SOMETIMES, YOU DON’T need a map to know where you are. You just need a sound.
In Penang, it originates from the corner of Jalan Dato’ Keramat. Not from traffic or the honk of Rapid Penang buses. It is from somewhere deeper—inside the City Stadium—yes, the oldest city stadium in Malaysia that is still in use.
It starts as a murmur. A slow clap. A drumbeat. Then comes the roar! The Keramat Roar, they call it. And once you’ve heard it, you don’t forget.
I remember hearing it as a boy. Standing shoulder to shoulder with strangers who somehow felt like uncles. Watching legends like Merzagua Abderrazak, a Moroccan crowned as the “Best Import Player” for three consecutive years from 1996 to 1998 under the tutelage of Moey Yoke Ham, move across the pitch with grace and grit. Listening to the auntie behind me shout tactics louder than the coach.
It wasn’t just football. It was home.
