TRUE MU FAN , BUT STILL A MALAYSIAN AT HEART

I confess, I am no Manchester United fan. I support Tottenham Hotspurs and justifiably, because I come from the 70s era. But honestly, it does not matter for me who does well in the English League these days. I just follow the League to see some top class matches and sometimes to accompany my son, Alwin, who never misses a MU match - yes he is a MU die hard fan!

For me, I have always been passionate about local sports and especially, soccer. That is why sometimes, I get so critical about Malaysian sports, for I truly believe there is hope - but only when we get things right.

Back to MU, I have decided to let Alwin take charge of this posting to say his piece. But at the end of the day, I am glad that he is still a true Malaysian. Read and enjoy........


English Champs, Manchester United, have arrived on our shores for the 2nd time in my lifetime. I have been a MU fan since I was about 8 years old. My adoration for the Devils was fueled by my dad. He bought me countless number of jerseys and magazines as a kid and although he is, regrettably a SPURS fan, he still continues to fuel my passion now. I pretty much grew up on a football pitch as most of his time revolved around football.

Most MU fans are still are shell shocked at the departure of CR7 (Ronaldo - whom I believe will be legally changing his name to sell more jerseys for Real Madrid) and Tevez. I on the other hand, was glad Sir Alex sold Ronaldo, who as great as he is, annoys me. It's quite clear that I'm not a big Ronaldo fan. My allegiance lies with WAYNE ROONEY. I hope to God he steps up this year and bangs in the goals. Malay Mail reporter Haresh Deol says that Rooney bears a striking resemblance to the animated cartoon character SHREK.
















I had the pleasure of meeting WAZZA today and a rather disgusting infection on his left ear is living proof or should I say in legal terms, substantial evidence for Haresh to build a strong case!

I managed to meet Rooney, Anderson, Tosic, Evans and Fabio D'Silva today at a meet-and-greet session at Mandarin Oriental.The buzz around the fans was amazing as everyone was excited to meet their favourite players. I will have to admit that I got a little star struck as well when I saw a few of my favourite players in front of me. I know for a fact that even some journalists sneaked in their jerseys and footballs to be signed as well. I won't mention whom though.

Next stop for me, after gloating to all in attendance about my signed jersey was to watch them train at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil. Just before we left the hotel, Mr.JAI HO himself, Christopher Raj, spotted Manchester United Legend and current MU Ambassador Bryan Robson, and a quick photo opportunity arose, when I was suddenly fired by Malaysian Sports' Loose Cannon Rizal Hashim in the direction of Bryan . And the result.........

Proud moment.....notice the signed white MU jersey over my shoulder

Pix courtesy of Jai Ho

The National Stadium was roaring when I arrived.The attendance for the MU training was about 25,OOO (rough estimate) or should I say 25,782 (official press box figure). For those who didn't go for the training, YOU DIDNT MISS MUCH. The players just came out, ran a couple of laps for a bit and played 'KAKU'. The highlight of the day was probably from the first player to arrive on the pitch, Paul Scholes who played a 35 yard cross field ball that landed right next to MU's goalkeeping coach, who was setting out cones on the other side of the pitch. Whether he missed or he meant to miss, only GINGER ( Scholes dressing room nickname) knows.This year happens to be Scholes' last year in a MU shirt.

Scholes has always been one of my favourite players. When I first started supporting MU, I only idolised David Beckham, until one day when I followed my dad on a trip to cover a match in Kelantan. We were in a car going for lunch with (allow me to name drop) our current national coach K. Rajagobal, who was then the Kelantan coach. During our journey he asked me,'Who is your favourite player?'.I promptly replied 'Beckham'.Then he asked 'Which player in MU makes the team tick and run the show?'. I began to run through the list of players in my head, until I finally gave up. Well the answer to his question was Paul Scholes. He explained to me how Scholes, not a known for being a flashy player or a great tackler, was an ambassador for the simple football. Pass, find space, move and shoot.

I have no doubt that he is currently drilling that simple philosophy into our national team. Although I know for a fact that the stadium tomorrow will be red, the moment our Tigers score a goal the Stadium will erupt and perhaps, maybe just one goal or a good result like a draw, will bring our local fans back to the stadium.

Everyone has been asking me what the score will be. I have been telling them - Malaysia will lose 2-1 and Malaysia will score first - early in the game. Then we will let them score in the secondhalf because we are good host and don't want to malukan them. On a more serious note, it's MU's first game in pre-season.The players are tired and not really up for it. Sir Alex will be running the changes, and our boys (or should I say men?) will play mati-mati. So why not?

