Skip to main content

Football: Nothing new in FAM’s five-year plan

By ERIC SAMUEL

KUALA LUMPUR: There were arguments, debates, differences in opinions and even time for a light-moment when an official dozed off and snored during the FA of Malaysia’s (FAM) brainstorming session at the National Sports Council (NSC) Complex in Bukit Jalil yesterday.

Perhaps, it was because of the same old issues being raised and thrashed out over and over again from the previous sessions — on foreign players, the format of the Malaysian League, the financial status of teams, clubs participation, salary scale of players, early kick-off times and fixtures.

In fact, there is nothing much to look forward in a five-year comprehensive domestic calendar (2010-2014), which the FAM have planned to bring about positive results in Malaysian football.

The issue of foreign players was again discussed at length. It was the opinion of many that the FAM should review their decision on not allowing teams to hire foreigners after the 2009 season.

Then, there was the argument on the format of the Malaysia Cup competition. There were proposals that state teams should not get a direct entry into prestigious tournament and should earn their place on merit from their placings in the Super and Premier League.

The majority of the State FAs felt that there was nostalgia in the Malaysia Cup competition and it should feature only state teams and two of the FAM affiliates, Police and Armed Forces.

Seasoned campaigner M. Karathu was one of the participants, who felt that there should be a more concerted efforts to upgrade the standard of the game by first reviewing the country’s football system.

The game turned fully professional in 1994 but sadly there has been nothing to shout about.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in their report in May this year had made assessments of 21 member associations, including Malaysia. It was a study on countries with a professional league to qualify for the Asian Champions League.

The assessments were based on 10 aspects — organisation, technical standards. attendance, governance, marketing and promotion, business scale, match organisation, media, stadiums and clubs.

Malaysia were ranked No. 18 out of the 21 nations and graded D, which meant that they did not meet the criteria. Only Japan met all criteria and were graded A.

Neighbours Indonesia and nine other nations (Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Iran, India, Australia, China and South Korea) were graded B, which meant that they were assured to meet the criteria by this year. Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Uzbekistan, Syria and Qatar were graded C, which meant they were not assured to meet the criteria by this year.

And the message is clear — we are still heading nowhere.

The FAM competition committee, headed by Datuk Che Mat Jusoh, will deliberate on the overall findings of the 100-odd participants before giving their recommendations to the FAM Council for endorsement on Dec 6.

The participants comprised team officials from the state FAs, clubs, coaches and even members of the media, who turned up in full force to give their input to find ways and means to lift Malaysian football.

The Star

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ex-coach's jail sentence cut to a year

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal yesterday sentenced former athletics coach C. Ramanathan to 12 months' jail for molesting two junior athletes 19 years ago. A three-man bench led by Datuk Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus unanimously dismissed Ramanathan's appeal against conviction, but varied the jail sentence of four years to a year, which was to run concurrently. Following yesterday's ruling, Ramanathan, 75, a former teacher, walked out a free man as he had served 10 months in Kajang Prison. Convicts get one-third remission for good behaviour while in prison. However, he will lose his pension. Hishamudin, who sat with Datuk Abdul Wahab Patail and Datuk Linton Albert, said the court found no merit to overturn the conviction. "However, in reducing the sentence, we considered Ramanathan's age and the long years the appeal has taken." Deputy public prosecutor Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud submitted that then High Court judge Tan Sri Abdull Hamid E...
2 comments
Read more

Rajagobal Let Off The Hook

PETALING JAYA, April 24 (Bernama) -- National head coach Datuk K. Rajagobal was let off the hook by the Football Association of Malaysia's (FAM) Disciplinary Committee after finding no evidence that he had violated FAM's Article 88, as claimed. FAM Disciplinary Committee chairman Datuk Taufik Abdul Razak said the committee had decided not to charge Rajagobal after carefully analysing the video of the post-match press conference by the 56-year-old coach. "After listening to the recording of the post-match press conference, we decided to drop the charge against Rajagopal as he did not make such a statement. "Maybe his (Rajagobal) assessment and comments of the match was misconstrued by the media. There was no mention of the FAM policy throughout his comments," said Taufik after emerging from a three-hour Disciplinary Committee meeting at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya, here, Wednesday. Rajagobal who does not mince his words when asked to com...
4 comments
Read more

Govt Always Gives Emphasis To Sporting Culture, Says PM

KUALA TERENGGANU, May 29 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badaw i said the government always gives emphasis on cultivating a strong sporting culture in achieving excellence at the international level. As such, the Prime Minister said, it was important to scout for young talents in sports. "I observe that the Malaysia Games (Sukma) has become one of the important platforms to do so. "In this arena, the potentials and skills of the youngsters can be identified for development so that they can achieve greater success in sports," he said in his message in the souvenir book of the 12th Sukma from May 31 until June 9. Abdullah said he was aware that competition in sports was very keen and challenging but this did not mean that Malaysian athletes were incapable of competing at the international level. "The fact is that we have all the characteristics required to be excellent. We must inculcate a strong fighting spirit so that we don't easily surrender,...
1 comment
Read more