Malaysian football goes freefall

Credit: suarasabah.com

Malaysian football team embarrassing yet record breaking10-0 lost during the clash with UAE has set fire to local fans.

Crown Prince of Johor, Tunku Ibrahim Sultan Ismail has called for major revamp to Malaysian football scene while Malaysian fanatical supporters, Ultras Malaya set charge through much more provocative moves.

 Today, football remains the number one sport in Malaysia. The glorious days of the late Mokhtar Dahari, Soh Chin Aun and Santokh Singh are long gone.

Those were the days when Malaysians used to enjoy quality football – in fact those were the days of total football.

Malaysian football scene has since jumped a free dive. We still enjoyed quality football in early 90s during the days of Azman Adnan, Alan Davidson and Radhi Mat Din.

Foreign players used to flock Malaysia because of the quality of our football. For example, England national footballers, Tony Cottee played for Selangor throughout the 1996-1997 season while his fellow David Rocastle played for Sabah in 1999.

Players have long swamped Malaysian football scene. All these years, hundreds of players from as far as Argentina and Brazil came all the way to play for local teams and they do bring a degree of quality into Malaysian football.

That was it. The quality they bring ends right at our airports’ departure gate. Over the years, the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), academicians and fans in general suggest that bringing foreign players in will benefit our local players in the long run.

Ironically, what happen today is very contrary to many beliefs. Instead of going up, our football went sadly quick, down south.

During the ‘Halatuju Bola Sepak Malaysia’ (direction of Malaysian football) forum recently held by Lensa Anak Muda Malaysia (LENSA) in Shah Alam, We gather opinions from football experts - former Malaysia and Kelantan head coach, B Sathianathan, sports columnist, Rizal Hashim, as well as Ultras Malaya’s Alfadli Awaludin or famously knows as Rambo.

Anger proven unbearable

The sense frustration over the substandard performance of the national squad has been around for years. However it was only until September 8 this year when a bunch of fanatic fans take matters into their own hand.

Credit: ahmadjunaidi.com

 At the recent World Cup qualifying Saudi Arabia versus Malaysia match, fans known to be the Ultras Malaya have unleashed their anger in the most bewildering fashion. Match venue, the Shah Alam stadium turned into a battle ground.

That night, flares, fire crackers and not surprisingly, countless of plastic seats were launched straight into the pitch exactly at the 88 minute.

The provocation was reported to be initiated by the Ultras Malaya members and that event that night has diverted our football into a totally new direction.

FAM has since gone under great pressure, having received show cause letter from FIFA in September 12 over the fan riots and facing the possibility of ban by the world body.

FAM put the blame onto Ultras Malaya and more than ten individuals believed to be members of the movement were arrested – including Rambo himself.

Harimau Malaya the toothless tiger

The embarrassing lost against the UAE has significantly proven how the national team, or known as the Harimau Malaya has lost traction in the world ranking.

Ironically, Malaysia is currently positioned at 169 in FIFA world ranking, four spots under Indonesia that has been undergoing FIFA’s ban from international football since June 5 this year.

According to B Sathianathan, the lost to the UAE came with no surprise.

“After I stepped down as the national coach, I wrote a recommendation report for the FAM but it was never discussed by the FAM executive committee,” he says.

To him, the FAM could not care less with what was going on with the national squad.

He also adds that the FAM tends to be very selective in handling opinions and criticise.

“Everyone in FAM is always pleased when foreign coaches say that our players possess the technique in football. However, they fail to realise that these coaches never have mentioned anything about skill. This is the misconception that has broken our football into pieces,” Sathianathan says.

The ex-Kelantan coach says that in football, technique and skill point to two very different directions. Technique, according to him simply means a player’s ability to perform actions without the existence of external pressures while skills relate to the ability to perform under pressure.

“Most of our players possess great technique but this does not necessarily mean they possess great skill too. In fact, our players do lack in skills,” he says.

Sathianathan also states that we are stuck in this situation and no make-over can make up our performance in the near future. Instead of looking at current national squad, FAM should focus on polishing the potential of our young players.

Grassroots development at stake

For sports columnist Rizal Hashim, Malaysian football scene is in dire need of proper football academies.

He recalls names like Akmal Rizal Ahmad Rakhli, Rudie Ramli and Nurhafiz Zamani Misbah who emerged from football academy.

“We should use football academy as a medium to nurture future players, just like what we had in the 90s,” he says.

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 Meanwhile, Sathianathan adds that the foundation of academies such as Frenz United will benefit our football in the distant future.

He labels the efforts as very respectful due to the fact that these academies expose Malaysian young talents to international football scene with little or no help from the FAM.

His comparison between Malaysian grassroots development with Japan follows.

“In Malaysian schools, our players play only for a small number of match hours in a year. This is not happening in countries like Japan. Their players play six days a week throughout the year hence the difference in long-term performance,” Sathianathan says.

