Chee Keong: Keeper, prankster and friend, says Thanabalan

Former national striker shares fond memories of the late goalie, whom he said loved to joke around off-field but was all business on the pitch.

PETALING JAYA: Various superlatives have been used to describe the late Chow Chee Keong – Malaysia’s best goalkeeper, a brilliant forward and a Superman-like figure are just three of them.

But for former national footballer N Thanabalan, Chow was also a playful, happy-go-lucky and down-to-earth teammate whose love for football was matched only by his love for playing pranks.

“He liked to hide our boots,” Thanabalan recalls. “He would hide them behind the goalpost or in the dressing room.

“And he’d pretend he knew nothing about it and search for them, although we always knew it was him.”

Chow passed away from septicaemia on Wednesday morning. He was 69.

Thanabalan, who was once the top national striker, was also the lightest player in the squad. He spoke of how the coaches would instruct him to put on more weight, and how Chow would pitch in to “help”.

“When the time came for me to check my weight, Chow would place a brick on the scale so I could put on the ‘extra pounds’. My manager, of course, was happy and Chow would be laughing in the corner.”

Thanabalan remembers Chow as a person who didn’t put on airs, despite many footballers singing praises about his abilities, especially his agility.

He was someone who enjoyed a good laugh, especially during the ritual “teh tarik” sessions after every game.

“He loved joking around and teasing us.”

But Chow, whom the team saw as their younger brother, would also be on the receiving end from time to time.

Thanabalan said when girls came to watch the match, they would tell Chow that the girls had come to watch him play or that a particular girl fancied him.

“Sometimes, we would tease him during the game.”

They also teased him about his future wife, Christina Kwok, who was the daughter of then-Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) general secretary, Kwok Kin Keng.

Thanabalan said they would rib him about how he got a spot on the Malaysian team because he was dating Kin Keng’s daughter.

“Sometimes she would come along with her father, and we would say, ‘look, there’s your girlfriend’. ”

A different man on the pitch

On the pitch, however, Chow, who earned the nicknamed “Asian Stainless Steel Gate”, was a different person altogether.

Despite being the youngest on the pitch, he was very dominant, Thanabalan said.

Defenders would be shouted at if they bungled a tackle and he would scream instructions to the players.

“He was very serious on the field.”

Chow, who had a black belt in karate, was also very brave, Thanabalan said, and had no qualms about going head-on with a striker in a one-on-one situation.

His courage, commanding presence and agility made him one of the best keepers the country has ever produced, even earning him praise from the legendary Pele.

“Malaysia never had a keeper like him. I say this with no offence to the others who came after him.”

‘Two-touch football’

Having played against and alongside him, Thanabalan considered Chow a good friend, even though they kept in touch only sparingly in the last few years.

The last time they met was at an annual gathering last year.

“The first thing he said when he saw me was ‘two-touch football’,” Thanabalan said, referring to the winning goal he scored when Malaysia beat Western Australia 4-3 in the 1968 Merdeka Tournament.

“Two-touch football” was an allusion to how Chow’s goal-kick took the ball well into the opponent’s half, and how it bounced over a defender before Thanabalan lobbed it over the Australian goalie.

“And then we talked about the good old days.” -FMT