Foul!

As published in Malay Mail today HARESH SAYS By Haresh Deol THERE is something ‘magical’ about Malaysian football.  Its trophy cabinet is pathetic when compared to badminton and diving. Many within seem to own a DeLorean time machine for they are often stuck in the past. And the woes plaguing the FA of Malaysia (FAM) and state affiliates — from finances to ethics — are more alarming than Zika. Why is football still the nation’s No. 1 sport? Its pull factor is phenomenal. The sport has been able to reach out to many of all walks, uniting those of opposing views and enjoying hundreds of thousands of loyal fans. It comes as no surprise why many continue to be lured to the FAM presidency. Even holding a position, regardless how minute, is seen as an “achievement”. The nominations for the FAM top post will close on Monday, leaving fans and observers at the edge of their seats over who will take over from the Crown Prince of Pahang Tengku Abdullah Shah.\ Those nominated...

As published in Malay Mail today Malaysian in Italian football club buy unmasked By Haresh Deol and Pearl Lee mmnews@mmail.com.my KUALA LUMPUR — The new funder behind FC Bari 1908, who has raised eyebrows here and in Italy, has been unmasked. Malay Mail can confirm Datuk Noordin Ahmad is a 59-year-old businessman from Manjung in Perak and is a close friend of Kelantan FA president Tan Sri Annuar Musa. “We’ve been buddies since 1972. We were classmates in Royal Military College and even played rugby together,” the Ketereh MP said. “We still keep in touch and in fact, I was just on the phone with him an hour ago.” Annuar spoke highly of Noordin. “He is a genuine businessman with vast experience in oil and gas, education, aviation and corporate restructuring. He has always kept a low profile despite being in the industry for 33 years. “Noordin was never with the government ... he was on his own the whole way.” Annuar, who is abroad, said...

KENYATAAN AKHBAR TAN SRI ANNUAR MUSA, TIMBALAN PRESIDEN FAM MERANGKAP PRESIDEN KAFA Saya telah mengikuti dengan teliti perkembangan dan kemelut yang berlaku, khususnya antara YB Menteri Belia dan Sukan dengan Persatuan Bolasepak Malaysia (FAM), sejak saya dilantik menganggotai Jawatankuasa Pembangunan Program Bolasepak Negara (JKPPBSN), November lalu. Adalah ditegaskan pelantikan yang dibuat oleh YB Menteri terhadap saya, atas sifat saya selaku Ahli Parlimen Malaysia (Bersama seorang lagi Ahli Parlimen yang lain) ADALAH SAH dan tidak harus dipertikaikan. YB Menteri pada menjalankan tugas dan dengan kuasanya BERHAK melantik sesiapa sahaja mengikut budibicaranya bagi menganggotai JKPPBSN tersebut. Usaha YB Menteri melantik pelbagai pihak dan ‘stakeholders’ ini amat dialu-alukan sekali. Adalah ditegaskan juga bahawa Jawatankuasa yang dibentuk YB Menteri adalah sebuah entiti Kerajaan yang mempunyai peranan yang lebih luas, terutama dalam konteks pembangunan bolasepak. Ia di luar SKOP DA...

Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has a keen interest in football. Having headed the now defunct football outfit UPB-MyTeam before joining the FA of Malaysia (FAM) as deputy president for a term in the past, he has been rather vocal about Malaysian football since becoming a minister. Anyone criticising FAM will surely win the hearts of many fans. Khairy has done that well. He seems to even have the support of Johor FA president Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim and Kelantan FA president Annuar Musa. But Khairy has also received the wrath from others. Singer Siti Nurhaliza chided Khairy for telling former national football team captain Jamal Nasir to stay out of his dealings with FAM - as reported in The Star . FAM have agreed to meet Khairy soon, as revealed by the national body's general secretary Hamidin Amin in a Bernama report. Nevertheless, Malaysian sports is not all about football. And for Khairy to take football - and only football - to task seems rather...

