TIME TO ROAR IN SLOVAKIA

Harimau Muda 'A' who were 'caged' from playing in the local league and snubbed by the Singapore S-League, will make a quantum leap by competing in the Slovakia Under-21 league.

Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) deputy president Datuk Redzuan Sheikh Ahmad said they (Harimau Muda A) would be sent to Slovakia to compete in the country's local league.

"They will compete in the league from February to May and play 14 matches, plus a number of friendly matches from time to time," he told reporters after the FAM executive council meeting here today.

"After playing in the Slovakian league, the team would compete in the Obama Cup in the United States and undergo training in Indonesia during the month of July before competing in the Newspaper Cup in Vietnam (October)."

Redzuan said finance for the team that was being prepared for the 2011 SEA Games in Indonesia, would be borne by FAM, but added that FAM would try to absorb the team into the M-League, next season.

The fate of the team remained in a limbo following a decision by FAM on Dec 7, to bar Harimau Muda 'A' from playing in the Super League, so that they could play in the S-League.

FAM's plans however, fell flat when Singapore dropped a bombshell by not accepting the team to play in their S-League while any attempts to return to the M-League was dashed since the league had already started and the fact that affiliates were not keen the give the team a chance to play.

Meanwhile, FAM President Sultan Ahmad Shah took affiliates to task for preventing Harimau Muda A from playing in the M-league.

He said the move was a step backward, especially at a time when the whole country remains buoyant of the national team's victory at the Laos SEA Games, and they should have been committed towards improving and developing our young team.

"Unfortunately, the opposite happened and it led to FAM being criticized. We also had to look for other alternatives to accommodate the playing need of the team," said Sultan Ahmad after chairing a FAM executive council meeting at Wisma FAM, here on Sunday.

Sultan Ahmad Shah said the action of affiliates showed signs of selfishness and lack of foresight. BERNAMA

CAN YOU TELL US THE TRUTH ..MINISTER

SO, tell us Mr Minister, what is the Everton deal going to cost the Sports Ministry, viz-a- viz the taxpayers?

Reliable sources say, it’s going to be a staggering 1.3 million pounds or the ringgit equivalent of RM7.15 million a year. Is that true Sir?

If it is, then let me tell you that it’s a marked-up fashioned to fill someone/ones’ coffers. I know what it costs as we had worked with Everton when I was in event and sports management.

Let me tell you Sir, that the whole development plan shouldn’t cost more than 700,000 pounds or RM3.8 million a year. If you don’t believe me, I can run it and manage it for you at this cost. Not that I want the job, but I want to show my convictions here, that I am not merely firing from all barrels from my hips.

Cheating the rakyat is already a mortal sin, but robbing them blind is cruel to the core.

By the way Mr Minister, I was told that you travelled by Air Asia on your own expense. But really Sir, I don’t see how relevant is that fact that was so eloquently explained by a prominent in my blog to the issue under the scope now.

Seriously, it doesn’t matter whether you travelled by Air Asia, MAS or even took the slow boat to the UK. It still doesn’t answer the question on how much is the Government spending on this project.

What is there to hide if there is nothing to hide?

As a taxpayer I deserve an answer. You politicians just can’t come beating our trail and knocking on our doors when you want our votes, and then when we voters demand transparency and answers, we get the cold shoulder.

Did you sit with Ray Hall who is the Academy Manager or did you meet Neil Dewship who is the Technical Manager for 9-19 years of age? Did they share with you their vision and mission of the academy in Malaysia?

You said many clubs have approached you, read here who they are. What now, all of s sudden, clubs are approaching you because we have 20 players who are in the same rank with Wayne Rooney and Cesc Fabregas. You mean everyone wants a Malaysian player.

Mr Minister, you have RM10 million to help develop Malaysian football, and I bet you believe you have all the answers. But let me give you an idea on how you can spend part of that money.

Have you heard of the Piala Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah that goes on for 8 months, they play football every Saturday and Sunday. Do you know something that league has no money now, all they are asking for is RM 700,000.

It has 200 players playing every week without fail. Did your so-called experts at NSC inform you about this league? Why don’t you adopt the tournament?

So many other programs are held all over the country, they are starving or dying for the lack of money and funding, and find it hard to continue. Just like the Ken Barnes grassroots programme that was developing players from ages 12-17. NSC was supporting it for a few years, but has stopped now. And this programme had links with the top EPL clubs, having sent some 15 players for attachments in clubs like Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Birmingham, and Wigan.

