Elyas the man?

VETERAN sports leader, Tan Sri Elyas Omar, has emerged as the most likely
candidate to replace Sultan Azlan Shah as president of the Malaysian
Hockey Federation (MHF).
Elyas - the former Kuala Lumpur FA president and Badminton Association
of Malaysia (BAM) supremo - is currently not involved with any sport.
It was revealed by Mailsport yesterday that Sultan Alan will not seek
re-election when MHF hold their Biennial General Meeting (BGM) on Oct 26.
Several names came up as likely candidates. However, Sultan Azlan's son,
Raja Nazrin Shah, has made it quite clear that he does not intend to
succeed his father.
"He will decline all nominations," said a close aide of Raja Nazrin.
"Raja Nazrin has no interest in taking over the MHF leadership from his
father. In fact, he does not even want to discuss his father's decision to
quit."
Defence Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak yesterday declined as well.
"Frankly, I am immersed in my work and other matters, which is why I
have to respectfully decline," Najib said yesterday.
"Besides, I don't play hockey...you need someone who is passionate about
the sport to lead the association."
Najib's late father, Tun Abdul Razak, was the president of the MHF
during his tenure as Prime Minister.
And that leaves Elyas as the popular candidate.
In fact, it was learnt there have been behind-the-scene manoeuvres to
entice Elyas. At least four States are expected to nominate him when
nominations for the BGM close on Sept 26.
Elyas, the former Mayor of Kuala Lumpur, held several positions in
various sports association. Under him, Malaysia won the badminton Thomas
Cup in 1992.
Kuala Lumpur were also a force in Malaysian soccer under him.
When contacted yesterday, Elyas laughed off the suggestion that he is
being sought to lead the MHF.
"This is news to me," said Elyas. "You mean people still remember me.
I'm sure there are more capable and younger leaders to head MHF."
When asked if he had been approached, Elyas replied: "Let's just say
everything is merely speculation at this moment. Please leave it at that.
"People may be testing the waters by dropping my name in."
Kuala Lumpur HA president, Tan Sri Noordin Hassan, is another man who is
being courted. Noordin was a MHF vice-president from 1984 to 1993.

Foreign Mercenaries vs Local Guns (The Malay Mail)

