS took the decision to withdraw their affiliation from the FAM for a while.

The Ngap Sayot catchphrase as many Malaysian football fans would associate with the Sarawak State Football Team emerged during the time Awang Mahyan was head coach of the team too. It was a translation from the colloquial Sarawakian Malay phrase of "(to) eat vegetables". It was used to mock any team who face the Sarawak State Football Team when ever there is any match played by the team. The catchphrase was inaugurated after the Sarawak State Football Team and their fans, at the time, have made it a ritual to always chant for their team by saying that they can easily beat their team's opponents, hence metamorphically saying that the opposing team is something that can be eaten easily - just like vegetables.

Other catchphrases for the Sarawak State Football Team also emerged, such as Ngap Ajak and Tebang Bala Sidak. Fans of the team would also create catchphrases such as the Spirit of 88 to pay tribute to the Sarawak State Football Team during the amateur era of Malaysian football. Awang Mahyan would go on to coach the team until 1990. He will always be remembered as one of the fathers of Sarawakian football revolution. He transformed a Sarawakian side from perennial underachievers to a force to be reckoned with in Malaysian football, despite never winning any major trophies.

After Awang Mahyan's departure, FAS subsequently named Wahet Uji as Awang Mahyan's successor in 1991. Wahet's tenure as Sarawak State Football Team head coach however lasted for only about one year. It was clear that his predecessor had left a huge impact on the team and he had big shoes to fill. FAS opted instead to look for a foreigner to manage the team after the departure of Wahet. In 1992 Sarawak football fans would be introduced to an individual who would go on to become a legendary coach for the team; Alan Vest. The Englishman who played international football representing New Zealand, won the team their first ever major trophy during his first year in charge, the Malaysia FA Cup.

Vest was with Sarawak State Football Team during the last season of the Malaysian Semi-Pro football era, and at the first season of the Malaysian Professional football era in 1994. Sarawak State Football Team were also league runners-up in 1993.

Under the management of Vest during the early years of the professional era of Malaysian football, the team went on win more trophies. This was also thanks to the huge investment made by FAS who assembled the squad.^[10] FAS' investment paid off during the early years as Sarawak were the most consistent side in Malaysia. Sarawak went on to win the Malaysian top division league title in 1997, known as the Malaysia Premier League. It was the greatest achievement by the Sarawak State Football Team to date.^[11] Apart from winning the Malaysian top division title, the team also won the Malaysia Charity Cup in 1998. It could be summarised that all of the Sarawak State Football Team's success came under the era of Vest.

The Sarawak State Football Team also played in the 1998–99 Asian Cup Winners' Cup but were eliminated from the competition by Japanese side Kashima Antlers, suffering a 14-2 trouncing in the quarter-finals stages of the competition. It would be the only appearance by a Sarawakian team in a continental competition to date. Vest unfortunately had to leave in 1999 after Malaysian football authorities decided they wanted a change in policy on foreign player and coaches. His place was taken over by former team captain Abdul Jalil Ramli who was Vest's assistant since 1998. Jalil failed to win Sarawak State Football Team's first Malaysia Cup title in 1999, after qualifying for the final. They were beaten 2–1 by a Brunei representative team that had import players as opposed to Sarawak. Jalil was again unfortunate in 2001 after the Sarawak State Football Team was beaten by Selangor State Football Team 0-1 in the Malaysia FA Cup final.

Jalil would leave in 2003 and Sarawak State Football Team would begin its "era of uncertainty".^[12] Although the Sarawak State Football Team became one of the eight teams who formed the inaugural Malaysia Super League in 2004, it was relegated and thus played in the Malaysian second division in 2005.

Jalil returned from 2005 to 2006, but he failed to revive the Sarawak State Football Team's glory days of the 1990s, albeit he managed to get the team promoted back to the Malaysian top division league in 2006. The team would however be relegated to the second division again in 2008. All that uncertainty and underachievement seemingly came to an end after FAS reappointed Dutchman Robert Alberts in 2011, after he had previously managed the team from 2008 to 2009.

Although Alberts' first stint was a less-than-memorable one due to the fact that the team had just been relegated, he was appointed midway through the 2011 season to replace Zaki Sheikh.^[13] Alberts did well to get the team promoted, but Sarawak relegated again at the end of the 2012 Super League season.

