FMT
Tony Mariadass
June 26, 2020 7:30 AM
For Malaysian sports to improve, athletes must be treated with
respect while officials must display integrity and have a sound knowledge of
their tasks.
Some sports officials act indifferently because they have no
clue about taking their associations to the next level.
Those with hidden ambitions are ruining sports bodies as they
spend most of their time politicking and settling personal conflicts.
The practice of buying votes with money, overseas trips and
other attractive perks has seen unqualified people become key office bearers.
While athletes work hard to qualify for international
competitions, officials jump on the bandwagon to these meets as a reward for
blindly supporting the leadership.
Sadly, sports, athletes and coaches fall victim to the ineptness
of these officials.
And worryingly, cases of athletes, coaches and technical staff
not getting their wages, allowances or incentives are on the rise.
Such situations are common especially in football, and to a
certain degree in athletics and cycling.
Some athletes, not wanting to rock the boat, try to solve their
issues by themselves for fear of being victimised if they confront the
authorities and end up waiting a long time for their dues.
There have been numerous cases where athletes were paid
considerably less than the amount they were promised or had their contracts
altered.
It is odd that some of the affected players failed to seek the
help of the Professional Footballers Association of Malaysia, or the FA of
Malaysia’s Status Committee that were established for their welfare.
There is also the Olympic Council of Malaysia’s Athletes
Commission whose membership is open to Malaysian representatives at multi-sport
games under the jurisdiction of the OCM.
Perhaps, this committee should play a bigger role by assisting
distressed athletes.
The current issue of the Malaysia Athletics Federation’s (MAF)
non-payment of RM20,000 to national 200m record holder Russell Nasir Taib, who
is based in Brisbane, is a case of point.
The money due to Russel is part of the US$25,000 allocated by
the International Association of Athletics Federations for development of
athletics.
A mock cheque for RM21,000 was presented to Russel at an
official dinner in March last year by then MAF president Karim Ibrahim, but to
date the sprinter has only been paid RM1,000 for breaking the 200m record.
Russel had earlier that month clocked 20.77s to erase Khairul
Hafiz Jantan’s national record of 20.90s set at the 2017 Malaysian Open.
The sprinter of Malaysian-English parentage has spent more than
RM100,00 since he started training for Malaysia in 2015, first in Tasmania and
now in Brisbane.
While efforts are underway to pay Russel the RM20,000, the
events leading up to non-payment could be put down poor communication and
management by MAF, and a personality clash between the past and present
presidents.
Russel’s management team, Team Taib, has also erred in not
getting its information up to date.
For one, they did not know that the National Sports Council
(NSC) had included Russel in its Podium Programme from April to December this
year, entitling him to RM2,000 per month.
NSC, on the other hand, was accused by Team Taib of not giving
them proper information.
Since FMT highlighted Russel’s plight more track and field
stars, including Ifran Shamsuddin (discus), Mohamad Iskandar Alwi (pole vault),
Andre Anura (long jump) and Jackie Wong (hammer), have claimed they too have
not received their promised incentives.
Will other athletes from other sports come forward with similar
claims?
Officials who have overstayed their welcome should exit gracefully,
and this includes those who are bankrupt of ideas, and politicians and others
with vested interests.
They must make way for younger officials with fresh ideas,
commitment, sporting background and a sound knowledge of sports.
After all, without athletes, officials will not exist, although
they will argue that without them athletes will be lost. This is a typical case
of putting the cart before the horse.
The views expressed are those of the author and do
not necessarily reflect those of FMT.
Column
Tony
Mariadass
GET
RID OFF STUMBLING BLOCK OFFICIALS
IF
Malaysian sports is to move to the next level and athletes and coaches are to
be treated with respect and dignity, sports officials must display a greater
degree of integrity, responsibility and have a sound knowledge of the sport
they helm.
