National disaster

July 21st, 2007 Posted in Uncategorized

Besides making money, there are two other things that can get Malaysians all worked up-politics and football.

In this soccer crazy nation, it is ironical that the Malaysian national team can’t play the beautiful game that can bring glory and pride to the nation. what gives?

Corruption, cronyism,and nepotism many fans will tell you. Ha, that mantra again. The cynics will tell you it’s part of our general malaise, the standard of English, the quality of our local graduates and now, football, everything is going south. What’s new? they ask.

The jury is out, as far as the angry fans are concerned all the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) officials should be hanged, drawn and quartered.

The drubbing by China (5-1), Uzbekistan (5-0) and Iran (2-0) in the qualifying rounds of the current Asian Cup competition have even got the cabinet worked up calling it a” national disaster”, and they have demanded for an explanation from FAM for the pathetic performances by the national team.

You don’t need a degree in soccer studies to know that it has been a disaster waiting to happen.

The current FAM headed by the Sultan of Pahang has failed miserably for over the last 20 years to lift up the standard of soccer in the country. In fact the standard has gone way down beyond the expected level. To be fair to them ,they have achieved many things like introducing the professional league and bringing funds to the coffers of the FAM. But, are these enough?

They have failed one thing every Malaysian soccer fan has been hungry for,success at the regional and international level competitions .

In terms of world rankings we are even behind Singapore! Neighbours like Thailand, Indonesia and even Vietnam can hold their heads high, while we have to keep our tail between our legs. Just imagine we are in the same league as Laos and the Philppines now!

Way back we used to be one of the top teams in Asia having qualified for two Olympics,and as for Korea and Japan, they used to fear us.

I remember my visit to Korea a long time ago, the immigration officer at the airport counter could even name all our national players then, like James Wong, Hassan Sani, Mokhtar Dahari, Santokh Singh, Soh Chin Aun and the rest . Was I proud to be a Malaysian!

Now,you name me the current national players?

I think what we have neglected is the development aspects of the game. For a river to flow to the sea with the necessary volume of water, you need many tributaries. Build the infrastructure nationwide and get the young people involved, many people suggest.

The Deputy President, Tengku Abdullah, the Sultan’s son, has resigned , and even the Secretary General Dr. Ibrahim Saad, is said not to be renewing his contract which is due to expire in September.What about the rest? The Sultan himself has said that he would stay on.

To the fans , many think that as long as the Sultan stays on, they don’t believe that further progress can be made to improve the standard of soccer because of our culture of respect and deference especially to members of the royalty.

One fan told me he couldn’t imagine anyone saying “no” to the Sultan.

“I remember a consultant group recommended that the FAM should be run professionally sometime back, and the Secretary-General post should be opened to the best candidate in the country. Half way through the interviewing process, a decision was made to appoint the current officer”, he said.”And, everybody went along without a murmur”, he added disappointed.

“Furthermore, must politicians be involved? he asked. They are supposed to be running the country,do they have time to run football associations as well? If they can’t run a football organisation well, they have no business running the country either”.he opined.

What is the way out,then? I asked.

“We have many football talents, be more inclusive. Turn the team into a real multi racial unit, play to the racial strengths of the players.The Chinese are strategic in their thinking, they make good mid-fielders. The Indians are generally taller and have good work ethics on the field, use them wisely, the Bumis like to dribble, use them as goal poachers. I am merely suggesting that our football officials should think strategically . I am not saying this is the end all approach.

“Why can’t we get people like Paul Mony, Prof Khoo Kay Kim, Shebby Singh and other ex-national players to be involved in FAM? Pick their brains, I am sure we will improve soon enough.

“The players also need to be motivated to show self-belief and aggression, they look too pampered now, I don’t think they can even last two days in the National Service programme! And, do you think only politicians have all the answers?” he asked again.

Everyone will have their own take on the state of our football. While FAM is waiting for reports and all that, the Education Ministry says they will start a programme at the school level to bring back glory to the sport.

Earlier the coach,Norizan Bakar was reported to have been sacked, and another report said he was still the coach until his report comes in explaining the debacle. Are you confused?

And who makes the decision on the fate of the FAM council itself?

This is exactly the state of our soccer, one big ball of direction-less confusion!

To get back on the right track, FAM must stop the blame game, take the punch in the chin like a real man, and make way for professional people to run the show and chop off all the politicians and others who should be focusing on other urgent matters of the country. Tell me, which politicians or Lord Mayors run successful English or European football clubs?

For the fans, they have no choice but to keep rooting for the English club teams, and at the same time they can only pray that there is a silver lining somewhere.

Amen.