UPDATED 4.30PM | Khairy Jamaluddin is the Youth and Sports Minister today, but once upon a time, he was a 'naughty' spectator at a local football match.

Sharing his experience as a stalwart Kedah fan, he said he was once nabbed by the Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) for entering the pitch during a match at Stadium Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur in 1990.

He said this was the Malaysia Cup final between Kedah and Singapore.

"When the game ended, I climbed over the fence and ran onto the pitch to celebrate Kedah's victory.

"But that was the one and only time I was nabbed and hit using the FRU baton," he said in his speech during the memorandum of understanding signing ceremony between the Kedah Football Association (KFA) and the National Football Development Programme.

Also present was Kedah Menteri Besar Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah, who is also KFA president.

Khairy said KFA is the first football association to sign an MOU with the national programme.
 
"KFA is not only the first, but is doing it in honour of a legend in Kedah football. 
 
"We all know how much the late Ahmad Basri Mohd Akil had contributed not only in Kedah but to national football," he said, when launching the Datuk Ahmad Basri Football Academy at the Youth and Sports Ministry building in Putrajaya.
 
He said the national programme now had 20,000 players under 17, who trained at 123 centres in Malaysia. 
 
"We hope this cooperation will benefit Kedah's youth talent and will ensure the Helang Merah's victory in the future."