Right after the 13th general election, many begin to wonder of the new cabinet line-up. The focus among sports writers and observers would, naturally, be the best candidate for the Youth and Sports Minister's post. Astro Awani had, during its Sukan Awani Ekstra television programme on Saturday, asked me who could be the next minister to play an important role in Malaysian sports. They asked if caretaker minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek should be retained. I had said during the show that the ministry is and will remain important as it is evident that the Barisan Nasional government have yet to fully woo the many young voters as evident in the recent election. Having only captured 133 Parliamentary seats, this is the worst outing by the coalition government and efforts will certainly be made to get a tech-savvy minister to earn the trust and faith of the youths ahead of the next general election. Ahmad Shabery Cheek: Had visions but, just like many in his capacity, was often ill-...

It was an unnecessary comment that riled many. It also got some of us thinking — is there room for racism and politics in Malaysian sports? The Malaysian sporting fraternity is filled with politicians, literally. A quick check among the candidates who stood in the just concluded 13th general election says a lot. Kelantan FA president Tan Sri Annuar Musa won the Ketereh parliamentary seat. KLFA deputy president Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani is now the Titiwangsa MP. FA of Malaysia vice-president-cum -national team manager Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal lost his Taman Templer state seat while KLFA exco member Rusli Baba failed miserably as an independent candidate in Lembah Pantai. The outcome of the general election also saw unwarranted remarks made, fueling anger and hatred. One that certainly caught the attention of those in the sporting scene was a Facebook posting made by Malaysian National Cycling Federation deputy president Datuk Naim Mohamad. Naim, who is a Bukit Cina (Malacca) ...

Newly elected Kereteh MP Annuar Musa ( pic ) insisted he will be staying as Kelantan FA president and still be recognised as the FA of Malaysia (FAM) deputy president despite still serving his 30-month suspension, as stated on his Facebook page. This came hardly 24 hours after national news agency Bernama quoted Annuar Musa as saying he is ready to quit Kafa and FAM given the new task at hand as seen here . Nevertheless, news of Annuar Musa's supposed exit from football got certain parties speculating who will best replace the outspoken president in Kafa's top post. Kafa deputy presiden Affendi Hamzah was one of the names that made its rounds. This did little to effect the team as the Red Warriors went on to whack Felda United 3-0 in Kota Baru last night.  Read more in today's Mailsport. HD says: Listening to The Clash's ' Should I stay or should I go '.

"Setakat ini Kafa belum dimaklum apa-apa. Saya cuma baca dalam blog dan baca dalam suratkhabar.." Berikut merupakan kata-kata penasihat Persatuan Bola Sepak Kelantan (Kafa) Annuar Musa apabila persatuan tersebut dikenakan denda RM62,500 oleh Persatuan Bola Sepak Malaysia (FAM) kerana gara-gara penyokong yang membaling mercun dan objek keras ke arah padang dalam perlawanan Liga Super menentang Darul Takzim FC pada 15 Januari lalu di Kota Bharu. Penyokong Kafa pula merasakan keputusan tersebut "berat sebelah", lebih-lebih lagi apabila FAM masih belum memberi kata putus tentang insiden pergaduhan antara pasukan Selangor dan ATM baru-baru ini. Namun, FAM mengakui insiden Selangor-ATM masih dalam siasatan dan "tindakan selanjutnya masih tidak dapat diputuskan". Bagaimanapula dengan kenyataan presiden Johor FA Tunku Ismail Ibrahim mengenai mutu pengadilan dan 'bookie' dalam Liga-M? Pilih kasih? Ataupun keputusan FAM memang tepat kerana ga...

