Perak’s hope of capturing the HMS Malaya Cup in the year of the country’s independence appeared to have vanished.

Then, out of grief and pain, a powerful sports story emerged. Gloom sparked bloom. A star was born.

V Ramadass Rao, a gifted 18-year-old Methodist Afternoon School student in Ipoh, arose from a bunch of bright-eyed reserves, excited by their future.

The striker, who first played football using a tennis ball with his bare feet, became a dizzying part of the team.

Coach Lee Ee Eow rebuilt the team, mostly from the Perak Chinese FA, Ramblers Sports Club and Cheng Wah Athletic Association, with a focus on will, daring, speed and execution.

The squad were still grieving over the demise of their three teammates aged between 20 and 25, in the accident near Bagan Serai while returning to Ipoh after beating Perlis 4-3 in a group match on Aug 2, 1957.

But in October, incredibly, the squad went on to win the HMS Malaya Cup, defeating Selangor 3-2.

Ramadass said the spirit of independence also motivated the team as they came together. “The power of togetherness created a formidable force.”

The timing and manner of the victory fed the state exactly what it needed: solidarity, honour and the meaning of sacrifice.

“The victory meant a great deal because we did it after the tragedy. It was also meaningful because we did it in the year of Malaya’s independence,” said Ramadass, now 83, who scored two goals and set up another in Perak’s triumph over Selangor.

The Malaya Cup campaign lives on, an unforgettable memory for Ramadass, who has clung on to his No 9 jersey of black and yellow squares that he wore in the final 64 years ago.

Ramadass said while they overcame the darkest day in Perak football to win the Malaya Cup, the lead-up to their victory was tense.

To enter the knockout stage of the competition from the Northern Zone, they had to beat Kedah, Federal Combined Services (an army team of British servicemen) and table toppers Penang.

Players and officials travelled in a chartered bus to convincingly win the three matches.

In the semi-final, they faced fancied East Zone winners Kelantan whose players included ex-national coach Mohamed Che Su and striker Maurice Khoo, later to become editor of the Malay Mail newspaper.

Ramadass scored a brace in Perak’s 6-1 demolition of Kelantan in Ipoh and the underdogs were in the final.

Then, just three days before the final on Oct 19, they were to relive the heartbreak of the Bagan Serai accident again when their former captain, Lee Sai Chong, 30, was charged in court with causing the deaths of his teammates in the accident.

They were not to be deterred, and their boundless youthful promise shone against a star-studded Selangor team which included strikers Abdul Ghani Minhat and Edwin Dutton and goalkeeper Sexton Lourdes.

Playing at the new Merdeka Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, the Perak team were in full cry: “They were the determined aggressors and Selangor the jittery defenders,” wrote Straits Times sports editor Norman Siebel.

Ramadass’ goals in the 22nd and 34th minutes and his assist in the 66th minute spurred Perak to victory.

The team’s journey from tragedy to triumph ended in glory.

Siebel wrote that even with Ramadass’ “magnificent contribution”, the “football crazy bunch of kids from Perak were all heroes, playing their fast, attacking football as a team in the thrill-a-minute final”.

Ramadass recalled prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, who was also the FA of Malaya president, shaking his hand and saying: “I understand you were not born when Perak last won the Malaya Cup 26 years ago.”

He said the players each received $50 and drank champagne out of the cup that Perak had won twice before in 1926 and 1931.

Ramadass’s Malaya Cup joy was short-lived. About three months later his father, Vasudeva Rao, the assistant chief of the Gerik police station, was shot dead by communists terrorists.

Ramadass, the oldest of three children, said he took a break from top flight football to care for his family and joined the Telecoms Department as a clerk in Teluk Anson (now Teluk Intan).

When he returned to action, he was in the Perak FAM Cup winning side of 1959 and again in 1965.

Ramadass retired from football in 1967 after helping an M Karathu-inspired Perak to beat Singapore 2-1 in the first final of the Malaysia Cup, the new name of the Malaya Cup which began in 1921.

He is probably the only player to have winner’s medals in both the Malaya Cup and Malaysia Cup annual competitions.

Ramadass began his playing career as a 16-year-old for Kinta Indian Association in the fourth tier of the state league and was part of the team that soon made it to the first division.

He said he could not remember the number of goals he has scored in his state career due to poor record keeping.

Although he went for national trials, Ramadass said he did not make the Malaysia squad because he had to contend with top goal poachers like Ghani Minhat and Arthur Koh.

Ramadass, who continued playing club and veteran football until his early 50s, today looks on with pride as his grandson, Ronav, plays Under-12 football for Titan United.

“While playing football today has a future for young footballers, money was not on our minds during my time. Yet, we were champions,” said Ramadass, who lives in Puchong with his wife, Deep Kaur and the family of his son Roshandas, the youngest of his four children.