Level Field - 27th Dec, 2013
By TONY MARIADASS
’TIS the season to be jolly, but not as far
as Kuala Lumpur FA is concerned. It is staring at a bleak 2014.
However, the officialdom at KLFA is
oblivious of what it has done to the association and is still sitting pretty in
office without a tinge of sadness or remorse.
Kuala Lumpur has a shorter but proud history
in the annals of Malaysian football. Having only made its debut in the M-League
in 1979 after the association was formed in 1974, it worked its way up from minnows
to the kingpin of Malaysian football. But now, for the new season, it has plumbed
new depths - club-level football, the third tier of the FAM League.
More humiliatingly, the
association has been rocked by match-fixing allegations over the
last two years. Last week saw its foreign coach for the season, its team
manager, an official and five players banned for life from football and fined RM20,000
for match-fixing by the FA of Malaysia.
Another seven players are expected to be
hauled up today and could well face similar action.
While it is commendable that the FA of
Malaysia is serious about match-fixing, what sanctions has it meted out to KLFA?
KL’s President Cup team was up to no good last season, but KLFA chose to turn a
blind eye. And it put the KL team at further risk of match-fixing speculation
when it enlisted a new sponsor for the 2013 season - Rising Sun Travel &
Tours, which did not fully fulfil its sponsorship obligations.
What’s puzzling is that KLFA let the sponsor
have a say in the hiring of the coach and players and even in managing the team
when it is clearly stated by the FA of Malaysia that the team must be managed
by the association.
When asked if late payment of salaries was
the reason the players turned to bookies, KLFA secretary general Nokman
Mustapha insisted that it was not. He claimed that KLFA paid its portion of the
salaries, but the sponsor defaulted.
But the players sign contracts with the
association, which makes it fully responsible for their salaries, not the
sponsor.
According to Nokman, the Malaysian
Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had asked to observe the KL team early this
season and KLFA had given its blessing to the investigation. So, KLFA knew something
was amiss, but did nothing about it, including curtailing the powers of the
sponsor.
It is fine to punish the
guilty players, but shouldn’t KLFA president Datuk Astaman Abdul Aziz and his
council also be blamed for the fiasco? The honourable thing to do would be to
resign en bloc. Or the FA of Malaysia should punish them for their part in bringing
the game to disrepute.
All the hard work
former KLFA president and mayor of Kuala Lumpur, Tan Sri Elyas Omar, put in to
raise the standard of city football has been undone. The efforts of founder
members like Datuk K. Rasalingam (the then secretary) and Goh Ah Chai (the then
treasurer) have all gone to waste.
To call KLFA poor would
be a misstatement. With the assistance of KL City Hall, it has a home to call its
own - the Bandar Tun Razak Stadium. KLFA manages the stadium and only pays
booking fees to City Hall. Maintenance of the stadium is shouldered by City
Hall. KLFA also get financial aid from City Hall.
However, the
KLFA-City Hall relationship hit a snag. As a result, the field in the stadium was
neglected and the FA of Malaysia would not allow KLFA’s M-League matches to be
held there last season. The matches had to be played in Malacca.
Soon, KLFA will be
without a home because City Hall intends to close the stadium for two years for
renovations. The association is said to be negotiating with the latter for an
alternative office space.
Lest we forget, Elyas
had acquired eight hectares in Taman Melawati for KLFA. The land was recently given
to a company to develop in exchange for building the KLFA Academy Football
Centre on 3.28 hectares of it. But work on the academy was unsatisfactory and
after much deliberation and restoration, KLFA decided that it would privatise
the academy. The Ministry of Sports assisted by turfing the pitch.
A private entity currently
manages the academy, which boasts a gymnasium, hostel and cafeteria, among
other facilities. In return, KLFA got 10 per cent of the booking fees a month
and now gets 30 per cent.
The sad fact is that KLFA’s
teams do not get a chance to train at the academy. It is also learnt that the
developer had given KLFA a condominium but whether there are any returns from
the property is unclear.
Then, there is
revenue from billboards also acquired during Elyas’ tenure, and surely KLFA can
manage better with all this income.
Today, a personal
assistant of Astaman, who was initially brought in as liaison officer and was not
supposed to cost KLFA any money, is the assistant secretary with a paid salary
and calls all the shots in KLFA. She has also found a place on FAM’s media
committee.
Certainly, a great deal
of things are not right with KLFA and need to be addressed immediately.
The people who have
brought KLFA to its knees need to pay for their sins. KLFA is not going to look
good by punishing teenagers when the elders themselves are guilty of wrongdoing.
Twitter handle: @tmariadass
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