Foul!

It is amazing how football in Australia has grown. A country, best known for rugby, cricket and Aussie rules football, Australia has made a name for itself in the region and produced talents for major football leagues around the world including the English Premier League. One man who is in the thick of the A-League action is former Malay Mail sports journalist Ghaz Ramli (pic) . After his stint with Malay Mail, having covered the 2005 and 2007 Sea Games he moved to public relations. His clients include IMG, Federation Internationale de 'lAutomobile (FIA), Sepang International Circuit (SIC), PUMA, International Rugby Board (IRB) and Union Cycling Internationale (UCI), among others. Ghaz moved to Perth, Australia several years back and is now the membership, ticketing and events manager for Australian club Perth Glory. We met recently, during his short trip back, as we compared how the A-League and football are run in Australia and Malaysia. “The A-Lea...

As published in Mailsport today PETALING JAYA — Former national coach C. Paramalingam believes the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) needs to stop hiring foreign coaches. This comes after it was learnt MHC senior vice president Datuk Nur Azmi Ahmad and secretary general Datuk Johari Abdul Aziz will meet Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin today regarding the appointment of Australian Neil Hawgood as national coach. “Foreign coaches have taken us for a ride in the past. Have we not learnt our lessons?” asked Paramalingam, who was the first Malaysian coach to record victories over Pakistan and India. “MHC needs to be careful in appointing a foreigner. It is best for them to be consultants and they must be calibre coaches who have made a name for themselves. “It is not like we do not have the talent here. Tai Beng Hai, Lim Chiow Chuan, Stephen van Huizen, Colin Sta Maria and Wallace Tan all have FIH qualifications. “Why not send as many local coaches as possi...

Victorian County Court sentenced Malaysian Segaran “Gerry” Subramaniam, 46, to three years in prison, with two years suspended after he pleaded guilty to one count of conduct corrupting the betting outcome of  Victorian Premier League football matches. Segaran, who has already served 222 days, will be eligible for release in approximately 5 months, at which point he will be deported to Malaysia. The court heard Segaran, who had played soccer semi-professionally and worked as an air conditioning technician and clown in Malaysia and New Zealand, had been recruited by a more senior member of the syndicate, known as “Jason”, through soccer circles in Malaysia.  Read more here . Meanwhile, Wilson Raj Perumal, one of the most infamous match-fixers in the world, has been nabbed in Helsinki last week. According to Helsinki Times, Wilson was taken into custody in the Finnish capital last Wednesday at 9.20 pm on an international arrest warrant issued by Singaporean aut...

Haresh Says, as published in The Malay Mail today “I DON’T know what to say, what to think. I feel so lost, so blank. I’m just so tired. Goodnight, daddy. Sigh.. * hugs *” The heartbreaking tweet was by Maira Elizabeth Nari, the daughter of Flight MH370 chief steward Andrew Nari on Monday night. It was posted some three hours after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s brief press conference confirming MH370, which went missing on March 8, “ended its journey” in the Indian Ocean. Najib said this after obtaining confirmation from Inmarsat as the British company had used the Doppler effect — the change in frequency due to the movement of a satellite in its orbit — to determine the location of the Boeing 777 that had 239 people on board. The Australia Defence Minister David Johnston stressed while the information by Inmarsat was all the authorities had at the moment, he said the episode was “a mystery” and until authorities recover and positively identify ...

Skuad bola sepak kebangsaan melengkapkan Jelajah Australia dengan episod duka selepas kalah 2-0 kepada juara National Premier Leagues-New South Wales (NSW), Marconi Stallions FC, 2-0 di Stadium Marconi, Bossley Park, Sydney, semalam.     Skuad Harimau Malaya bimbingan Datuk K. Rajagobal sebelum ini kalah 3-2 kepada Canberra FC pada aksi sulung, Khamis lepas sebelum bangkit mencatat kemenangan dengan membelasah Sydney Olympic FC, 4-0, lima hari kemudian. Sementara itu, Setiausaha Agung Persatuan Bola Sepak Malaysia (FAM) Azzuddin Ahmad ( gambar ) berkata beliau tidak akan berundur daripada jawatan yang disandangnya ketika ini walaupun ada segelintir pihak yang mahu beliau mengosongkan kerusi berkenaan secepat mungkin.    Azzuddin yang memegang jawatan berkenaan sejak Sept 2007 berkata hanya Presiden FAM Sultan Pahang, Sultan Ahmad Shah sahaja yang mempunyai kuasa untuk mengeluarkan arahan supaya beliau berundur dan bukannya pihak luar.    "Say...