More
often than not, sports officials act and sound like politicians or businessmen
and that's because they have to camouflage the fact that they have not got the
faintest clue about what their sports association is about, very often have
personal agendas, engage in sports politics and the biggest sin of all use
their position as an avenue to settle personal conflicts.
And all too common in Malaysian sports is
the luring of voting members to join vote for a particular person with cash
incentives, the promise of overseas trips and other attractive perks. And sadly
its sports, athletes and coaches who fall victim to the inaptness of these
officials.
When athletes have to tooth and nail to qualify
for international meets, officials in bandwagon go for these meets as a reward
from their respective associations.
Cases
of sportsmen and women, coaches and technical staff not getting paid their due
wages, allowances or incentives is getting to be the norm in Malaysia
sports. This is very common in football and to a certain degree in
athletics and cycling among others.
Many
of these cases are left at the bottom of a stack of files because some
sportsmen and women, not wanting to rock the boat, keep silent and try to solve
the issues by themselves because they fear being victimised if they confront
the proper authorities.
There have been numerous cases where the
sportsmen and sportswomen lose out because they are paid considerably less than
the amount they were promised or contract altered.
In
some sports like football, there is the Professional Footballers Association
of Malaysia (PFAM), established to take care of the welfare of
players but some still do not report their woes to the PFAM or even to the FA
of Malaysia which has a Status Committee to look into matters like these.
We also have the
Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) Athletes Commission which is headed by newly
elected president Shalin Zulkifli and whose membership is open to all national
athletes who had represented Malaysia at any multi-sports Games under the
jurisdiction of OCM.
Maybe
this committee needs to play a bigger role into looking into the woes of
athletes and act as watchdog for them. Its current role is
to collaborate with the National Sports Associations (NSAs), government
agencies and International Olympic Council (IOC) for the development and
training of athletes, coaches, technical officials and sports
administrators for competitive sports, as well as sport for all.
The current issue of the Malaysia Athletics Federation's (MAF)
non-payment of RM20,000 to national 200m record holder Russell Taib, who is
based in Brisbane, is a strong case of point. The money due to Russel, who
is of mixed Malaysian-English parentage, is part of the annual IAAF Olympics
Athletics Dividend grant of US$25,000 allocated for various activities
including athletics development.
A
mock cheque for RM21,000 was presented to Russel at an official dinner in March
last year by then MAF president Karim Ibrahim but to date the sprinter has only
been paid RM1,000 for his record feat.
It has
been 15 months and efforts by Team Taib (a team of professionals set up to
manage the affairs of Russel which includes his mother) to get information on
the outstanding amount, has hit a brick wall. One suspects it is a
classic case of poor communication by MAF, personality clashes between the
past and present presidents of MAF and poor management.
In all
fairness, Team Taib has also erred in not getting its information up to date.
The National Sports Council (NSC) has included Russel in its podium programme
from April to December which entitles him to RM2,000 per month.
But NSC must shoulder a large part of the blame for failing to
share its latest updates when queries were made by Team Taib as the right
information was not forthcoming.
Since the highlighting of Russel’s plight more athletes, including
Ifran Shamsuddin (discus), Mohamad Iskandar Alwi (pole vault), Andre Anura
(long jump) and Jackie Wong (hammer), have come forward and claimed they
too have not received their promised incentives, and more are expected to
come forward with similar claims.
This does not augur well for the development
of sports in Malaysia in this professional era.
Officials who have overstayed their welcome should exit gracefully and
this includes officials who cannot contribute and are bankrupt of ideas,
politicians and officials with vested interests and only in it to be involved
in sports politics. They must all move over and allow a younger set of
officials with newer ideas to take over for the betterment and progress of
sports in the country,
We
desperately need a new breed of officials who are sincere, passionate and have
sporting backgrounds and knowledge to put Malaysian sports back on track.
After
all, without athletes, officials will not exist, although they will argue that
without them athletes will not be able to manage. This is a typical case
of putting the cart before the horse!
Ends.