PERHAPS to the frowns of local players but to the excitement of fans, the foreign legion are returning to the 2002 M-League. The presence of these international soldiers of fortune of the game will mean fewer places in Premier One and Premier Two for local players. After an absence of three years, the FA of Malaysia are reopening the doors of the M-League to foreign players in order to inject more excitement into the league. After three seasons of all local players in the league. we will get to judge whether the return of the foreign players will make a difference, at least in gate attendance. if not in standards. In recent years, teams have complained of poor gates as few fans showed up at the stadiums to watch fellow Malaysians play. Generally, the return of foreign players is seen as a timely injection into the league to rekindle interest, and hopefully improve the standards of the game and fill the stands. But one cannot deny that the absence of foreign players has given local players more opportunities to make their mark. And the success of the national Under-23 squad in reaching the SEA Games final last year is ample proof that talents have surfaced over the last three years. Significantly, not all teams are rushing into hiring foreign players and some, determined to prove a thing or two, will stick to an all local cast season this time. This will enable FAM, and fans to see for themselves what influence the foreign players have on Malaysian soccer. After the Semi-Pro league was introduced in 1989 and it went fully professional in 1996, this is a significant year for the game as we will see which direction it is headed. The inclusion of foreign players will deny at least two local players each team a first XI spot if every outfit are to fill up their foreign quota. At an average of one foreign player per team, at least 24 local players are going to be denied action in the Premier I and II League. If this pushes back Malaysian soccer, one wonders how much it would dilute the pool of the national team. But at the same time, another school of thought is that the participation of of foreign players will help Malaysian soccer rise. In retrospect, from 1989 to 1998, 453 foreign players graced the M- League. How much has it helped Malaysian soccer? A breakdown of foreign players who have played in Malaysia is as follows: 1989 (34); 1990 (45); 1991 (45); 1992 (48); 1993 (48); 1994 (48); 1995 (47); 1996 (32); 1997 (55) and 1998 (51). Granted that, this time FAM have introduced stringent measures that only quality foreign players are hired, but still, the move to bring them back is debatable. Is it the crowds in the stands that we are interested in, or the development of the game in the country? If the State FAs only use the money they spend on foreign players on soccer development, the benefits will certainly be far larger and permanent. Everything points to the teams being more interested in trophies than Malaysian soccer. Penang, one of the States who have decided to stay fully local, should be applauded for their stand. And if they can achieve results against the foreign players powered teams, they will have proved a point. The other interesting factor will be the performance of club teams, especially Johor FC, who won Premier II last season, and Negri Sembilan Chempaka I - as they make their Premier I debut. A lot has been said about club soccer, but more often than not, it is in a negative manner, despite the achievements of teams like Johor FC. For reasons best known to the State FAs, there have been moves to deny clubs the opportunity to play at the highest level. Many State FAs seem to feel insecure over the presence of these clubs, who more often than not, are better managed than State teams, the former however are quick to deny this. Many fail to realise or even accept the fact that Kedah, Police and Armed Forces last year finished below the clubs in Premier II. Kedah got RM1 million while Police and Armed Forces got RM300,000 each but yet faltered behind clubs who received only RM200,000 each from FAM. Thus it is ironic that Police and got an increase of RM100,000 to a subsidy of RM400,000 for the new season, It is indeed sad that some State FA officials are short-sighted and blinded by personal agendas, leaving the game to suffer. Thus, it is important that Johor FC and Chempaka do well in Premier I to prove that club soccer is thriving and leading to the betterment of Malaysian soccer. The 2002 M-League certainly has all the trappings of an exciting season for many reasons but at the end of the season, is Malaysian soccer going to benefit? TOP FIVE SCORERS PREMIER ONE Norizam Ali Hassan (Perak): 13 Khalid Jamlus (Perak): 11 Rusdi Suparman (Selangor): 11 Wan Rohaimi Wan Ismail (Ter): 10 Hasmawi Hassan (Penang): 9 Liew Kim Tu (KL): 9 2001 FACTS Total goals (Premier One) 362 in 132 league matches for an average of 2.09 per match. Best Attack Penang (45 goals) Best Defence Penang (concede 14 goals) Highest Scoring game Pahang 6 Negri Sembilan 2 (END)

Thank you, Bilic (The Malay Mail)

IN Terengganu's moment of joy in reaching the Malaysia Cup final, they
should not forget two people who played a role in where they are today -
Datuk Abu Bakar Daud, a former Terengganu FA deputy president, and
Yugoslav coach Marco Bilic.
Bakar Daud, who is now the Malaysian ambassador to Egypt, set the cogs
of soccer development in Malaysia moving when he hired Bilic to become
Terengganu's director of development in 1992.
Bakar Daud had the vision and gumption to hire Bilic when the coach was
fired by Malacca FA after only three months at his job.
Bilic, 61, whose five-year stay in Malaysia had been anything but
smooth, was to set Terengganu soccer on the upward curve.
Before his short stint with Malacca, Bilic had coached Johor and Perak.
He did reasonably well with Johor who qualified for the Malaysia Cup
semifinals in 1990 with Perak making the FA Cup final in 1991. But on both
occasions, he had to quit as his contract was not renewed.
Looking back, probably Bilic's two years in Terengganu were the best in
Malaysia where he was happy working at youth development. He was actively
involved in this aspect with Sarajevo, a Yugoslav Div 1 club before
becoming their coach.
It is the work of Bilic that has produced many of the talented players
for the Turtles. Among them who trained under him then as 12 years old
were Hairuddin Omar, Marzuki Yusof, Mohd Syamsuri Md Mustaffa, Subri
Sulong, Faziallah Mamat and Alfian Aziz.
Bilic visited the eight districts in Terengganu not only to scout for
young talent but also impart his coaching syllabus to other coaches. He
had said there was an abundance of talent in Terengganu and it rivalled
some of the European countries', if not better.
Bilic, a former goalkeeper, had also said that if the coaching programme
was carried out well, he saw no reason for Terengganu's dependence on
foreign players (at that time).
Indeed, the Terengganu players have matured to become household names as
they powered the Turtles to second placing in Premier One, and now they
are just a step away from Malaysia Cup glory.
And in doing so, Terengganu proved that development is the key to
success. The foresight of Bakar Daud in getting Bilic to do development
work led to them having an abundance of talent.
The present management, in signing a few quality players from other
States (strikers Wan Rohaimi Ismail, Sapian Abdul Wahid and Mohd Nafuzi
Mohd Zain) to further strengthen their team, enabled Terengganu to have a
good pool of players to choose from.
Coach Mat Zan Mat Aris said Terengganu's success had much to do with the
talented pool of players readily available.
"The presence of well-trained and quality players certainly made my work
easier. It is for this reason I pay tribute to the players because without
them, I will not have been able to taste success," said Mat Zan.
Mat Zan may not know Bilic but he certainly has the Yugoslav to thank
for coming into possession of a talent-laden Turtles side.
                             (END)