Really Mr Minister, you need to speak with the real experts, not those who masquerading as one. Let’s do the math here Sir, if you are going to use up about RM7 million on Everton from your RM10 million grant from the Government, that will leave you with 3 million.

Let me guess, the remaining RM3 million will be allocated to the expense account of the National Sports Council (NSC), whose so-called experts will use for travel to monitor our players. Honestly Sir, this whole thing smacks of a scam and a classic case for the Malaysian Anti Corruption Agency (MACC).

Sir, you can avoid the subject now, you can even pretend we don’t exist. But please don’t make the mistake of under-estimating the influence of blogosphere, please do not trivialise our impact on voters. Statistics will show that voters are turned in more to the web than to the mainstream media.

So be a good public servant, and give us the figures. That’s all I am asking.

ENGLISH STINT A REALITY .. HEY IT'S ONLY A STINT

A training stint with an English club may become a reality for the national under-23 squad, said Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek."I have made several proposals to FAM (Football Association of Malaysia) president Sultan Ahmad Shah on the training stint in England after visiting a football academy there recently.

"I will be getting the feedbacks soon," Ahmad Shabery told reporters in an interview over the "Sports on Traxx 101" radio programme at Angkasapuri here on Thursday.Ahmad Shabery said once a decision was made, the ministry would unfold a football development programme, for which a RM10 million allocation was announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak recently.

Meanwhile, FAM secretary-general Datuk Azzuddin Ahmad said he accompanied Ahmad Shabery in his visit to Everton Youth Academy and they discussed with Everton FC on the possibility of getting their assistance in the national football development programme."We have also made a request for our under-23 squad to train with the club," said Azzuddin when met at Wisma FAM, Kelana Jaya.

He said FAM would study the Youth and Sports Ministry's proposals but it would be pointless merely to attend training in England but not taking part in any competition."It is still not definite whether there will be an overseas training stint for the under-23 squad.

The footballers are also bound by contracts with state teams and clubs and this must be honoured as the Malaysian leagues had started."However, a monthly centralised training will continue as planned," he said, adding that, a committee comprising representatives from the National Sports Council, the Education Ministry and FAM would study various football development proposals which could be implemented.

On the Everton Youth Academy, he said it had a successful football development programme, starting at the tender age of eight."It has produced many top-notched players like Manchester United's Wayne Rooney," added Azzuddin.

FAM GOES WITH EVERTON

FOOTBALL Association of Malaysia (FAM) and Sports Ministry are said to be keen to engage the Everton Football Club policy in having a structured youth development and coaching program. Read here on the suggested partnership.

Can anyone tell me why Everton? Is it because they spotted Wayne Rooney. ?

SAM AWARDS

THE SAM executive committee are hoping to raise funds to cover the organisational expenses for the SAM Awards (luncheon) next month and to boost our savings.

As such, members are invited to assist towards this cause by selling tables at a cost of RM3,500 (per table). For each table sold, the member concern would receive a RM500 commission.

Members who wish to help out should contact SAM president - Ahmad Khawari Isa. They must follow procedures and must obtain a covering letter issued from the SAM office (by president only) before any transaction can be processed.

Members are allowed to sell more than one table but should get the endorsement of the SAM president before they can proceed with the transactions.. The member will receive the commission (RM500 for each transaction) only after the full amount RM3,500 is received by SAM.

The tentative dates chosen for the SAM Awards is Feb 20 or 21 (Sat/Sun) and the proposed venue is at PJ Hilton. Unlike previous years, the exco have decided to host the SAM Media Awards over lunch (11.45am- 2.45pm).

The proposed number of tables for the SAM Media Awards - 25 tables.

Currently, we have about 120 SAM members (should fill up 10 tables) and another five tables for invited guest and VIPS. The remaining 10 tables will be put on sale to cover the cost of expenses on a first come first serve basis.

The exco are prepared to open up more tables pending on the response of members towards the Media Awards.

As time is not on our side and with the Chinese New Year Festival on Feb 14, the members would have to finalise all transactions by the first week of February.

BON VOYAGE MINISTER

After having been privy to the idiosyncrasies and modus operandi of the Ministers who have attempted to give form and dignity to the sports portfolio, I am more and more convinced that a politician should not be a sports minister, or a sports minister should not be a politician.

