Thursday, 19 April 2018
Female James Wong - Rachel Gomez





Rachel Gomez  played for the Malaysian Womens Football team between 1979 to 1985. By then she had already been married and was a mother.

She was recently appointed by the women’s football unit of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) to identify talented girls under the age of 12, and work at the grassroots level.


Kicking off her sporting career as a striker for the Negeri Sembilan women’s team in 1975, Gomez went on to don the national jersey in major tournaments around the region.
The first of these was the 1979 Asian Cup in Calicut, India, before competing in major tournaments in countries such as Thailand and Indonesia until 1985.


Raised in a family with a voracious appetite for sport, Gomez decided to enter the world of women’s football during the golden age of Malaysian football, which saw the rise of legendary household names including Mokhtar Dahari, Datuk Soh Chin Aun, R. Arumugam and Santokh Singh.
“It runs in my family. My late father was a footballer in Kerala, India. One of my brothers played in the Burnley Cup (known later as Piala Razak) and later for Negeri Sembilan, and my younger sister played hockey for the country. I took up football in the 70s, and was selected to play for the national team in 1979.”“Sports was a major part of my life, growing up,” says Gomez.
“Ever since then, I never looked back. My last game as a striker was in Malaysia in 1985 and my highest achievement was winning a bronze medal in Thailand.”
In her days on the field, the mother of three – whose son has now taken up football full-time – and grandmother of one had once been dubbed by the press as the ‘James Wong’ of local women’s football, a reference to her counterpart over in the men’s team.
“I have kept this newspaper cutting for 30 years! I felt honoured to be nicknamed “James Wong” as he was a good player,” she says.

Speaking about her contribution to identifying youngsters, Gomez, who was also given the opportunity to help set up and manage the Negeri Sembilan ladies football team, says: “I feel that with all the experience I have gained, I have lots to contribute to youngsters. They are the future of this sport.”

She now works closely with girls from three schools – Sekolah Kebangsaan Puteri, Sekolah Kebangsaan Taman Rasah Jaya and Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (T) Convent – in her hometown of Seremban.


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Posted by The Malaysian Indian women at 02:43
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