I can only hope that we do well and everyone can have that feeling you have when your country scores. I've seen reporters (who are supposed to be neutral) jump up and down when Malaysia score a goal.

Tomorrow, I will PROUDLY pakai my BLUE MALAYSIA JERSEY (MR.JAI HO's birthday present to me last year), because although I proclaim to be an MU fan, deep down inside, I just wanna see MALAYSIA BEAT THEM!

Professional footballer to chauffuer and security guard!

I spotted my former Malay Mail FC defender, A. Muralitharan, last week in Bangsar driving a fancy car.

He too saw me, and immediately pulled over. As he wound down his window, I congratulated him on having done well and driving such a nice car.

A little embarrassed, he said: "No coach, this is not my car. This is my boss' car. I am the driver."

I was now left embarrassed and apologized profusely for my assumption. I invited him for a cup coffee - the least I could do to make up for jumping to conclusions.

When had parked his car and joined me for the coffee, I sheepishly asked him what had happened to his soccer career and the money he had earned.

Just a little history before I relate what Murali told me.

Murali, was a very talented player who played for Kuala Lumpur as a teenager with the President's Cup team for two years.

When he was overage and had to be promoted to the senior team, he failed to get a place.

That was when I picked up Murali to play for The Malay Mail in our debut season in the M-League Premier Two Division in 2000.

The Malay Mail FC team.....Muralitharan squatting third from right.

Basically, the Malay Mail team took in players who had the desire to play in the M-League but failed to make the cut and young players who were seeking experience. It was half way house for these players to gain experience, get noticed and move on.

While many Malay Mail players had moved on to play for other teams including national senior and youth teams, Murali, despite dishing exceptional performances for the newspaper team, never got the break. He stayed with Malay Mail for three years.

On the third year, Murali got his break when Malay Mail failed to qualify for the Malaysia Cup, and Public Bank who had qualified, requested him on loan. I readily released him,

He went on to play for Pubic Bank for three seasons before moving on to Malacca in 2006.

All was well at the beginning of the season, but at the tail-end because of management change, his woes began.

"Although I was not paid salary towards the end of the salary, I was given a new contract," said Murali as he began his story.

In the end Malacca FA owed him seven months of salary - Oct-Nov in 2006 and May-Sept 2007) totaling to RM21,000.

Not big money for many, but for Murali who does not come from a very well-do family and who is married with a child, it meant lot.

"The times we did not get our salary, we just eat bread and drank plain water. Sometimes, friends treated us. It was really difficult, but I stayed with the hope that I would eventually be paid" said Murali with sadness written all over his face.

"I was not the only player. There were eight players, all of whom who were from outstation.

"Until we left the team, we were not paid. Then we followed up with phone calls to the Malacca FA on numerous occasions which went unheeded and finally we decided to write to the FA of Malaysia Players' Status Committee for assistance."

Till today Murali has not received his salaries, although some of the eight players have been paid.

Murali said that he could have continued playing in the Malaysian League for another year or two as he was only 32-years-old.

Murali is known for his superb fitness and discipline in training and still cuts the fit-figure.

But he decided against it after his experience with Malacca and decided to look for a job.

He now drives for the daughter of a corporate figure with a basic of RM1,500 and in a good month, working overtime, he can take home about RM3,000.

"I am not complaining about the job. But with the money from Malacca FA, I could have started a small business," said Murali who is also a talented singer who used to sing with a Tamil Band.

While Murali has ended up as a chauffeur, his teammate, 38-year-old A. Ganeson, a former international, who is also owed seven months of salary, is a security guard in Singapore.

Ganeson, who hails from Penang and who is known as the football nomad having played eight different teams in the Malaysian Super League. He had started a small food business but had to close it because he was cash-strapped.

His owed salary would have certainly eased his burden.

FA of Malaysia normally pays the owed salaries from the States subsidies, but Malacca FA has a minus account with the national body.

Numerous stories have been written in the sports pages especially my friend Eric Samuel of The Star (refer to these stories 1, 2, 3, 4) on the plight of these two players, but Malacca FA has turned a deaf ear.

Maybe, it is time for the Malacca Sports Council or even the Malacca Government, to look into their plea because it is certainly bad publicity for the historical city who have earned the heritage city status.