For, in their haste to turn sport into his or her launching pad, politician sports ministers wittingly try to promote their political agendas, and unwittingly sentence the quality and future of sport to the gallows.

Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek, a rank outsider to sport, is today charting the course of Malaysian football on his stunted perception of the term “football management”.

That he is unqualified to handle this portfolio is easier to accept as poor Ahmad Shabery could be a man thrust into a position through no fault of his. But what is harder to accept is the fact that he seems to have placed his faith on those self-proclaimed sport experts whom he surrounds himself with, and who themselves can’t tell you whether they are coming or going.

For why else then would Mr ill-advised and ill-informed former Information Minister be planning a trip to London to meet FAM president Sultan Ahmad Shah to discuss plans for club attachment for our national players?

You don’t have to be a football genius to see that a bunch of “donkeys” are certainly not going to gel with a team of pedigree “horses”. You can’t soar with the eagles when you are turkeys. Or you can train a plough horse to run faster but it will never be a pedigree race horse.

I could go on and on, but I believe even Ahmad Shabery Cheek would have got the drift by now. Unless of course he believes our striker Amri Yahyah or Zaquan Adha can stand shoulder to shoulder with your Rooneys, your Van Persies, or even your Drogbas.

If Mr Minister knows who these EPL players are or has seen them in action often enough to form an opinion, wouldn’t you think he would have seen the wisdom of aborting this cockamamie plan of his to attach our national players to foreign clubs?

I guess not.

Let’s simplify this Mr Minister. We won’t even take this argument onto the pitch. Let’s just begin with the dressing rooms. Do you know Sir that the dressing rooms in these clubs don’t have bathroom doors and everyone is in full sight of the other proudly displaying their respective family jewels?

Do you seriously see our introverted, shy, kampong boys doing that? Even in the FAM hostels, our boys have their showers with their shorts or towels on. His is their culture, their mindset, their sense of inferiority. When they don’t even qualify to make their stand with the EPL players in the dressing rooms, do you seriously believe they can match them on the pitch to earn a place even in their junior teams?

In 1997 six players were sent to Arsenal for attachment for six weeks, and they were struck with inferiority complex that they never took their showers after the training session. That’s how mentally weak our players are.

Let’s take this forum into the “dining area”. Food, in the perception of the highly-trained professionals apparently is poison to our kampong boys, who must have their nasi lemak, roti canai, rice and curry, and all the lovely Malaysian delicacies.

Maybe NSC should also take a cook along with them when our players ever get to leave for these attachments.We also should take all cooking items from here, and maybe you can speak to Manchester United to allow the Malaysian chefs to use the kitchen, because our players are very special. By eating local dishes we won the SEA Games gold medal, and I am sure the way to the World Cup finals is through their stomachs too.

But as our Sports Minister and his self-proclaimed experts lounge in their Business Class passage to Europe in the name of “Lawatan Sambil Belajar”, Datuk Ahmad could mull over another option that though may not improve his political career immediately, but will certainly be good for the future of Malaysian football.

You see Mr Minister, as you are a politician yourself, perhaps you could use the good offices of the Foreign Ministry and its Minister Datuk Anifah Aman, a former football administrator, to get this job done.

In all of Europe and South America, I believe we have an embassy or a consulate. What we could do is to have every one of our ambassadors or consuls to help get our 12 or 13-year olds attached to a leading club in their respective areas.

We need to start with the young as habit-forming plays a crucial part in the development of a player. We have to ingrain the expectations and tenets of professionalism in our players at this age and not when they have already formed all the bad habits at age 26.

Can you imagine, if 1Malaysia had one 12 year old boy getting a sound football upbringing in each of these football-developed nations, we would eventually have 1Helluva Malaysia football team.
If parents are worried about their 12-year-olds growing up on foreign soil, well we have our embassies and consulates looking out for them, or even funding them.

This will require a political will, but then what the heck, after all we have politicians as Sports Ministers.

Oh one other thing, are you Mr Minister going to make public the cost of your grand inane plan. If there is nothing to hide, if there is justification, why the secrecy. What has happened to transparency?

I wish Mr Minister and his entourage a pleasant and of course please don’t forget to take your cameras along as England could provide some really good “Kodak Moments” for you.

Bon Voyage.

MORE MONEY FOR FOOTBALL

Government has set up special fund under the National Football Development Plan with an initial allocation of RM 10 million. This is above the RM 50 million approved under the 1 Malaysian Youth Program which will be monitored by the Prime Minister's office.