Go back to school, FAM told

THE message was loud and clear - football has to go back to school, district leagues have to be revived and administrators should not meddle in technical matters. The FA of Malaysia should, even if it doesn't want to, listen for making the call were 72 former internationals. The one listening was Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and it will be interesting to see what transpires when he meets the FAM delegation tomorrow. It was only right that the legendary Datuk Abdul Ghani Minhat started the ball rolling. "Our players are no longer capable like before and we have to start from the schools in order to achieve success. We have to make sure that the best coaches work with the children," said Ghani, known as "Raja Bola" in his heydays. "Even free tickets can't entice my friends to watch Malaysian matches and this shows just how bad our football is." Former Selangor player K. Gunalan was critical of the Bukit Jalil Sports School players. "I was attached to the Bukit Jalil Sports School for one month and to be honest, the players in the school will not bring us any results. "They are technically poor despite having trained for so long and what then can we expect from the national coaches?" asked Gunalan. The meeting though was not only about slamming FAM. "FAM should not consider us as threats. We are genuinely interested in helping football and we can be used to train players at the grassroots," said Mubin Mokhtar. Former national coach Abdul Rahman Ibrahim concurred. "The problem is that from the 600-plus players in the M-League, only 50 can be considered for the national team. This is the reason why we are always relying on the same players. "The reason why the same players are picked is because technically, they are better but we know that their level is not good enough at the international level. "But these are the players coming through the ranks and we can only get better players if we have a solid structure at the grassroots." Bakri Ibni said district leagues were as important as a solid structure in schools. "Players need to play and they need to play at all levels. This is an area we have totally neglected and it must be revived," said Bakri. He said FAM should also not make it difficult for the ex-internationals with certification demands. "We are there to serve but if there are too many clauses, most just decide to not bother." Ismail Sabri said he would forward the suggestions to the FAM delegation, which will be led by deputy president Khairy Jamaluddin. "All the ideas given today (yesterday) will be presented to FAM and the discussion has to be a two-way affair. FAM has to listen to what we have to say as well," said Ismail Sabri.