The fact that the AMF World Cup Bowling championship will be held in Malacca in November and the Malaysia Games (SUKMA) next year, where a great deal of money is going to be spent, it would be embarrassing if they cannot settle dues of sportsmen who have donned their colours and done them proud.

These two cases are just among the many in the Malaysian League. The situation has to be addressed because otherwise it will not speak well of our Malaysian League and our soccer administrators.

As we finished our coffee, I promised Murali that I will write about in the blog. I know that if the newspapers reports cannot make a difference, what will a piece in the blog do?

But I wanted to share this with those who follow my blog and probably the word will be passed around of the state of our ex-Malaysian League players all because of poor management.

I bade Murali farewell and I hope things will only get better for him and he will eventually get his money owed.He is a great lad and does not deserve to be treated in this manner.

English at the expense of P.E?

Learning hours for Music, Physical Education (P.E) and Science may be reduced by 45 minutes each to accommodate the extended hours for English language. (NST front page report yesterday).

I sincerely hope that what the Education director-general Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd Dom (left) was referring to is the classroom subject (Pendidikan Jasmani dan Kesihatan) and not the PE on the field for sporting activities.

Currently, there is 80 minutes (two periods) of PE per week in schools. The schools alternate with one week for classroom studies and the other for field activities.

The suggestion is to reduce one period of PE, Music and Science.

There have been calls to increase periods for PE on the field for a long time now to address the deterioration of sports in general. Sports in schools in general has not been given much priority.

But with the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also the Education Minister coming out strongly to emphasize that sports in schools being given greater priority, which included training of teachers to coach in various sports, it is wonder why there was no move to increase the time for P.E.

I totally agree that English needs to be given priority as well, but not at the expense of sports. So is it just lip service from all quarters when it comes to giving priority to sports?

Today, Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) general secretary, G. Rajasekaran (left), was against reducing time for Science to accommodate teaching of English Language. He went on to add "Time could instead be taken from Music and Physical Education, as well as other subjects which do not involve all students."

At least National Collaborative Parent-Teacher Association president Assoc Prof Datuk Mohd Ali Hassan and National Union for Teaching Profession secretary-general Loke Yim Pheng and two other Parent-Teacher Association officious, had more constructive suggestions to address the situation - certainly not reducing time for Science, PE and Music. (Read today's NST story).

In 2005, a large Malaysian delegation from the Ministry of Sports, Ministry of Education, Olympic Council of Malaysia, National Sports Council, Malaysian Association for Physical Education, Sports Science and Fitness and senior university lecturers, attended the United Nations International Conference on Sports and Education in Bangkok.

The proceedings

The Millennium Development Goals

A 12-point agenda on Sports and Education was adopted after the three-day seminar and each nation was supposed to implement it. It included increasing time for Physical Education. Was it ever implemented? (Refer to this story)

There certainly needs to be more input on the matter, but for heaven sake, do not kill sports! Instead think of giving it more time and emphasis.

Remembering Humble Mokh

The late Mokhtar Dahari had the status of SuperMokh and was superstar, but never behaved like one. He was always humble and that was what made him a great footballer, besides his skills and ability.

I was no State soccer player, but I had the rare opportunity to play alongside Mokhtar - although only for 15 minutes as I came on as a substitute - when he turned out for the New Straits Times (NST) soccer team as a guest player in 1978 in Pasir Mas, Kelantan.

Mokhtar was invited by our team captain, Dhalan Zainuddin (yes the one and only singer of Kisah Seorang Biduan!), to play in the friendly match which was a curtain-raiser to his concert on the same field that evening. Mokhtar obliged despite his busy schedule playing for club, State and nation and Dhalan made arrangement for him to fly to to Kota Baru. The NST team including Dahlan and his accompanying band Jays Band members travelled by a bus - the Sri Jaya public bus.

One for the album for the 1978 NST team in front of the Sri Jaya bus. Mokhtar too posed for the pix - (squatting second from right). Dhalan is in the second row (seventh from right).

There was no highway then and the journey took forever. The seats were as hard as rocks and there was no head rest for comfort. But it was a journey to Kota Baru I will never forget because we had so much fun, especially being teenagers.

Mokhtar joined us on the day of match after lunch and immediately he was an instant hit among us. For many of us, it was the first time we were meeting Mokhtar and the thought of playing alongside in the evening was like a dream.

Relaxing before the match at the hotel.....Mokhtar (third from right) and yours truly (second from left) with the look alike Santokh Singh (Baskaran) squatting.