"Saya sibuk cari duit bagi membayar gaji pemain dan saya tidak ada masa untuk melayan FAM sebab gaji pemain, mereka (FAM) tak tolong bayar." Berikut merupakan kata-kata presiden Persatuan Bola Sepak Perlis Shahidan Kassim melalui khidmat pesanan ringkas kepada Bernama .  Ini berkenaan surat yang dikeluarkan Jawatankuasa Tatatertib FAM kepada Shahidan yang dikatakan melanggari Artikel 88 Statut FAM. Ya, Artikel 88 kembali lagi. Musim lalu, Annuar Musa menjadi mangsa Artikel yang sama. Banyak yang diperkatakan namun Artikel tersebut masih tetera didalam Statut FAM. Jangan salahkan jawatankuasa yang terlibat kerana mereka hanya mengikut undang-undang yang sedia ada.  Mereka yang berlajar undang-undang tahu 'a bad law is still law'. Annuar Musa dan Shahidan menjadi mangsa. Siapa pula selepas ini? Mungkin kita harus pastikan mereka yang pandai membodek juga terperangkap dalam Artikel 88 supaya mereka sedar bahawa mereka sebenarnya mempunyai kuasa untuk membu...

In the early part of last season, we kept reading about the spat between the FA of Malaysia (FAM) and Kelantan FA (Kafa) president Annuar Musa. This season begins with a war of words between Annuar Musa and Johor FA president Tunku Ismail Ibrahim . And the star of the current episode is Norshahrul Idlan Talaha. Better known as Mat Yo, the national striker was lured from Kelantan by Darul Takzim FC. During the national team's campaign in the AFF Cup, Norshahrul was offered a job with the southern club. Kafa claims it had no qualms releasing Norshahrul provided it was compensated. However, judging by the reports the deal didn't really go smoothly as seen here and here . Recently, Annuar Musa raised the transfer fee which has yet to be paid to Kafa. The Johor prince, had in a press conference in Johor Baru yesterday retaliated by saying ; “Don’t be childish and don’t politicise football .” That statement certainly didn't go down to well with Annuar Musa who ra...

They were both penalised for speaking to the Press. Terengganu coach Peter Butler ( pic ) has been handed a six months suspension and RM4,000 fine for "issuing a statement to the media without the approval of the team management", as reported here . Earlier this year, Kelantan boss Annuar Musa was slapped with a similar gag by the FA of Malaysia. My article on Annuar Musa's suspension was highlighted by Yahoo! Malaysia . Butler claims he has not received anything in black and white from the Terengganu FA pertaining the decision. Even Terengganu Menteri Besar Ahmad Said told Bernama he has not received any report about the matter and will "resolve this matter his own way". Apparently, it is widely known that Ahmad has been rather "supportive" towards Butler's cause. However, Butler is not exactly a popular figure - on and off the training grounds - and he knows this for a fact. He left Kelantan in a huff and it looks like his second shot o...

Terkini 10.56pm: Tahniah kepada jurulatih Kelantan Bojan Hodak dan pemain-pemain Red Warrior selepas mengalahkan Sime Darby FC 1-0 di perlawanan akhir Piala FA sebentar tadi. Beberapa perkara yang perlu diteliti; 1. Stadium penuh walaupun diantara pasukan kelab Liga Premier dan Kelantan. Ini juga bermaksud RM40 x 80,000 =  RM3.2 juta. Berapakah keuntungan FAM malam ini? 2. Kemenangan yang manis buat Annuar Musa. Cara terbaik untuk menutup mulut para pengkritiknya. 3. Bendera Che Guevara di Stadium Nasional. What's that all about? 4. Ikrar integriti oleh kedua-dua kapten pasukan agak kelam-kabut, macam budak-budak tadika.  Tak buat latihan ke? By the way, konsep intergiti tu idea siapa eh...FAM ke MSL Sdn Bhd? 5. Padang yang dikatakan "tidak elok". Kenapa agaknya eh? (Faham-faham je la). -------   79,000 tiket telah pun dijual. Kaunter di Stadium Nasional Bukit Jalil dibuka 40 minit yang lalu dan menjual baki 6,000 tiket bagi perlawanan akhir Piala F...