Totally lacking in everything

Malaysian football teams is lacking in the very basic of things. It starts with facilities to the extent of players’ efforts in and off pitch.

Touching on the lack of facilities, Sathianathan praises Johor Darul Takzim (JDT) for having great facilities under the leadership of Tunku Ibrahim Sultan Ismail.

He highlights that without having these basic needs fulfilled, the possibility for teams to develop beyond what they already are is next to zero.

“Can you imagine that there are no changing rooms at most training grounds? Players have to change in their car. There are not even toilets provided,” he says.

Sathianathan also stresses that most of the facilities are either borrowed or leased from the state governments and as a result, many VIPs have direct and indirect influence over the teams. A number of Menteri Besar are known to have direct relation to state teams.

Sathianathan’s vast experience in local football scene has taught him one thing – our players lack in effort.

He says that it is not uncommon to see local players leave training grounds right away after training sessions while foreign players as well as a very small number of local players stay for post-training sessions.

“This happens during off-seasons as well. So when a new season starts, most of these players are not really ready for action.”

Malaysian players too are very hesitant to invest a little portion of their money on supplements. Sathianathan says that there were times when he had to dig deep into his pocket to purchase vitamin supplement for his players. Despite earning good money, players are still being very hesitant when it comes to investing in themselves.

Malaysia need solutions

Following the departure of national head coach, Dollah Salleh, Malaysian squad is in critical need of a new capable head.

There were suggestions to import foreign coach to replace Datuk Ong Kim Swee who stepped in as interim coach to temporarily fill Dollah’s position.

Sathianathan says that foreign coach may give impact to Malaysian team’s performance only if he is able to fully understand local players, styles, cultures and environments. In fact if there will be a foreign coach taken in, he should have a local assistant to put him in the right perspective.

Meanwhile, for Rizal Hashim, solutions should start with the FAM undergoing a major reformation. It is not fair to point fingers to others when the authority itself is not delivering up to standard.

The FAM has long been very unpredictable in policies amendment. Rizal says that the organisation has made quite a number of policies that went on and off.

He takes foreign players policy as example, saying that there were once when FAM decided to ban the use of imported players and having it revoked a few years later.

“FAM is also known best at turning down new ideas. Perhaps it is time to open their doors to experts, academicians and fans,” he adds.

Rizal also suggests that FAM and Ministry of Youth and Sports should have mutual vision not only in football, but other sports as well.

Touching on naturalised players, both Sathianathan and Rizal agrees that it will bring short-term benefits to the national squad.

However, according to Rizal, the Youth and Sports minister, Khairy Jamaluddin has turned down the idea under the idea that local players possess potential.

Rizal argues that the same environment will produce players of the same quality – which is painfully true.

He says that we have to accept the fact that our national squad’s performance is already in stagnant mode and it is only by major make-over that we can expect improvements in the future.

Ultras are not hooligans

As football fanatics, Ultras Malaya definitely adds colours to our Malaysian football scene. Chants, drums and occasionally flares make a large part of Malaysian football culture today.

Malaysian state teams are known to have their own ultras as well. In east coast of Malaysia, Pahang has an avid following by the Elephant Army while Negeri Sembilan’s Buffalo Souljah make a part of their fan base, and down south, Johor is followed by the Boys of Straits.

Many have mislabeled ultras as the identical twin of hooligans – which is debatable. In fact, Ultras today represent a new breed of fan base, though a little hardcore in presence, is in no way promoting any kind of violence in local football.

These football fanatics are in, purely for the love of their football team. Unlike hooligans who glorify fist fights especially against opposing team’s supporters, ultras are made of more organised movements, where visual-melodious choreographies are put forth throughout matches.

Their main aim is to follow and give as much encouragement as possible to their team wherever and whenever they play a match.

“Some Ultras Malaya members are known to have sold their possessions just to cover their expenses for away-days. This does not limit them to neighbouring countries only – some goes as far as the UAE just to support our Malaysian team,” says Alfadli.

Alfadli aka Rambo

Touching on the riot held in Shah Alam stadium on September 8, Alfadli says that fans especially the Ultras Malaya have voiced out their opinions through proper channels but was trashed by the executive committee of the FAM.

“We had no other options but to go through the hard ways. FAM has direct responsibilities towards the national team and after years or perhaps, decades, no one has ever looked over actions and mismanagements done by the football organisation,” he adds.

“As Malaysian fans, we only want three things – for the Malaysian squad to gain a spot in World Cup, Asia Cup as well as Asian Champions League for the state teams, all by merit.”

After all, what the fans always want is the best for the national squad, but if FAM is not going to reform, perhaps there is no way for the fans change side.

“If the FAM is not problematic, there is no reason for the Ultras Malaya to be problematic too,” says Alfadli.