Malaysian talent tapped overseas
While
M-League has been plagued with organisational issues, a Malaysian, Mohd
Saifuddin Abu Bakar has been a key player in the professional football leagues
of Qatar and Oman and making it good.
Malaysian
football after more than two decades of professional football (Semi-Pro
launched in 1989 and went fully professional in 1994), after grasping with issues
after issues will see the league privatised next year.
The
55-year-old Saifuddin, who became the first Malaysian football administrator to
work overseas eight years ago, is currently the technical consultant of
competitions and pro league with the Oman FA.
Prior to his
engagement with Oman FA four years ago, he was the assistant head of
competitions of the Qatar Stars League from May 2009 till Oct 2012.
Saifuddin has over 23 years of hands-on sports
management experience - having been exposed in various football management
elements including infrastructure, youth development, senior team development,
competitions, refereeing and international competitions coordination.
His strengths lie in competition management, event
management, security and licensing program for Football Associations.
Saifuddin said that he owes a great deal of his
experience to the tutelage of former FA of Malaysia and Asian Football
Confederation general secretary, Datuk Paul Mony.
“Datuk Paul is my guru. He is vastly experienced and
his professional approach makes him stand out as a great administrator. I owe
my knowledge acquired to him,” said Saifuddin payin tribute to Mony.
Saifulddin, the former FA of Malaysia assistant
general secretary from Nov 2007 to 2009 after serving in various departments
with the national body (1995-2003), successfully launched the Oman Professional
League within the first year of service with Oman FA in 2013.(started with Oman
FA Aug 2012)
There are 14 professional clubs in the league and
besides another 30 amateur clubs with Oman FA.
“The Pro-League was launched not just about having
foreign players, but for the overall development of the game in the country,”
said Saifulddin when met in Muscat recently.
The Oman Pro-League is separate working body working
under the Oman FA and Saifulddin was responsible for putting it in place.
He had looked into aspects like legal, infrastructures,
technical development, referees, licensing the clubs which was under his
priority list of setting up the Pro-League.
“It was difficult initially as most clubs were set in
their ways and were not responding well to changes and requirements of setting
up for a professional club,” said Saifulddin who has also worked with the Asian
Football Confederation (AFC) from 2003 to June 2007 in various capacities
ranging from coordinating FIFA matches and competitions, event manager and as regional
officer.
“But with strong support from the Oman Ministry of
Sports which helped each club set up their own club house, the mind-set changed
quickly.
“We held many workshops, courses and seminars to
educate the administrators and their willingness to change to become
professional saw the League run professionally,” said Saifulddin who started
out his football administration with technical and youth development officer
with the FA of Selangor from 1991 to 1995
Saifuldin appointed as the National Club Licensing Manager
by the OFA attended a course with AFC in Kuala Lumpur last week
“Football is the number 1 sport in the country.
Although it has only, about 4 million population, every evening, everywhere,
everybody is playing football. This makes it easy to promote and develop the
game,” said Saifulddin whose second two-year contract with OFA ends next year.
“Besides the professional league teams and the 30
amateur league, each of the amateur league teams organise their own league in
their district where at least 100 teams compete in each district.
“We also have a very good development programme where
we have junior leagues for the various age-groups.”
It is no surprise that Oman is ranked 92 in the world
and ranked seventh in Asia (tied with Jordan).
Asked if he is going to stay on in Oman with a fresh
contract, Saifulddin said that eight years out of the country was long enough
and he wants to return home.
On whether he will be offering his services to FA of
Malaysia, he simply said: “It all depends if they want me. I am always
available for the game of football to anyone who are serious about it and
professional.”
On his reasons for
leaving for overseas in the first place, he said it was because he just wanted
to work as a professional but was not able to do so in Malaysia.
"I am a
straightforward person who only wants to work professionally and with the
interest of sports at heart.
"Sometimes
it was not possible in Malaysia, which saw me frustrated.
"Thus
when I got an opportunity to work overseas, I went for it.
"And it
was a wise decision because my services were valued and appreciated. Above all
I was able to impart my knowledge for the betterment of the game."
Indeed, Saifulddin has done Malaysia proud as an
administrator working in a foreign land, but it is pity that such good talent
in the game slipped away for the benefit of other nations.
No comments:
Post a Comment