Where states are as guilty (26/09/1994 - The Malay Mail)

Publication : MM
Date : 26/09/1994
Headline : Where states are as guilty


JUDGING by the State FAs registration list for next month's Malaysia Cup
competition, it's being left to the FA of Malaysia to fight the bribery
allegations.
What else can anyone deduce, because after many State FAs stating that
matches have been fixed in this years Premier League, and given a
opportunity to clean up their respective teams by allowing them fresh
registration for the Malaysia Cup competition (utilising players from the
Reserve League), they have still decided to stick with the same players
who played in the Premier League.
Except for Sabah, who have left out their first choice goalkeeper M.
Pavalamani, the rest of the States had only used the new registration to
include two more players because the registration number is now 22 instead
of 20, or filling players for injured or banned ones.
It only underlines that State FAs would join in the bandwagon to say
matches have been fixed and even mention names of their players whom they
think are fixing matches, but when it comes to the crunch of things, they
back out.
It only goes to show that most States FA will not do anything drastic to
jeopordise their teams chances in the Malaysia Cup competition.
Of course, most State FAs will argue that they cannot take action
without ample proof of bribery allegations on their players, but if they
seriously believe that their players have been cheating on them, why dont
they just leave them out.
Sabah has done it, but just to one player, although many more were
suspected.
But at least they have taken a bold step compared to the rest who rather
sit back and see others like the Police or the Anti-Coruption Agency (ACA)
do the dirty job for them.
If the State FAs do not help or initiate the move, it will definitely be
difficult for the Police or the ACA to act.
States will also argue that players are contracted and they cannot
terminate their contracts all of a sudden.
If State FAs are really serious about cleaning up the Malaysia soccer,
there should be no BUTS.
Surely, the State FA can leave the player out of the registration list
but still keep him on their payroll until the contract is over.
And if the player does not show up for training just because he has been
left out of the Malaysia Cup competition, they will have a reason to sack
the player, as was in the case of Pavalamani.