Sila baca laporan Bernama dibawah. Presiden Persatuan Bola Sepak Malaysia (FAM), Sultan Ahmad Shah tidak bersetuju dengan cadangan Timbalan Presiden FAM Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah untuk menjadi perantara dalam krisis penggantungan Tan Sri Annuar Musa selama dua tahun enam bulan. Sultan Ahmad yang juga Sultan Pahang bertitah sebagai Presiden FAM baginda perlu menyokong hukuman yang telah dijatuhkan terhadap Annuar yang juga Timbalan Presiden FAM kerana ia tertakluk kepada perlembagaan FAM. "Saya sudah bersetuju dengan hukuman yang dijatuhkan terhadap Annuar, kemudian mahu sokong pula cadangan (Tengku Abdullah) nak jadi orang tengah, ini tidak betul. "Saya mesti sokong hukuman terhadap Tan Sri Annuar Musa dan persatuan bola sepak saya. Saya merupakan Presiden, peraturannya ada, jadi Annuar kena tunggu. Bukan Annuar seorang, sebelum ini ada orang lain lagi yang kena (tindakan)," titah baginda kepada pemberita pada majlis perasmian Program Penghijauan Pahang di Pu...

Itulah yang diputuskan oleh Jawatankuasa Disiplin FAM. Ada segelintir yang tersenyum dengan keputusan tersebut. Ada pula yang merasakan ianya terlalu berat. Artikel 88 menyebut; Kecuali bagi siaran biasa kepada akhbar oleh Presiden atau Setiausaha Agung, tiada Pegawai, jurulatih FAM atau pengadil atau mana-mana Ahli atau pemain berdaftar atau pemain yang diambil bermain dengan mana-mana Ahli, melainkan diizinkan oleh Kongres, boleh menyumbangkan apa-apa rencana tentang pengurusan hal ehwal FAM, meluahkan kilanan, sama ada diandaikan ataupun sebenar atau hak, kritikan yang bersifat permusuhan terhadap FAM (Ahli). Jawatankuasa Disiplin, yang diketuai Taufik Abdul Razak, mendapati Annuar Musa bersalah bagi pertuduhan kenyataan akhbar yang dikeluarkan sama ada di surat khabar atau televisyen. 2. melanggar titah Tengku Abdullah pada Feb 4 untuk tidak lagi membuat sebarang kenyataan. Taufik memberitahu wartawan bahawa pihak seketeriat FAM yang membuat ...

Hello Mr Haresh, Actually saya adalah follower setia blog foul. Sangat meminati cara saudara dalam menyentuh apa jua isu berkaitan sukan negara. Disini saya ingin bertanya tentang pandangan peribadi saudara berkaitan apa yang dikatakan oleh Tan Sri Annuar Musa berkaitan skuad K.Rajagopal. Secara peribadi, saya telah mendengar secara jelas interview berkenaan dan saya dapati tidak ada sebarang isu yang perlu diperbesarkan kerana dalam banyak2 point yang diberikan, kenapa angle kritikan itu yang dihighlight kan? Saya dapati lately cemuhan daripada wartawan seperti Wan Fakhrul,Ahmad Khawari Isa, Fina Nasrom, Rizal Hashim berkaitan perkara ini. Adakah wartawan sekarang terlalu biased atau hipokrit skrang? Saya pernah terbaca kritikan terbuka Rizal Hashim terhadap K.Rajagopal dan adakah skrang ni you merasakan skuad kebangsaan kita benar2 di landasan tepat untuk mempertahankan piala AFF sedangkan kita tak pernah menang sejak tersingkir daripada Kelayakan Piala Dunia? Apa panda...

UPDATE 12.28am March 17, 2012: Before certain quarters start jumping before even reading between the lines, here is my reasoning for this posting. Honestly, I don't care about what Annuar Musa had said about K.Rajagobal and I am not going to pretend to be the world's best coach by questioning Rajagobal's selection. I'm sure he knows best. What I would like to question is the timing of the centralised training. It is a known fact Rajagobal hardly gets time with the boys and to conduct a centralised training which will not feature several of his natural choices will surely be a set back. I do not need to be a world class qualified coach to know that. Also, why wasn't this thought of as we all knew Kelantan and Terengganu will feature in the AFC Cup this season. It simply boils down to planning. I spoke to a coach of a team and when I explained my rationale, he agreed. Some teams claim the fixture is packed - now this could have been avoided with PROPER planning - per...