And in the evening for the match, thousands surrounded the field to catch a glimpse of Mokhtar in action.

The NST and Pasir Mas team before the match. Mokthar is standing third from right.

For me, when Dhalan signalled to warm-up and eventually played (as a right winger) the last fifteen minutes of the match, I was on Cloud Nine.

After the match Mokhtar was mobbed by his fans and he obligingly signed autographs.

That night Mokhtar was introduced at the concert to screaming fans. It was an experience I cherish.

And the following year, when I started stringing with Malay Mail before I joined them full time in 1981, I met Mokhtar more regularly when covering the Selangor League and later years the Malaysia Cup and national team.

I was glad that I had that early introduction with Mokhtar, because it was not an easy task to speak to players like Mokhtar, Santokh, Arumugam, Chin Aun and the rest because they had so much character in them, that rookie reporters just fear interviewing. Ask a silly question and the reporters will be told off, and they had no time for small talk.

But I had it easy with Mokhtar having had the early introduction. Later, I even got to know his family because his wife, Datin Zarina Tengku Ibrahim was working in NSTP for a few years.

However one reporter who can ask Mokhtar anything under the sun and were best of pals was NST's Dan Guen Chin (now with Bernama in Johor Baru). Dan was the ghost write for Mokhtar's column On Target and their friendship grew with each passing day.

It is 18 years today, since Mokhtar left us so suddenly and his legacy will live forever. He was one player, who never allowed his success to get to his head and was always the down to earth man.

I am blessed to have had the opportunity to have been able to see him play and worked closely with him - although no where as close as my good friend Dan. And the fifteen minutes I was on the field with Mokhtar, I will carry it with me for the rest of my life.

May Mokhtar rest in peace and may his family be forever be blessed with good tidings.

Passion & Comradeship

Passion and comradeship was written all over the inaugural International Football Club (IFC) Ruby Nines tournament over the weekend at Club Aman.

Veteran football teams and clubs are actually mushrooming fast these days and so are tournaments, throughout Malaysia.

And each time a tournament is organised, teams flock to compete. While many of these teams are just social teams, but many of them boast of ex-international players, who make every tournament exciting and interesting.

In fact, many of these teams compete in overseas tournaments which is also rising in numbers and many international teams also come to Malaysia to make tournaments even more glamorous.

The IFC tournament was no different. Ten teams competed including host IFC. The international team for this tournament was from Singapore, led by striker K. Kannan.

Among the ex-international players who competed in the tournament include Ho Hon Seong, Khan Hung Meng, A. Jayakanthan, Kamarulzaman Yusof and M. Kalimuthu to name a few.

But the presence of other ex-internationals either at the matches or at the Victory Dinner on Saturday night, underlined that the passion and comradeship was still very much alight.

Among the ex-internationals who made their presence were Datuk Soh Chin, Santokh Singh, Chow Kwai Lam, Wong Choon Wah, Loi Lun Teck, Yip Chee Keong, Chow Siew Yai and Yap Kam Choon.

And despite IFC, under president Datuk Douglas Webster, who were organising their first tournament, it was a great success with great pains taken to look into the most minute details.

While some of the younger veteran players in their 40s were still very competitive, the organisers in wanting ensure that all competed in the true spirit of sportsmanship and comradeship, they introduced the "SIN BIN", where players who were flashed a yellow card in the game, had to sit out the match for two minutes to cool off.

"We wanted every one to have fun and enjoy the game. Introducing the "SIN BIN" was our clear message to teams that we placed sportsmanship as our highest priority and did not want to see any untoward incidents in a veteran tournament," said Douglas, a Newcastle born who arrived in Malaysia 44 years ago to work with Malaysian International Shipping Corporation (MISC).

Indeed, the tournament was played at the highest level of sportsmanship and it was a delight to watch the ex-internationals, former State players or just the socials players, display their skills and playing tactics.

Organising committee chairman, Steve Krupa and his team, certainly got the thumbs for the club's first ever tournament.

One for the album....The finalists - host IFC and Wednesday FC.

And the teams who competed, each had a story behind them, which made the event more interesting.

For instance, Wednesday FC the champions (above) and host IFC (below) the losing finalist (1-2), have their own story to tell.