KL walk down memory lane

KUALA LUMPUR relived their glory days last night when the cast of their
greatest team in history held a reunion with Czech Dr Josef Venglos at a
hotel in the city.
Venglos, hailed for building up the great KL team that swept three
consecutive Malaysia Cup from 1986 to 1989, is in KL to conduct an Asian
Football Confederation coaching course.
Fandi Ahmad and Malek Awab, both who turned out for KL then, flew in
from Singapore for the nostalgic gathering.
The reunion of the legendary team, which was their first, was the result
of a joint effort by former KL coach Chow Kwai Lam, former KLFA president
Tan Sri Elyas Omar and a few other officials.
The players who were there to share heroics were Rashid Hassan, Mohamad
Noor Basri, M. Pavalamani, Razip Ismail, Tang Siew Seng, Chow Siew Yai,
Serbegeth Singh, Kamarulzaman Yusof, See Kim Seng, Nasaruddin Mat Din,
Ramlan Askolani, S. Balachandran, Subadron Aziz and Hashim Marman.
The others who could not be present were Mat Zan Mat Aris, Saidin Osman,
Lim Teong Kim and Nazim Din. The other member of what used to be the
greatest team in the land was the late Mohamad Zaid Jamil.
Among the officials present were Dato Seri Mohamad Noor Abdul Rahim
(former KLFA vice-president), Raja Datuk Seri Abdul Aziz Raja Salim
(former KLFA deputy president and team manager), Low Lee Cheng (former
KLFA vice-president), Goh Ah Chai (KLFA treasurer), coaches S.
Subramaniam, Kwai Lam, Hamzah Hussein, team doctor Gurcharan Singh and
physiotherapist K. Prabaharan.
Ashwin Singh - the son of Gurcharan - who as a toddler, was the team
mascot then, and now 15 years old, was also present.
"KL has become my second home. I have enjoyed working with KL especially
under the guidance of Tan Sri Elyas, who was responsible for the rise of
KL soccer," said Venglos, who after his stint KL, coached Czechoslovakia
to the World Cup.
"And meeting the players almost 15 years after is like being with the
team again. These players were a great bunch and seeing them today has
really made me very happy."
Venglos then went on to talk about the many trips that the KL team made
to Europe for exposure and the invaluable experience gained made them
among the best teams in Asia.
"Infact, from my stint with KL, I learnt to be a better coach. I had a
great group of people to work with, from Tan Sri Elyas to the coaches (S.
Subramaniam, Kwai Lam, Hamzah Hussein) and the team manager (Raja Datuk
Seri Abdul Aziz Raja Salim) and the players and everyone associated with
the team."
Elyas said: "Venglos certainly played a major role in the rise of KL
from whipping boys to championship material, not only for one season but
three," he said.
"This is indeed a great occasion and to see all the officials and
players together again reminds me of the many happy moments 15 years ago.
"Some players now look like officials while some officials look like
players. But today this certainly makes most of us feel 15 years younger,"
quipped Elyas.
Elyas added that it was good to see that many of the KL players have
made it in life after their playing days. Among the players last night
were politicians, successful businessmen, coaches and soccer pundits.
Serbegeth Singh, speaking on behalf of the players, said that it was the
close relationship among the players and officials that made them a
family, and leading to their success.
"We were very lucky in the sense that we all gathered together as a team
at the right place and right time and we had a great coach to mould us."
As the present KL team brace themselves for a hard time in Premier One
this season, it was yesterday once more for their team of the glorious
past.