Despite playing in the second division in 2013, it did not deter the spirit of the team and Alberts stayed, being crowned second division champions in the same year.^[14] What made the success even sweeter was that the team completed the season campaign unbeaten, with the record of 18 wins and 4 draws in 22 games.^[15][16] For the feat, that season in the Malaysian football league would come to be known as the "Era of the Invincibles" for the Sarawak State Football Team. Fans would also praise Alberts for getting the locals to successfully team up with foreign import players such as Bosnian striker Muamer Salibašić and Cameroonian centre-back Guy Bwele. The very same team team also competed in the Malaysia FA Cup and Malaysia Cup, but was unable to win.^[17]

Owing to poor performances of the Sarawak State Football Team in 2015 Malaysia Super League, Alberts' contract was mutually terminated and was replaced by Fuad Grbešić. He acted as the team's interim coach until the end of the 2015 Super League season.^[18] Sarawak State Football Team narrowly escaped relegation. FAS felt that changes had to be made in order to keep the team in the Super League by appointing former Malaysia national team coach K. Rajagopal at the end of 2015. Rajagopal's stint at Sarawak did not last long either, as his contract was terminated on 7 May 2016 after the poor performances.^[19][20]

After playing in the Malaysian Super League from 2014, the team was relegated at the end of the 2017 season. Things got worse as they were again relegated, to the Malaysia M3 League, at the end of the 2019 season. What made the relegation a bitter pill to swallow was that the team was relegated after playing a play-off match and losing 1–3 against their crosstown rivals Kuching City FC.^[21]

After being relegated to the Malaysian third division, FAS had tried to rebrand the Sarawak State Football Team as a feeder team to Sarawak United in 2020. Should the Sarawak State Football Team be rebranded as a feeder team, it would also be renamed Sarawak United II for the purpose of competing the in 2020 Malaysia M3 League season, but the name change was not approved by the Amateur Football League. The team hence went on to use the Sarawak FA name when they competed in in 2020.^[22] In early 2021, FAS made the announcement that they will not register the Sarawak FA team to compete in the upcoming season, citing financial constraints.^[23] Many football fans in Malaysia saw this as the end to a once legendary team.^[24][24][25]

Apart from Muamer Salibašić, and Bwele Sarawak had many notable players which their fans remembered fondly by fans throughout the years. Among them are James Yaakub,^[26] Rosli Akup, Affendi Julaihi, Jalil Ramli, Ramos Sari, Bobby Pian, Mohamad Ali Sapiee, former Scottish-born Australian imports John Hunter and Jeff Curran, former Australian imports such as David Evans (who used to be the longest serving import player in Malaysian football) and Alistair Edwards (who is currently a technical director for Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.), former Malaysian national team striker Shamsurin Abdul Rahman and many more. Former legendary goalkeeper for the Sarawak FA State Football team of the 1990s Mazlan Wahid also made his name as the best goalkeeper in the country during his stint with the team,^[27] while Sarawakians can also be proud that Malaysian footballing legend Safee Sali had played for the team from 2005 to 2006. In recent years, Gilbert Cassidy, Joseph Kalang Tie and Shahrol Saperi were also considered legends of the team as well.

Sarawak was known as The Kenyalang, during the amateur era of Malaysian football. The Kenyalang is a common name by Malaysians for the Great Hornbill bird, which is synonymous with the Malaysian state of Sarawak. In the 1980s, the Black Cats was chosen as the team's pseudonym; however, following series of notorious crocodile attacks at heavily infested rivers in the state during the 1990s, the nick Bujang Senang is chosen to represent Sarawak's chivalric and ferocious play. The name is chosen after a legendary and notorious man-eating crocodile Bujang Senang, who is believed to reside at the Batang Lupar River in the Sri Aman Division.^[28] In 1988, under the coach Awang Mahyan Awang Mohamad, he introduced the slogan Ngap Sayot and brought the team to its first Malaysia Cup semi-final,^[29] defeating other teams deemed several times to be more stronger than Sarawak, such as Selangor, Kedah, Kuala Lumpur and Pahang.^[30] Several other themes then emerged, among them are Ngap Ajak and Tebang Bala Sidak. Recently, the Semangat 88 (Spirit of 88) theme is used alongside Ngap Sayot to emulate the success of the 1980s team.

The team's main home was the 26,000-seater Sarawak State Stadium (Malay: Stadium Negeri Sarawak) in Petra Jaya, Kuching.^[1] The team previously played at the Jubilee Ground (Malay: Padang Jubli) at Padungan Road, Kuching from 1974 until the mid-1980s, before moving to the new ground. Following facilities upgrade in 1989 for 1990 Sukma Games, the stadium remained as their base until 1997 when they moved to the new stadium after the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship concluded.

Being a Malaysian state football team competing in the Malaysian football league system before 2021, the team wore kits with the crest of the Football Association of Sarawak (FAS) on them, whenever they play any competitive match. Before the year 1995, the team never used any crest or simply used the Sarawak state flag on their kits when playing competitive matches too. The only other time after 1995 that team also wore kits with the Sarawak state flag and without the FAS logo was in 2010. In 2017, the team used an alternate Sarawak FA logo on their kits as well, in which the move was not well received by their fans. The team reverted to using the FAS logo on their kits the following season (in 2018) until the dissolution the team in 2021.