Wednesday FC started as a group of players wanting to see weekend action in 2005. But they ended up playing matches on different days of the week. In 2006, they saw a steady stream of regular players and they had to give the team a name. While initially they wanted to lay weekend matches, the players decided that mid-week was

more suitable and thus the name -

Wednesday FC was born.
IFC has an even more interesting history. The club was first registered in 1969 by a Group of German expatriates and it was originally named The German Football Club of Kuala Lumpur. The club's first registered address was the German Embassy and the first President was the Embassy's First Secretary.

IFC president, Dato' Douglas Webster presenting the IRC Ruby Nines Challenge Trophy to Wednesday FC representative at the Victory Dinner.

The team then only had eleven players. In one of their friendly matches against MISC - where current IFC president Douglas was working for - he collided with the German team's captain who suffered a fractured arm.

Two weeks later at the Merlin Hotel (now Concorde) bar, the German team captain with his arm in cast spotted Douglas there too. He started cursing and swearing at Douglas and then approached him and forced him to play for the German team in their next friendly match as they only had 10 players left! Douglas joined them in the match as the first Englishman in the team. Gradually the founding members left Malaysia and the club opened the doors again to other than Germans to become an international team - thus the change of name to IFC. Douglas, 65, who set up his own companies - Malaysian Maritime Sdn Bhd and MMS (Insurance Brokers) Sdn Bhd in 1981, eventually became the president of IFC in 1975 and has been for 34 years now.

The club's early years saw an influx of talented players, many through the introduction of former national coach Karl Heinz Weigang (below). Through his influence the club had several past and present International State players playing. This association with the national and state players has been maintained presently by vice-president Vinn Kiriwan, through his sports equipment company association and also current coach and captain, Ho Hon Seong.

Like many of the social clubs, IFC do not have a club house or a permanent playing field. But their very existence for 40 years, certainly underlines the dedication and passion for the game and club.

Another team which competed and has an interesting background is Malaysian Grasshopers who have been around since 1993 for German speaking expatriates. The others who competed were Royal Selangor Club, Kilat Veteran KL,Maxis Sports & Recreation Club, Kwong Yik Bank, SAAGA FC from Seremban and Jolli Lads Nines.

Congratulations IFC!

Rekindling memories

Come November 3, it will be 30 years since my first story was published in the Malay Mail, which I wrote as a stringer.
It was a story on ex-national soccer player Yip Chee Keong who was playing his trade in Hong Kong (left). I was in Hong Kong with the New Straits Times soccer team for the then Inter-Media Quadrangular Games - NST, Straits Times Singapore and South China Post. I met Yip, who was playing for South China FC, after a crucial First Division match against Bulova.

When I returned home, I wrote a short piece on Yip's stint in Hong Kong and the byline given for the story was T. Mariadass. by the late Francis Emmanuel, who went through my story. Although, I had asked for Tony Mariadass as my byline, Francis had given me bylines such as Tony Mariasoosai, Anthony Mariadass and A. Mariadass as well as T.Mariadass.

Giving different bylines was normal with Francis, especially with newcomers on the desk, so that he and the rest on the guys on the desk could have a good laugh over tea the next day. But after one year of writing, dear Francis, let me off the hook as he had found a "new victim".

Coming back to meeting Yip in Hong Kong. It was the first time I was meeting him and being a rookie, I was having cold feet speaking to him.

But five years later, when Yip returned to Malaysia and played for Kuala Lumpur for two seasons, we became good friends and shared some great moments.

Since Yip stopped playing for KL in 1985, I would bump into him occasionally, but hardly had time to stop and talk.

But last Friday night, when Yip turned up at the inaugural International Footbal Club (IFC) Ruby Nines tournament draw on Friday at the Home and Away Cafe & Bar at Desa Sri Hartamas, we spent time talking about the good old days. At the draw, there were also other ex-internationals like Ho Hon Seong (IFC captain), Chow Siew Yai, Khan Hung Meng, M. Kalimuthu (double international - soccer and hockey), midfield maestro Wong Choon Wah, Kua Kim Lai (Singapore's 1st National captain) and K. Kannan.

The conversations certainly kept flowing.
Yip Chee Keong receiving a souvenir from R. Ravindran, Carlsberg's Senior Key Account Manager. All ex-internationals present at the Victory Dinner were presented with the souvenir as a token of appreciation.

The Cool Dane acts as a cooling agent on a hot Saturday afternoon at Club Aman as (from left) Chin Aun, Santokh, Ravindran and Yip discuss Malaysian football.

