Beyond Dreams: The Fascinating Story of the Blessed Life of Peter Velappan s/o Palaniappan

Dato Dr. Peter Velappan, son of Palaniappan, was born on 1 October 1935 on rubber plantation in Siliau, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. He attended the estate tamil school and by destiny went on to the Anglo-Chinese School, Seremban where he passed the Cambridge School Certificate in 1954. He was selected for a teacher training course at the Malayan Teachers College Brinsford Lodge, England from 1955 to 1957. he returned to his old school to teach from 1958 to 1961. He was then sent to Loughborough College in England for a Physical Education And Sport Course for one year and thereafter was attached to some English and European clubs to learn football coaching and management. On his return he was posted to the Malayan Teachers College, Kuala Lumpur. Thereafter, he served in the Malayan Federal Inspectorate of Schools for two years.

In1970 he was sent to McGill University, Montreal , Canada to obtain his BA in Education. On his return, he was appointed as the Deputy Director Of Sports in the Ministry Of Youth, Culture and Sports in 1972. he decided to leave the Government service after seventeen years to join Lever Brothers as Manager of Human Resources in 1975.

During those years, he kept up his interest in football and was appointed as assistant of secretary of the Football Association Of Malaysia in 1963 under the presidency of Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj who was the Prime Minister of Malaysia.. He was appointed the general secretary of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in 1978 when Tunku retired and served under presidency of Tan Sri Haji Hamzah Bin Abu Samah (1978 to 1994), HRH Sultan Ahmad Shah(1995-2002) and Mohamed Hamman (2002 to 2007)- a total of 30years. During this period, he helped develop Asian football from a humble beginning with 12 members to 46 members and raised the level of football through good governance and management of the AFC, competitions and coaching courses. He was also a highly respected member of several FIFA committees from 1974 and was a director of the FIFA world cup from 1982. his defining moment was when FIFA appointed him as a coordination director of the FIFA world cup- jointly hosted by Korea and Japan in 2002- the first in Asia and the first world cup to be co-hosted. He retired in 2007 and Loughborough university conferred on him an honorary doctorate in 2008. this book is his memoirs of a blessed life. Enjoy his remarkable journey!