As a sports journalist, he captured the spirit of the game, with a pen dipped in passion and precision.
In sports marketing, he helped redefine the field, blending creativity with a deep understanding of the sports world.
Yet, behind his professional triumphs was a man who endured deep personal pain, bringing a poignant depth to his character.
Struck by cancer, the same illness that claimed his wife, Velu’s reflective question, “why did it happen to me?” lingers as a touching reminder of the challenges he faced with quiet dignity.
Penang-born Velu died on Sunday, aged 75, marking the end of a remarkable journey from the press box to the pulse of the game.
He was a sportswriter with The Star, The New Straits Times (1970s) and Sports Mirror (1980s) before setting up his own company, Inter-Sports Marketing.
In 2011, Velu and three other former sportswriters created something so connective, humane and glorious as sport through an affair called Sports Flame.
For Velu, George Das, Lazarus Rokk and Fauzi Omar, the event is about giving back for the years of joy they had writing about the sporting heroes from the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s.
“Sports bonded us,” said Velu ahead of the last Sports Flame-FMT gala in 2023. “They were not people whom you interviewed and forgot about later.”
Das said: “Velu had a very creative mind and a humble nature I admired a lot. He spoke very little but what he said was enough to get you thinking.”
“Thank you Velu for the trust you had in me and I hope I was the friend you needed till the end.”
In a text message to Das last May, Velu wrote: “When I look back ,I see what an amazing journey we had through all the ups and downs.
“I see the hand of God in what we did. Although our friendship was tested at times, we survived. I truly value it George.”
Velu and Das quit journalism in the 1980s and sprung to the forefront of the golden triangle of sport, sponsorship and media.
From writing stories to shaping an industry
Both men became one of the first to recognise the potential of sports marketing, a field that was virtually unheard of in Malaysia at the time.
They were fortunate to be in the company of the late G Gnanalingam, who defined sports marketing in the country while at Malayan Tobacco Company (MTC), now British American Tobacco, Malaysia.
Through MTC, they brought greater visibility to various sports with sponsorships that helped elevate the standard of competition and facilities.
Local sports benefitted as MTC used different brands to sponsor many championships, including football, badminton, hockey, golf, athletics and motorsports.
Football fans also gained from MTC’s sponsorship of live telecast of the Fifa World Cup, while music lovers got to see famous entertainers at concerts in Kuala Lumpur.
After he left MTC, Gnanalingam started GT Consultants to handle the airtime sales for Radio Televisyen Malaysia.
Velu joined forces with GT Consultants when his company, Inter-Sports Marketing, was bidding for the marketing rights to the 1989 SEA Games in Malaysia.
He was told by the late Hamzah Abu Samah, then president of the Olympic Council of Malaysia, the rights holder to the SEA Games, that he would have to team up with a bigger company to become the marketing agent.
Gnanalingam agreed to get involved, and Velu was tasked with innovatively packaging the regional games.
Subsequent organisers of the biennial meeting used the same marketing strategy to sell their games to sponsors.
The quiet one
When Shirley Mun, his wife, was stricken by cancer of the uterus, Velu went through a harrowing time.
Das said: “He was there for her, he felt her pain, he prayed for relief, they both left it in the hands of Lord Jesus.
“Nine years down the road, he was struck by cancer too. It was sorrow all over again, but Velu took it in his stride.
“He never complained, accepted it like a true ‘athlete’, battled it all alone, and even as he eroded inside, he was determined to beat it.
“Only once during all that pain did he ask me, ‘why does it have to happen to me’?
“Answers I had none. A question of my own I did have, ‘why does God make the good suffer’?”
Das said his friend never had a harsh word for anyone, “always gentle, kind, humble and extremely generous.”
“He gave freely. He would always tell me, ‘George, let’s help’.
“Velu was the face of humanity, he wore humility every day, always had a smile, watched everything from the sidelines.”
For Rokk, Velu was one of the best track and field writers he had come to know and work with from the 1970s.
He said: “If there was one thing about Velu that I admired, it was his unique ability to thrive away from the glare of public attention.
“He was the epitome of the silent achiever. A man who went on to give God all the glory and took none for himself.
“After journalism, he went on to be one of the best, if not the best sports marketing expert in the country. But he would never claim that accolade.
“When I told him once that he had an amazing sports marketing mind, he trivialised my comment with a self-effacing response that he was a fledgling in this industry, with so much to learn from the marketing gurus.
“That was Velu, an unassuming, humble, non-confrontational , and kind human being who was at peace with himself, with the world, and his creator.”
Fauzi said Velu was not a man of many words, but the ones he chose carried the weight of authenticity and insight.
Velu, he said, was a man with deep intellect, and in an industry often dominated by loud voices, he stood out by letting his work speak for itself.
“He certainly did not hold back when he wrote his stories. That was when he really let his intellect flow.
“As a colleague at the NST and later at Sports Mirror, I always enjoyed reading his stories, especially those on sports personalities,” he said.
Fauzi added that Velu lifted sports writing to another level. “I’ve not seen another sportswriter in Malaysia quite like him.”
“As a person Velu kept to himself most of the time. But if you were lucky enough to catch him at his favourite joint, The Pines in Brickfields, enjoying his favourite tipple alone, that was when you could really listen to him talk.
“I had those private moments with him on more than a few occasions. How I really enjoyed them. He can be very funny and witty too,” Fauzi recalled. - FMT
* Funeral arrangements will only be finalised after the arrival of his youngest son Aaron from Canada.
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