Wish for a glorious return

AS Kuala Lumpur celebrates its 27th birthday today, the wish of the Kuala
Lumpur Football Association (KLFA), who are a year younger, is to regain
past glory days.
KLFA, officially registered in 1975 as the Federal Territory Football
Association (FTFA) under a protem committee headed by Tan Sri Hamzah Abu
Samah, competed in their first official national competition in 1979 - the
Malaysia Cup.
Since then, the city side have come a long way, from whipping boys to
beating many associations who have a much longer history - dating as far
back to the 1920s.
Tan Sri Hamzah was their first president followed by Tan Sri Elyas Omar,
Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen was at the helm from 1977 to 1981.
FTFA, who changed their name to Kuala Lumpur in 1986, emerged as the
kings of Malaysian soccer when they captured the Malaysia Cup for three
consecutive years from 1987 to 1989.
As early as 1982, KL showed that they were on their way up when they
finished runners-up behind Penang in the League Cup that was introduced
that year.
KL were to later win every trophy at stake - triumphing in the Malaysia
Cup thrice, the League Cup (1986 and 1988), the FA Cup (1993, 1994 and
1999), the Charity Shield 1988, 1995 and 2000) and the Fairplay Trophy
(1991).
The man who took the city to their greatest height was Elyas, the former
mayor of KL as he showed a keen interest in the association and
contributed greatly.
In the new millennium, under the leadership of Datuk Seri Megat Junid
Megat Ayob, KL are looking at becoming a major power in the game again.
However, KLFA need the support of the private sector to be well armed
financially to start their conquest of Malaysian soccer again.
"One of the reasons why we did well in the 80s was because KL were
financially sound with good support from both City Hall and the private
sector," said acting KLFA secretary Goh Ah Chai.
"We had a good development programme going for age-groups and it
eventually bore fruits with an abundance of talent coming through.
"So much so KL became a reservoir of talent as many of our players
played for other States.
"We also had the means to hire some of the top players not only in
Malaysia, but also from across the causeway.
"But in recent years and even more so during the economic slowdown, we
were hit badly. Funds were not easily available and we had to depend on
City Hall and the FAM subsidy.
"But we are still proud to say that despite the stringent budget, we
have managed to manage the team well. With a relatively young team, we put
up a strong challenge and even won the FA Cup thrice in the 90s.
"We are indeed indebted to our present mayor Tan Sri Kamaruzzaman
Shariff, who has been supportive to the association and helped us to stay
afloat.
"But we are appealing to the private sector in the city to come forward
to support us too.
"We aim to get our development programmes going again in a big way with
youth tournaments and clinics throughout the city. But we need funds to
embark on the projects."
"We are also grateful to all the past officials and players who have
done their share to fly the KL flag high,' said Goh who together with K.
Rasalingam, the previous secretary, were founder members of FTFA.
And KLFA can also be proud that one of their affiliates, Kuala Lumpur
Malay Mail FC have also come of age. From being a club side in the KL
domestic league, the newspaper team are now in Premier II of the M-League.
Happy birthday KL, and may KL return to soccer glory.

