FRIDAY AUGUST 8, 2008
soccer
MALAY MAIL
SPORT
77
MalaysiaCup
UNWANTED: Frank Seator (right) will not be seen in action again
FAM barking up the wrong tree IT was from one of their most underrated albums, , but perhaps those associated with Malaysian football should take some time off and listen to Pink Floyd’s Dogs. The lyrics of the song, which lasts just over 17 minutes, borders on bad education and ignorance. Its relevance? Despite the highly educated office bearers within their realm, the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) found it fit to ban foreign players from plying their trade in our domestic league. It was a similar stand taken exactly 10 years ago. Then foreign players made a comeback but now FAM are banning them once again! FAM’s reason then was that most imports were not paid. It’s the same situation this time around but it has been somewhat clouded by the fact that the foreigners are ‘not that good’. Baffling and yet most coaches actually agreed to such a ruling during the brainstorming session. The reluctant few, however, didn’t have the courage to speak their minds. If teams are financially sound, why stop them? Police are a good example. They are not State based and thus have zero development. They can only bank on buying players, especially imports.
COMMENT by HARESH DEOL
If more Police players, besides Nizaruddin Yusoff, report for national duty, who’s going to replace them? The S-League in Singapore, Thailand Premier League and Indonesian Super League allow foreigners to play and yet their national teams are still a class above us. Kedah’s St Vincent striker Marlon Alex James scored a hattrick against Perak in under 10 minutes while Croatian Sasa Branezac aided MyTeam to a 3-1 win against Johor FC in round one of the Malaysia Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday. Former Liberian import Frank Seator and Indonesian international Elie Aiboy strongly opposed the restriction and believe FAM will change their tune yet again. As an alternative, perhaps FAM could restrict the number of imports during a match instead. As for next season’s league starting in January, didn’t it occur to any of the ‘educated’ FAM officials that most Premier League teams have not and will not play any competitive football for almost six months? What are the players and officials supposed to do in between? Will this help our national players? Shouldn’t the national players be kept on their toes through com-
petitive football and allowed properly timed breaks for national training? Organise a special tournament between the transition periods so that players will have something to look forward to. FAM should also chart its calendars at least two seasons in advance while avoiding any clashes with the AFC and FIFA tournaments. With Perak training on open fields with no nets and KL, despite all the facilities in the city, are still in the doldrums. Considering such a scenario, perhaps it’s best if we went back to being amateurs. Focus on the grassroots. Teach our youngsters the basics. All our football needs is a bit of homework, plenty of hard work and most importantly a tad of common sense. Sadly, some FAM officials are too egoistic to eat humble pie.
FIXTURES MALAYSIA CUP QUARTER-FINALS (round two) TOMORROW Perlis v Terengganu (Utama Stadium, 8.45pm) Police v Selangor (Selayang Stadium, 8.45pm) Perak v Kedah (Perak Stadium, 8.45pm) Johor FC v MyTeam (JCorp Stadium, 8.45pm)