The flag of Sarawak has always been an inspiration for kit colour schemes. Historically, the home shirt was red and black, augmented by black or white shorts and red socks. However, colours for both shorts and socks may occasionally change to either black, white or red, according to season's preference. Certain seasons have seen yellow, orange and even white kits worn as first choice kits. Owing to team's success mostly dressed in red and black, the team was sometimes colloquially known as Merah Hitam (The Red and Blacks). Similarly, the away kit was always blue and black; akin to its home kit, colours for both shorts and socks may occasionally change to either blue or white. Certain seasons have seen white, yellow and navy blue kits worn as change kits.

Sarawak has also introduced a third or alternate kit in the past. In general, most Sarawak kits were influenced by the colours of top Italian football clubs, AC Milan and Internazionale. Sarawak's first known kit manufacturer is Puma, followed by Diadora. Since 1991, the team has worn Lotto kits, which have witnessed tremendous success and fame before switching to local brand Rossi in September 2001. After nine years, Adidas became the kit of choice for one season in 2010 prior to the appointment of another local brand, Starsport who supplied kits for the team until 2019. The team last wore kits made by Spanish manufacturer Joma in 2020.

Since the 1980s until 2010, all teams competing in Malaysian football leagues were sponsored by single sponsors, namely Dunhill (1980s–05) and Telekom Malaysia (TM) (2006–10), apart from league sponsorship. From season 2011 onwards, the national satellite television Astro took over as league sponsor, while competing teams were individually sponsored by respective corporates and suppliers.

In addition, the Lea Group of Companies through their sporting wing Lea Sports Centre, has been Sarawak's shirt sponsor since the 1990s. Previous sponsors include Bank Utama, Power (a brand by Bata), Inai Kiara, Holiday Inn, AirAsia, Larsen Oil & Gas and Naim Holdings, and currently, the team is sponsored by Sarawak Energy,^[31] Shin Yang, Ibraco Berhad, Marina Parkcity, Titanium Management, DD Plantations, HSL, Rimbunan Hijau and Lea Sports Centre. For the 2019 season, Malindo Air became corporate partner and official airline for the Sarawak team.

Season	Manufacturer	Sponsor
1992–2000	Lotto	Dunhill
2001–2004	Rossi
2005		TMnet
2005–2006		Celcom
2006–2007		TM
2007–2008
2009		Streamyx
2010	Adidas	TM
2011–2013	Starsport	Naim Holdings
2014–2016		Sarawak Energy
2016		Marina ParkCity
2017		Sarawak Energy
2018		none
2019		Press Metal
2020	Joma	Harini Sdn.Bhd

As of 14 February 2020

Note:

• P = Played, W = Win, D = Draw, L= Loss, F = Goal for, A = Goal against, Pts = Points, Pos = Position

  1st or Champions   2nd or Runner-Up   3rd place   Relegation

Source:^[32][33]

Sarawak FA Malaysia Cup Records
Champion / Year	Result	Pld	W	D	L	F	A
1921 to 1933	did not enter
1934 to 1967
1968 to 1978
1979	First Entered	-	-	-	-	-	-
1980 to 1987	Unknown record
1988	Semi-final	20	8	7	5	23	17
1989	Quarter-final	17	7	3	7	20	43
1990 to 1998	Unknown record
1999	Runner-up	-	-	-	-	-	-
2000	Semi-final	10	5	2	3	15	10
2001	Group Stage	6	2	1	3	7	11
2002		6	3	0	3	10	11
2003	Quarter-final	8	3	3	2	15	12
2004	Group Stage	6	3	0	3	15	12
2005	did not enter
2006	Quarter-final	8	4	3	1	11	5
2007	Group Stage	9	2	2	5	17	23
2008		10	0	7	17	24	5
2009		6	0	0	6	1	26
2010	did not enter
2011	Group Stage	6	1	0	5	2	11
2012		6	2	1	3	10	13
2013	Semi-final	10	4	3	3	13	5
2014	Group Stage	6	1	2	3	6	9
2015	Quarter-final	6	2	2	2	5	7
2016	Group Stage	6	0	2	4	4	13
2017		6	1	2	3	6	12

Sarawak FA Cup Records
Champion / Year	Result
2009	Second Round
2010
2011	First Round
2012
2013	Quarter Final
2014
2015	Second Round
2016
2017	First Round
2018	First Round
2019	Second Round

Champion / Year	Result	Pld	W	D	L	F	A
2018	Group Stage	6	0	1	5	3	14
2019	Semi-final	4	1	1	2	3	6

• Asian Cup Winners' Cup: 2 appearance

1993–94: Withdrew

1999: Quarter-final

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away
1993–94	Asian Cup Winners' Cup	First round	Cảng Sài Gòn	(w/o)1
1998–99	Asian Cup Winners' Cup	First round	Ho Chi Minh City Customs	3–1	2–1
		Second round	Yangon City Development	3–02	1–0
		Quarter-finals	Kashima Antlers	2–4	0–103

¹ Sarawak FA withdrew

² Yangon City Development were unable to field a team for the second leg due to player illness.

