Where are the hockey fans?

UPDATE 5.40pm: It seemed like yesterday when I spoke to National Sports Institute CEO Dr Ramlan Aziz about the fitness levels of athletes and he did mention a particular team sport. In fact it was in 2009 when Ramlan shared some statistics with me and this was a line from the story then

Smoking was also said to be one of the reasons why our hockey team failed at the pre-Olympic tournament last year.

Read the full report here.
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I always have a soft spot for hockey.

I started writing about schools hockey during my early days. R.Vivekananda was a school teacher and coach for Royal Military College back then and I remember writing about Kevinder Singh who was only 15 back then.

I remember coaches like Saiful Munir Mansor, who was also my former school teacher in Methodist Boys School Sentul, and Minarwan Nawawi and Maninderjit Singh's stint coaching SMK Sri Hartamas.

The support for hockey then was rather good as you would fellow school mates and family members showing their support especially in the final - until the organiser of one zone in KL decided to "ban" supporters from attending the stadium due to "security reasons".

I kept tabs on the domestic hockey leagues and even attended the World Cup held in Bukit Jalil in 2002. We had the crowd and there would also be this bunch of folks banging the dhol and kompangs as they cheered on their teams. I was told that the bunch of hardcore fans were former players from Kelab Aman but they are no where to be seen today.

When I asked several coaches and observers of the on-going TNB-Malaysian Hockey League, this is what they said:

"The standards are not like what it used to be. It is pathetic," said a coach.

"You only get a handful of spectators, that too comprising of the players' family members or players from other teams who are getting ready for their match which will be played next," said a veteran player.

Therefore it is not surprising to see KL Hockey Club slam a dozen goals past SSTMI to register an emphatic 19-0 aggregate win in the quarterfinal of knock out stage for the TNB Cup.

Pic courtesy of www.tnbmhl.com.my

HD says: Perhaps the Malaysian Hockey Confederation, with its 12 vice presidents to boast, could look into this. After all, MHC is supposed to be the national body according to international regulations eh.

Comments

  1. Balbir SinghOctober 15, 2011 at 5:54 PM

    Why should we watch when the standards are poor? A big fat waste of time

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousOctober 15, 2011 at 6:30 PM

    X sempat tgk game. Main pukul 4 lebih dgn pukul 6, lepas tu main kat Bkt Jalil. Trafik teruk. Baik balik tido!

    Kamal

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousOctober 16, 2011 at 12:20 AM

    Standard dah turun. Sampai KLHC boleh mng 19-0 aggregate?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Vijhay VickOctober 16, 2011 at 1:43 AM

    1. League is too short... just 8 games over a month and u have a winner.

    2. Disparity between teams to high.. No 1 team untouchable - no other team can come close to matching them! not even 2nd placed Sapura.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousOctober 18, 2011 at 11:18 AM

    I think, hockey should do the same with football. Participant shld be from all states instead of GLC or other company. Supporter for state is higher, spirit for state is higher. everything is higher for state compare than for company.

    kemahkemim...

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousOctober 21, 2011 at 9:50 PM

    look at the brighter picture..hockey has the limelight via astro..live telecast matches..despite tight schedule,still manage to organise a league . hockey national team is not like football.. they are world ranked..pls do not compare them.. a huge gap..

    ..beauty...

    ReplyDelete

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