IN the space of two days over the past week, the nation mourned the demise of two coaches who rose to the top of their professions.
B. Satiananthan and Hanapiah Nasir shared several traits in common. Foremost, however, was the fact that they were forthright in expressing their views – a boon for fans, athletes, footballers and the media but a bane for officialdom.
Satiananthan (correct spelling to his name), Sathia in short, or Abe Ya (Big Brother Ya) to most Kelantan football fans, died on Tuesday due to complications after a battle with cancer. He was 65.
Hanapiah, or Atok to his inner circle in track and field, battled leukaemia and kidney issues before passing away on Sunday night, three months shy of his 66th birthday.
So happened they were members of the Malaysian contingent to the SEA Games in Singapore in 1983, with Hanapiah returning with a gold in decathlon – an endorsement of his Ironman tag, while Sathia helped the football team to the bronze.
While Hanapiah enjoyed a stellar career in track and field with iconic status as a decathlete, Sathia’s sojourn with the national football team lasted for a year, with 15 caps to his name. Though he was considered a cultured two-footed attacking midfielder at Negri Sembilan, the national set-up was awash with midfielders.
In 1973, the football-obsessed Sathia cut class to watch an FAM Cup match in Muar between the home side and PKNS featuring Soh Chin Ann, Santokh Singh and Mokhtar Dahari.
As the game ended, Sathia walked up to them, took out his mathematics textbook from his schoolbag and got their autographs.
Ten years later, the kampung boy, born in Perak but grew up in Panchor near Muar, realised his dream of playing alongside his idols in the national team. The experience, in his own words proved to be “enriching and fulfilling”.
Sathia was the youngest participant, at the age of 17, to obtain a coaching certificate from instructor and then Johor coach, Mazlan Hamid in Muar in 1975, two years before he even donned the Negri jersey.
Working as a backroom thinker with a number of coaches, broadened his horizons. From Josef Herel, Richard Bate and Datuk M. Karathu, he learnt about basic team organisation and discipline.
From Hatem Souissi, it was the importance of updating your knowledge, while fitness trainer Aleksandar Bozenko exposed Sathia to a variety of fitness programmes as they prepared for the FIFA World Youth Cup in Malaysia in 1997.
It was an open secret that for five years, Sathia was the one who prepared Allan Harris’ team reports. By doing that, Sathia was able to absorb the Englishman’s knowledge of having worked intimately with superstars such as Bernd Schuster, Gary Lineker, Steve Archibald and Andoni Zubizarreta, among others.
Following the Merdeka Tournament victory with the Under-23 team in 2007, Sathia was announced as the national chief coach inside the dressing room at the Shah Alam Stadium by the late Sultan Ahmad Shah.
He succeeded Norizan Bakar, who exited after the disastrous AFC Asian Cup outing a month earlier.
Sathia blurted out hs infamous “M-League is not football” quote in January 2009 as results throughout the two years were not forthcoming. Imagine to his horror, five days before the pre-Asian Cup clash with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), only three players passed the fitness test conducted by a third party.
His penchant for quotable quotes made him a media darling. And landed him in hot soup with the FAM, as he was suspended for six months in 2011 for his comments on the league’s congested fixtures.
Asian Football Confederation (AFC) general secretary, Datuk Seri Windsor John, who paid his last respects to Sathia at Shah Alam on Wednesday, agreed with the notion that the late coach was the Malaysian version of Jose Mourinho.
Until his last breath, football was on his mind. Sathia’s eldest son, Visnu Ruben Nair, said his late father kept on asking family members about updates on M-League results days before his demise.
Like Sathia, Hanapiah too was obsessed with his chosen field – athletics. After work, Hanapiah used to gatecrash at Kampung Pandan to train and watch Marina Chin, Rabuan Pit and Ishtiaq Mubarak up close, even to the extent of being chased away for coming in the way.
Born in Jasin, Melaka, Hanapiah moved to Kuala Lumpur in 1977 to work at the Public Works Department and later the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) before taking up the offer at Maybank.
Hanapiah was still contracted to Maybank as a fitness instructor until the day of his passing.
Upon hanging up his spikes, having racked up a total of four gold medals at the SEA Games level, Hanapiah became mentor to Zaki Sadri, Nur Herman Majid and Romzi Bakar, to name a few.
Hanapiah obtained the highest IAAF Level 5 coaching diploma and was a certified IAAF Level 1 lecturer.
Former Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) president, Tan Sri Khalid Yunus, Zaki, Nazmizan Muhamad, Hamberi Mahat and, Zafril Zuslaini were among those who accompanied Hanapiah’s final journey at the Jalan Ampang Muslim Cemetery on Monday morning.
As their souls journey into the Hereafter, the sports they gave their hearts and souls to may not be in the greatest of health. Sathia, for example, was owed almost RM500,000 in unpaid salaries and bonuses by his last employers.
Hanapiah’s mentee, Zaki, has been threatened with legal action for his outburst in the media following the Cambodia SEA Games.
Like many larger-than-life characters, it was pre-ordained that Hanapiah and Sathia planted trees under whose shade they will never sit.