³ The squad was not prepared to face the cold weather which reached up to 3 °C. Even more surprising is that Sarawak does not have long-sleeved jerseys and the players have to wear two to three layers of shirts. The situation makes it difficult for players to perform more smoothly and comfortably.^[34]

Season	Player	Goals
2009	Joseph Kalang Tie	11
	Zamri Morshidi	10
2011	Bobby Gonzales	15
	Zamri Morshidi	11
	Ashri Chuchu	8
2012	Ashri Chuchu	4
2014	S. Chanturu	6
2015	Billy Mehmet	15
2016	Ndumba Makeche	10
2017	Cristiano Ronaldo	9
2018	Bobby Gonzales	15
2019	Bobby Gonzales	9

^[35] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  MAS Ahmad Uzair Zaidil 3 DF  MAS Sugunthan a/l Maniam 4 DF  MAS Asrin Kalam 5 DF  MAS Shukor Sulaiman 6 DF  MAS Muhamad Alif Najmi Ahmad 7 DF  MAS Mohd Hashim Shamsudin 8 DF  MAS Dalglish Papin 9 DF  MAS Ahrasu Ananthan 10 DF  MAS Ronan Chaong Ak Tambat 11 MF  MAS Nashrul Shazrin Roslan 12 MF  MAS Sulaiman Jamali 13 MF  MAS Fauzan Dzulkifli 14 FW  MAS Nor Mohd Hafizz Nor Azam 15 FW  MAS Amar Muaz Zamri 16 FW  MAS Azrizan Ahmad

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 FW  MAS Abdi Effendi Mukhrijen 18 MF  CGO Ushindi Baraka 19 FW  MAS Nursalam Zainal Abidin 20 MF  MAS Nur Areff Kamaruddin (captain) 21 FW  MAS Wan Zulhilmi Wan Mustafa 22 FW  UGA Denis Amadire 23 MF  MAS Mohd Hafizie Erwinshah 24 MF  MAS Nizam Abu Bakar 25 GK  MAS Ayyub Hakimi Saiful Affendi 26 MF  MAS Shazlan Zaidin 27 DF  UGA Omar Hitimana 28 FW  MAS Hattaphon Bun An 29 FW  CGO Ntambwe Papy 30 FW  SMR Matteo Vitaioli 99 GK  MAS Navind Raj a/l Gnanasegaran

As of 10 June 2020^[36]

Position	Name
Head coach	Sam Timbe
Assistant coach
Goalkeeping coach	Mohd Faiz Abdul Khalid
Fitness coach	Jerry Tanny Raymond
Physiotherapist	Mohd Fikri Enidzullah
Kitman	Muhd Sufyan Mohd Husin
Masseur	Wan Bujang Wan Othman

• Poasa Sahar (1979–1981)
• Edrus Alwi (1982)
• Alan Bradshaw (1983)
• Chow Kwai Lam (1984)
• Che Su (1985–1987)
• Mahyan Mohammad (1988–1989)
• Wahet Uji (1990–1991, 2005)
• Alan Vest (1992–1998)
• Jalil Rambli (1999–2003, 2005–2006)
• Trevor Morgan (2004)
• Pengiran Bala (2007, 2017–2018)
• Mohammad Mentali (2007–2008)
• Kunju Jamaluddin (2008)
• Fairuz Yunus (2008)
• Robert Alberts (2008–2009, 2011–2015)
• Zaki Sheikh (2009–2011)
• K. Rajagopal (2015)
• David Usop (2016–2017)
• Ian Gillan (2018)
• Pengiran Bala (2018)
• Mohd Farhan Abdullah (2019)
• Sam Timbe (2020)

The following coaches won at least one trophy when in charge of Sarawak:

Name	Period	Trophies
Alan Vest	1992–1998	1992 Malaysia FA Cup, 1997 Premier League, 1998 Malaysia Charity Shield
Robert Alberts	2011–2015	2013 Premier League

• Official website
• Sarawak football supporters website
• FA Sarawak team latest statistics
• FA Sarawak individual player stats