First Iban woman sprinter and a ladies football pioneer an epitome of resilience and fortitude in face of adversity
Rosalind sharing a light-hearted moment with the writer. Her resilience and fortitude in the face of adversity gives a grasp of what it means to be filled with a champion’s spirit.
AS she lay in bed recovering from a stroke, she gathered her strength and recalled her eventful years in sports. The one-time unrivalled 80m woman hurdler and the first Iban woman sprinter, Rosalind Anding, spoke passionately of her early fighting days as a sportswoman when her grit and strength in sport were unassailable.
The fighting spirit manifested itself even as she battled against stroke in her sunset years.
“I can move my legs,” she said, moving them up and down.
Those frail looking legs were forces of strength that had driven her to glory at the running tracks and fields in Kuching and Sabah, which were her harvest fields.
She was also among the first women footballers in Sarawak. Her involvement in football prompted her husband Henry Langgie, then-Youth and Sports Officer, to initiate the formation of the Kuching Ladies Football Team in 1974.
Those legs were indeed filled with memories of her pursuit of gold on the tracks and fields at whatever level of competition to bring glory and honour to Sarawak.
Stricken with stroke
Rosalind was stricken by a stroke in May 2022. Prior to that, the former sportswoman was caring for her husband, who was bedridden with lung cancer – he passed on barely two weeks after she had her stroke.
Henry, who was also a sports enthusiast and her staunch supporter in the arena, showed great courage till the end.
Holding on to his faith in God and like a true sportsman, Henry ‘bowed out’ calmly at his home. Not even his wife, who was lying on her medical bed just next to him, knew that he had breathed his last until a few minutes later when their son came to their room to check on both of them as usual.
To be stricken with stroke and having to deal with the grief of losing a loved one at the same time is heart-rending, but Rosalind takes it all in her stride.
One of Henry’s favourite Bible verses from 2 Timothy 4:7: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith,” strengthens her further.
It has been a month since her husband’s passing and thanks to her sheer determination, she is already on her feet. She walks around her living room every now and then with the assistance of the private duty nurse.
Fighting spirit
Her resilience and fortitude in the face of adversity give a grasp of what it means to be filled with a champion’s spirit. Indeed, she is the epitome of that. Even in her lowest moments, she is optimistic that she will be able to walk again.
“The grief of losing a loved one is not going away,” she says. “And there will be all sorts of sorrows, especially in this old age, but by the grace of God, I overcome by keeping myself active.”
Rosalind wants to bounce back from the stroke.
“I want to run. I want to play football.
“I feel like playing football,” she says, moving her legs as if kicking an imaginary ball.
Her passion has not faded away with the passage of time. Ultimately, it becomes a motivating factor for her to move on with her life. She holds dear the memories of the time when she excelled in sports; memories that would, for certain, last for a lifetime.
Rosalind has a good collection of newspaper cuttings and photographs of those eventful years. She had earned numerous championship titles in the State Athletics Meets and Borneo Games (Sarawak, Sabah and Brunei) in the 1950s and early 1960s.
She was, in fact, one of the few women in Sarawak (before Malaysia was formed) then, to have reached that height of championship in sports.
First taste of victory
A picture of victory, taken in 1958.
Her first taste of victory was in 1955 during the annual School Sports Day of St Mary’s School when she was a student there. The oldest school in Sarawak, St Mary held its first post-war Sports Day in 1952 when it was declared an annual school event. In line with the new development, the girls were divided into Sports Houses, namely St Catherine, St Elizabeth, St Hilda and St Veronica.
Representing St Veronica’s Sports House, Rosalind’s forte was in the 100 yards, 200 yards and long jump, and later in 80 meters women’s hurdle, all of which had steered her to the Borneo Games in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah from 1957 to 1960 consecutively.
It was a natural progression from her good performances at Inter-House, and subsequently, at Inter-School Sports meets to divisional level and then, to the highest accolade, Borneo Games (Sarawak, Sabah and Brunei).