D-Day on foreign players tomorrow (The Malay Mail)

WILL they be allowed back? The FA of Malaysia's technical committee will
decide tomorrow on whether to allow the return of foreign players into the
League.
Indications are the committee, headed by FAM deputy president Tengku
Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, will put the return of foreign players on
hold.
This despite a recent public survey which favoured their return.
Even the State FAs are clamouring for foreign players as they believe
their presence will boost gate collections.
But the bottom line is whether the teams can afford and manage them.
Everything indicate that the State FAs are still not in a position to do
that because they cannot even pay their local players on time.
Many States this season have had problems settling the wages of the
local players and some outstanding.
Then, there is the question of whether they help raise the standard of
the game. There is proof that the absence of foreign players has seen the
emergence of many new local talent.
Our national team's third placing in the recently-concluded Tiger Cup
tournament is a small indication that we are in the right direction though
there are still lots of grounds to cover.
If at all the technical committee decide to give the nod to foreigners,
it should be to recruit coaches, not players.
The foreign coaches must be for development work in their respective
States not for the M-League as the returns will be better.
And it would cost the State FAs much less than hiring foreign players.
These coaches should be hired on a long-term basis to ensure that they
draw up and implement development programmes in the States and supervise
it with local coaches.
Several foreign coaches who had done development work - former
Selangor's Ken Shellito, Pahang's Fred Binney and Terengganu's Marco Bilic
- have been productive in their respective States.
It is without doubt even more difficult to handle youth development than
coach a M-League team.
The youth level, requires a lot of patience, proper planning and an eye
to spot talent.
There are many foreign coaches who are experienced at the youth level
and who are prepared to come to Malaysia.
Tomorrow the technical committee will probably decide which way our
soccer game goes from here.
                              (END)

Can we be patient? (The Malay Mail)

ONE of the main reasons for the setback in Malaysian sports is the lack of
patience by the administrators.
 Now, there is a call to bring back the foreign players just two years
after the FAM move to restrict the M-League to locals only.
 But what happened to the intention of seeing local talents get a shot at
playing at the highest level and leading to a wider base of selection for
the national team?
 The about turn is the reasoning that without the foreign players, there
have been poor turnouts at matches and that the standards of soccer have
dropped.
 But can this really be the solution?
 It all boils down to us not being patient enough to see the many young
players who have had an opportunity to see action in the M-League develop
their skills.
 If examined closer, the problem of them needing time to develop into
better players lies with the State FAs themselves. If only the State FAs
had put  emphasis on youth development, it wouldn't have led to this
situation.
 If we bring the foreigners back again, many of the young players who
have had the benefit of two years of playing experience will once again be
shunted aside.
 Even the many players from the disbanded Olympic 2000 squad now playing
in the M-League might have to take a backseat.
 And that would be sad because these players have had at least four years
of training with the national youth squad and featured in hundreds of
international matches.
 That will not help Malaysian soccer at all.
 How much can the foreigners help in raising the standards of Malaysian
soccer?
 And more often than not, the foreigners who grace Malaysian soccer are
have-beens, or players who cannot make the grade in the country they come
from.
 When countries all over the world are seriously thinking about the
repercussions of the presence of foreign players, it is sad that Malaysia
want to get back into it.
 Even England have admitted that the influx of too many foreign players
has affected the standards of English soccer. Manchester United's Ryan
Giggs has openly said these foreign players have blocked the progress of
young home grown players.
 Maybe, our soccer administrators, if they really want foreigners to play
in Malaysia to get better fans response, should limit it to only one
foreign player each team. This way, teams will only select the better
ones.
 Secondly, the financial burden on State teams - from hiring foreign
players - that had been a problem in the past, will be lightened.
 And maybe, clubs in the league should be allowed to recruit a foreign
player to help close the gap between them and State teams.
 To say that there are not enough local talents is surely an
understatement.
 Just look at Kelantan who have three teams playing in Premier II -
Kelantan, Kelantan JKR and Kelantan TNB.
 While some may argue that the strength of the State team has been
stretched thin, the fact that Kelantan and Kelantan JKR are in the race
for the Premier II title only underlines that there is depth in them.
 If we continue to have short term plans and keep abandoning programmes
and concepts, we will never realise our true potential.