KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Bar's Football Team will be representing the Malaysian Bar and Malaysia in the MUNDIAVOCAT (World Football Cup of Lawyers), which is being held in Antalya, Turkey from 19 to 29 May 2006.
The majority of the players are young lawyers from the Premier Soccer team, which beat the Singaporeans 5–1 at the Bench and Bar Games recently.
The team was given a send–off at the Bar Council Auditorium on Tuesday 16 May 2006 by Ambiga Sreenevasan, Vice–President of the Malaysian Bar; S Ravichandran and George Varughese, the former and current Chairs of the Sports Committeerespectively; and Datuk Vinod Sekhar and Y.M. Tunku Muinuddin Putra, the President /CEO and Senior Vice President of Petra Group, who are the major sponsor of the team. Also present was Ms Charmaine Mokhzani of Arus Intelek Sdn Bhd, another sponsor of the team.
The Mundiavocat is a football tournament organised by lawyers for lawyers only. It was the brainchild of Vincent Pinatel. A lawyer at the Marseille (France) Bar Association and his friend Pierre Lusinchi. The first edition of Mundiavocat was held in Morocco in 1983. Fifty teams from all over the world will be playing in the 13th Edition this year. Coincidentally, the tournament will be played just before the FIFA 2006 World Cup in Germany.
The total cost of sending the Malaysian Bar football team to participate in the tournament came up to nearly RM200,000 inclusive of registration fees, travel and accommodation. Team captain, Isa Aziz Ibrahim started fund raising activities in May 2005 and managed to raise enough funds from the players, sponsors, Bar Council and some generous law firms in the final weeks to enable the team to make it to the tournament. This was a major feat in itself as there were many anxious months when the team was at peril of forfeiting their deposit and forgoing the tournament.
We wish our footballers well and know that they will do the Malaysian Bar proud.
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