Sebagai permulaan, saya tidak prejudis sama sekali terhadap timbalan presiden FAM Annuar Musa mahupun individu-individu yang lain. Tetapi saya agak hairan dan tertarik dengan 'kenyataan' Annuar Musa di Harian Metro semalam. Beliau dipetik berkata; "Secara terus-terang dan peribadi, saya merasakan prestasi (skuad negara) tidak menentu. Kadang-kadang kala alasan yang diberikan tidak boleh diterima oleh semua pihak seperti hendak mencuba. Bola sepak adalah perkara yang berjalan sepanjang masa dan tidak boleh mengatakan ia lakukan untuk tempoh empat tahun akan datang. “Ia perlu disukat pada setiap masa dan kejohanan, siapa yang boleh menjamin empat tahun lagi kita akan menjadi lebih baik,” kata ketika ditemui semalam." Annuar Musa, dalam Facebook-nya, berkata kenyataannya disalah tafsir oleh pihak Media tetapi posting tersebut siap dengan berpuluh-puluh komen tiba-tiba dipadamkan. Agak menghairankan... Apa yang juga menghairankan, dan jika benar kata-kata Annuar Musa sepe...

I bumped into FA of Malaysia (FAM) deputy president Annuar Musa (pic) at a hotel in PJ yesterday. I caught Annuar as he was heading towards his red Porsche Panamera. He had only five minutes to spare and I quickly asked him about the insurance bungle I exposed on Wednesday. Annuar said he was "concerned" and promised to "investigate the matter" - as published in today's The Malay Mail . He was careful with his words, not wanting to offend any party. But his facial expression could not hide his disappointment. Annuar Musa also promised to find out why certain players were not handed their player's license although registered with the national body. Perhaps such matters will be raised during the 'special' competitions committee meeting which the Press were only informed of yesterday. HD says: Talking to so many people about this insurance and player's license has given me a soar throat. Or should I blame it on the durians?

Really? That was the headline in today's NST . FA of Malaysia (FAM) deputy president Annuar Musa wants a "new roadmap for local football" - thus a rebranding is required. But given the current situation, it cannot be a reality. Why? Annuar is a man with many ideas and enjoys a healthy working relationship with those in MSL Sdn Bhd. Annuar has transformed Kelantan into a well run organisation and the only thing they need right now is a stadium of their own. Things are different in FAM though. It is obvious Annuar does not enjoy a "good relationship" with the other office bearers. Annuar does not even see eye to eye with certain officials - literally. This brings me back to the days Khairy Jamaluddin was in the same position and how he was shunned by many of the "old timers" for being vocal and wanting to adopt changes. He got fed up and chose not to run for election. Even the other deputy president Tengku Mahkota Sultan Ahmad Shah would love to see chan...

Sometimes revamps work. But when it is done too often, you lose focus. The Malay Mail is said to be undergoing a revamp - yet again . From an afternoon daily then it went morning, then it went back to afternoon and now the management wants to push it to the morning. From RM0.80, to being a free paper - ala The Sun - to now reverting back to a paid model. MSL Sdn Bhd, who supposedly run the M-League, are also talking about revamps. From introducing foreigners to axing foreign footballers to now discussing the possibility of bringing back the imports, etc etc etc. Much thought and studies should be placed before speaking of changes. Studies mean going to the ground and speaking to the people that actually matter about what should be changed and left behind. A revamp doesn't mean changing the name to create an illusion. It's about having substance. I'm talking about MSL by the way. Annuar Musa said MSL may be revamped again. Good to hear but please put much thought into it ...