Ditch S-League, look elsewhere.

"We need to rethink our participation in the S-League next season.

"I will suggest to the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) that we carefully consider this and instead go to either Slovakia or Brazil."

Those were the words of Harimau Muda coach Ong Kim Swee (pic) at seen in Singapore's TODAY.

I remember writing about the pros and cons of our youngsters participating in the S-League on June 29, 2011 as seen here. Sadly, my sole reason of starting this blog - for it to be an archive of all my stories - has taken a backseat for the urls linking to my old articles in The Malay Mail are "missing".

But I do remember saying our team will be "exposed", adding the Singaporeans will learn more from us than we would from them.

And slight over a year later, it has turned into a reality.

No disrespect to the teams playing in the S-League but our Harimau Muda lads need a bigger platform and a different environment to push themselves further. I'm sure the Singaporean players would appreciate such a fact if they were in our 'boots'.

This brings back the question if Kim Swee's opinion was given any thought prior the FA of Malaysia and the FA of Singapore agreeing to the 'swap deal'. Then again, was Kim Swee even given an opportunity to voice his opinion prior the deal was sealed? Or was it a situation where Kim Swee was told about it and had no choice but to agree to it?

Hopefully, the stakeholders will listen to Kim Swee this time around. There are many other ways we can establish and continue our good football ties with Singapore but certainly not at the expense of the national team.

Then again, I'm just another journalist. I'm sure the coaches and officials know best.

HD says: One thing for sure, bak kut teh and char kuey teow way better in Malaysia than in Singapore. Period.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pelepasan cukai tambahan untuk pembelian alatan sukan, sewaan fasiliti sukan antara cadangan untuk Bajet 2024

Image
Berikut merupakan antara cadangan-cadangan Kementerian Belia dan Sukan untuk Bajet 2024 yang akan dibentangkan bulan hadapan. 1. Pengasingan sukan daripada kategori gaya hidup 2. Meneruskan dan memperluaskan inisiatif pelepasan cukai tambahan bagi aktiviti sukan berdasarkan senarai baharu 103 sukan berkuatkuasa Mac 2023 seperti berikut: 3. Pelepasan cukai tambahan sebanyak RM5,000 khusus berkaitan dengan aktiviti sukan yang dibelanjakan oleh individu bagi: • pembelian peralatan sukan untuk aktiviti sukan mengikut Akta Pembangunan Sukan 1997. • bayaran sewaan atau fi kemasukan ke mana-mana fasiliti sukan. • bayaran fi pendaftaran bagi penyertaan pertandingan sukan yang diluluskan di bawah Akta Pembangunan Sukan 1997. • Bayaran jurulatih/latihan/kelas untuk aktiviti sukan mengikut Akta Pembangunan Sukan 1997. Justifikasi: Impak kepada negara 1. Pembudayaan gaya hidup sihat dan aktif melalui aktiviti bersukan kepada semua peringkat sebagai pelaburan  kepada negara bagi mengurangkan be...
Read more

Papa win, papa win.

Image
Those were the words of three-year-old Dasha Ong. National coach Ong Kim Swee has not seen his wife Alodle Donna Derick, Dasha and his seven month old baby Dashie for almost a month. And the words of Dasha just hours prior the kick off between Indonesia and Malaysia in the final certainly motivated Kim Swee. In return, Kim Swee motivated the lads and they won. Read more in today's Mailsport. As expected members of the Press - even those not from the Sports Desk - had numerous questions for Kim Swee. Some wanted Kim Swee to share his experience in Jakarta, others were penning down every word of his when he slammed the organisers for their antics which certainly disturbed him and the boys. But the celebrations must come to an end as Kim Swee and the Olympic lads will now face Syria in the Asia zone Olympic qualifiers tonight (8.45pm). And Kim Swee had this to say: "The players are tired but with the support of the fans, if they come in full force, perhaps that will motivate our...
Read more

From 'Mr P' to 'Kemelut Dalaman BAM': Four chapters of 'mesej Whatsapp layang'

Image
Surat layang , or rather ' mesej Whatsapp (or some will pronounce as Wasup) layang '. That was what I received this afternoon from a number that is not registered on my phone. The sender identified him/herself as " ahli yg memerhati tingkah laku BAM " (Badminton Association of Malaysia). The four chapters were titled as:  'Siapa dia Tan Sri BAM "Mr P"' Perletakan Jawatan Presiden BAM 'Siapa Tengku Zafrul' Kemelut Dalaman BAM There were many allegations to which the sender justified as not " fitnah " but " hakikat apa yg berlaku ". The four chapters highlights Mr P's "connection kuat ", goes into why Tengku Zafrul was named as the incoming BAM president, and takes issue with the establishment of 'Yayasan Badminton Nasional' and Akademi Badminton Malaysia. The writer (unsure if the sender is also the writer) also wrote that ' majority in the Council dalam BAM semua tak berani buat laporan sebab tak...
Read more