And on Saturday night at the Victory Dinner of the tournament at Club Aman, Yip was there again and we had a merry time. Other internationals who turned up at the field or dinner on Saturday included Datuk Soh Chin, Santokh Singh, Chong Chun Yun, Chen Wooi Haw, Looi Lun Teck, A. Jayakanthan, Kamarulzaman Yusof and Yap Kam Choon.

For me, it was blast from the past and I thoroughly enjoyed myself meeting all these players whom I had interviewed at one time or other.

Spending time with Yip, certainly brought back memories of how I first started off my sports journalism career.

For those who cannot place Yip, the midfielder cum winger has the rare distinction of making his international debut in the 1976 King's Cup tournament in Bangkok even before playing for his State (then Selangor) in the Malaysia Cup competition.

The 54-year Yip, who still looks trim and fit, except for his white moutache, has played in the President's Cup in Seoul, the World Cup preliminary rounds, the Sea Games and Merdeka tournament.

Yip rose to prominence through his club - Hong Chin from Brickfields - left to play professional soccer in Hong Kong in 1978. He was among the higher paid players in Hong Kong where he earned RM$2,000 per month and bonus ranging from RM200 to RM600 - certainly pittance compared to what Malaysian players are earning locally now.

But Yip's playing quality and determination to be a top player was very much above current players. Maybe that is why our soccer standards then was something to shout about?

To earn RM2,000 and become a professional player, Yip had to uproot himself from his family and make sacrfices - a quality which is missing these days although Malaysian local players earn anything from RM3,000 to RM15,000 (although the FA of Malaysia caping of salaries is at RM8,000)

To Yip, thanks for rekindling memories for me. Looking forward to our next meeting.

On the shelf or shelved?

Malaysian sports fraternity is known for attending international conferences, holding brain-storming sessions, setting up committees to address the ills of Malaysian sports and coming up with elaborate programmes.

However, what happens after that is one that baffles everyone. Nothing moves after all these sessions and books of programmes drawn up.

More often than not, it ends up on the shelves of the respective associations to collect dust. And when the topic of looking into uplifting the sports is raised again, they will set up another committee, draw up another programme or spend more money to send delegates for international conferences.

If only we had implemented half the programmes drawn up and ideas brought back from international conferences, Malaysian sports will not be where it is now.

Last week, the Malaysian Hockey Federation Management Committee chaired by Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah announced that a compulsory Under-18 league at State level will be introduced.

Kudos to MHF. But one wonders whatever happened to the Wawasan Hoki Negara unveiled in January 2006 by the then president HRH Raja Nazrin Shah. It was an elaborate plan drawn up by the best hockey brains of Malaysia and it certainly looked like a sure bet to see Malaysian hockey standards rise.

A 58-page dream

In that plan, a medal was targeted for the Junior World Cup which ended recently. But with the plans collecting dust in the MHF office, little wonder we are still struggling. Yes, we have the Junior U-19 league, but we cannot expect to get results when we embark on bits and pieces of programmes.

The FA of Malaysia's office, I am sure is full of programmes drawn up by both local and foreign coaches.

In fact, the FA of Malaysia unveiled a Development Programme for 2003-2006 at the FIFA Com-Unity Workshop in 2005. The irony was that the programme was lifted from the Vietnam FA!

FA of Malaysia's Development Plan?

Unveiled! The sticker on the word "Vietnam" removed and below, the sticker that hides the words the Vietnam Football Federation (circled in red)

Then, there was this Brainstorming session in 2006 in Kuching - one of the many held by the FA of Malaysia. Were the outcomes of these sessions implemented?

In 2005, a large Malaysian delegation from the Ministry of Sports, Ministry of Education, Olympic Council of Malaysia, National Sports Council, Malaysian Association for Physical Education, Sports Science and Fitness and senior university lecturers, attended the United Nations International Conference on Sports and Education in Bangkok.

The proceedings

The Millennium Development Goals

A 12-point agenda on Sports and Education was adopted after the three-day seminar and each nation was supposed to implement it. Did Malaysia fulfill it? (Refer to this story)

More recently, the 12th World Sports for All Congress with the theme Sports for All - For Life, was hosted by the Olympic Council of Malaysia. Even Sebastian Coe was present to give a talk. A great deal of information was presented and gathered on sports. But how much effort has been made by the Malaysian sports fraternity who attended the conference in doves, to implement what they have gathered?

A high powered Sports Congress gone to waste?

As long as valuable information just remains on the shelves and desks of sports authorities, Malaysia sports will continue to dwindle further.