Victorious Rosalind, flanked by Lulu Wong (left) and Irene Chew, at a women’s 220 yards event.
“The Sprint Queen” as she was known on the running track, had bagged several trophies, two golds, two silvers and one bronze to her credit.
Rosalind was a natural in sports. Like her fellow athletes during her time, she did not know much about incentives or proper training or allowances for athletes as there were hardly any.
All she knew was she wanted to be a champion.
“Everything depended on our own initiative. The real motivator for me to perform well in sport competitions was my strong desire to be the champion in every event I was in.
“It was all through self-determination,” she recalls.
In sports, she learned to be focused and not be distracted by the cheering crowds.
“I could get nervous on the running track when people cheered at me. So I ignored the noise and kept myself focused on the finishing line,” she says, reminiscing those glorious years.
Met future hubby through sports
Fullback Rosalind (left) with goalkeeper Rosalind Ugad (centre) and another pioneering member of the first Kuching Ladies Football Team, formed in 1974.
The sports arena was where she met the man of her life, Henry, who was then a footballer and later worked as a Youth and Sports Officer.
“We both loved sports and being my staunch supporter, Henry always wanted me to win. He would follow me on the track to monitor my speed and timing.”
Rosalind left the running track after they got married in 1961 to focus on raising a family.
She made a comeback when Henry initiated Sarawak’s first women football team, namely the Kuching Ladies Football Team, in 1974 where she was the fullback.
“We won most matches. I remember playing against a village team who used ‘black magic’ in order to win in the game.
“We saw them sprinkling rice on the football field, which we believed was part of the ritual to please the spirits. But we won anyway,” she chuckles.
“We had a big-size girl in our team who was well feared by our opponents. They called her ‘Bulldozer’ and that was how powerful our team was.”
Rosalind and Henry also took the initiative of introducing the game to women in Kapit and Simanggang (now Sri Aman).
Besides football, she was also passionate about netball. She was working with the National Registration Department when she was selected to compete in the departmental netball games in Johor Baru in 1985, when she was 48.
Rare breed of the 1950s, 1960s
Rosalind Anding — a rare breed of the 1950s and the 1960s, as far as women in sports was concerned.
Rosalind was irrefutably a rare breed of the 1950s and the 1960s as far as women in sports was concerned. When incentives were unheard of, she made it to the Borneo Games out of sheer passion for sports and made Sarawak proud. She went further by venturing into football and was among the first women footballers in the state.
In an interview with ‘Juara’ published in April 2012, Rosalind was asked if she had any advice to young athletes who wished to excel in sports.
“Involve yourself in any sport activities which make you healthy in body and mind. Train well and regularly and pursue your sporting ambition right up to national and international level in order to create a name for yourself and bring glory and honour to the state and nation.
“Make good use of the opportunity and resources provided by the government, especially the incentives for winners.”
Although down with stroke, Rosalind is in high spirits as she reminisces the good old days with a sense of satisfaction. She had wished that she could pass the torch to any of her children or grandchildren.
“None of them follow my footsteps,” she says.
Stroke may have taken a toll on her, but she is not about to give in to the terrible disease.
With the help of the nurse, she gets up from the sofa again and continues with her routine walking exercise in the living room.
“When we get old and feeble, people may find it hard to understand what we say or do… we worry about our cats, our kitchen and all the things that we are no longer able to attend to as usual.
“Still, I’m blessed that my children and grandchildren are around me. They are the main reason for me to press on and live at this stage of my life.”
For that, Rosalind has not lost her champion’s spirit.
She still bears the hallmark of a sportswoman.
Her priority now is to spend time with her loved ones, and her grandchildren are now her ‘trophies’.
Nonetheless, sports remain her passion and a dynamic driver of her vitality.
The champion in her lives on.
from Borneo Post Online https://bit.ly/3zcbqZh
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