FAM apply pressure (The Malay Mail)

THE FA of Malaysia (FAM) are breathing down the necks of State FAs to
ensure they do their part in youth development.
 They can no longer tolerate the State FAs' neglect of this vital area
which have been one of the major reasons for the current ills of Malaysian
football.
 Some stern measures have been taken by FAM to push the State FAs into
getting the ball rolling in grassroots development.
 One of which concerned the hand-out of subsidies, which are now only
given to State FAs who can prove they have done some development work like
organising age-group tournaments or setting up academies.
 This year, the FAM, instead of organising the age-group tournaments on a
carnival basis as in previous years, launched the inaugural national
Under-16 and Under-18 Leagues.
 As a follow up, the FAM Local Competitions Committee, headed by Datuk
Redzuan Tan Sri Sheikh Ahmad, have recommended to the Council the State
FAs have their own age-group tourneys before the national tournament.
 The recommendation will be endorsed on Dec 12.
 Some States, like the Kuala Lumpur FA, already have age-group
competitions in the form of the Inter-Parliamentary Constituency
tournament.
 But it is non-existent in most of the other States.
 In their proposal to the Council, the FAM Competitions Committee want to
make it compulsory for all State FAs to have their own Under-16 and Under-
18 Leagues with a minimum of eight teams from March to May.
 Only State FAs who organise their own Leagues will be eligible to
compete in the national Leagues from June to October.
 The FAM Competitions Committee have also proposed some changes to the
competition format.
 Instead of having four groups in the competition like this year, they
suggested only two. The idea is to give the young players the chance to
play more matches.
 After the home and away League fixtures are completed, the top four teams
in each group will advance to the quarterfinals.
 The quarterfinals and semifinals will also be played on a home and away
basis. The final, however, will be decided in one match unlike last year.
 The idea of playing just one match in the final has also been suggested
to the President's Cup and FAM Cup competitions.
 A knock-out competition could also be held in the President's Cup this
year besides the League.
 The FAM Competitions Committee have recommended that the age limit for
the President's Cup be maintained at 20 on or before Jan 1, 1978.
 This is to allow the players who played this year to continue for
another year.
 The move is to help players who have not broken into the senior team,
giving them one more year of exposure.
 A proposal was also made by the State FAs that the President's Cup team
be allowed to use three over-aged players who are under 23. But these
players, however, will be registered with the M-League team.
 The changes in format of the age-group competitions will allow teams to
assemble for a longer period of eight months compared to just a few weeks
before.
 FAM, naturally, hope to see the players from the age-group teams
progressing to play in the Asian age-group tournaments in 2000 and the
Fifa age-group competitions in 2001, resulting in a bigger talent pool for
the 2004 Olympics.