...Trent Milton scoring a goal in the dying minutes as Australia bagged the Azlan Shah Cup with the final score of 3-2. However, the Malaysians were the first to start the ball rolling thanks to Faizal Saari. Australia equalised through Nicholas Budgeon and later took the lead through Carig Boyne's effort. Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin made it 2-2 for the host team but it wasn't enough as the team from Down Under stole the limelight in front of a packed stadium in the final minutes of the match. This is Malaysia's fourth appearance in the final but they have yet to win the tournament. It was also painful to watch the friendly (football) match between Malaysia and Saudi Arabia at the Shah Alam Stadium yesterday. The Harimau Malaya hardly threatened the visitors as the Saudis were two goals up at half time courtesy of Yousef Alsalem and Yahya Alshehri. K.Rajagobal's lads put on a better show in the second half and were rewarded with a goal thanks to Safiq Rahim. N...

An unexpected surprise was awarded to one lucky Malaysian, Sharizad Naim ( pic, second from left ) for winning a trip for two to Gold Coast, Australia; among other participants from Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines and Thailand in the Quiksilver Enjoy the Experience contest.   Quiksilver Malaysia customers were given the opportunity to participate in this contest together with other participants around South East Asia from 8th January till 8th February 2013.  The contest were held in conjunction with the Chinese New Year celebration and Quiksilver shoppers were required to purchase RM288 and above in a single receipt to be eligible for an entry. The winner of this contest receive prizes worth up to AUD$4,000 (RM12,712) which includes a return economy flights for two people to Gold Coast, Australia, 5 nights stay at Watermark Hotel & Spa Surfers Paradise, two VIP passes to the 2013 Quiksilver and Roxy Pro, two World Passes to Dream World and White Water World, a one d...

In the Malaysian sports scene, an athlete is deemed 'old' when he or she hits 30, and considered 'antique' when he or she is 40. Not for Australian swimmer Geoff Huegill. As part of my trip - sponsored by the Australia Malaysia Institute - I was privileged to interview Geoff in Sydney. The 33-year-old butterfly expert is still eager to make waves in the pool and believes he still has a shot at the World Championships next year and perhaps even qualify for the 2016 Olympics. This is from a man who quit the sport not too long ago, had personal problems to deal with and managed to shed a lot of weight to get back in the pool and win a gold medal at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth. Geoff now wants to inspire the younger set of swimmers, as published in today's Mailsport. HD says: Age is just a number indeed.

THE National Sports Council (NSC) are seen to be “generous” in funding and are too fixated on winning medals. The findings of the report – A study of two successful Australian Sports: Swimming and Basketball as a model for developing and building Malaysia’s national sports associations – compiled by Australians Dr John Williams and Peter de Souza also revealed that there is lack of professional management within the NSAs and lack of funding at the grassroots. The study, which was conducted last month, was supported by the Commonwealth of Australia through the Australia-Malaysia Institute (AMI) and the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM).  The report compared the Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia (Asum) and the Malaysian Basketball Association (Maba) with the Swimming Australia Limited (SAL) and Basketball Australia (BA) respectively. On the subject of pathways for coaches (page 5), the report read; “The NSC needs to address this issue. At present it has fallen i...

The national Under-21 hockey team made a remarkable comeback to edge Australia 3-2 win inaugural Sultan of Johor Cup in Johor Baru yesterday. Both teams were tied 2-2 after full time but it was Mohamed Noor Faeezwho scored the winner of the match in extra time. For reports of the match, read here , here and here . So where do we go from here? There were times where the boys played well. There were also times when the boys failed when it comes to simple passes. K.Dharmaraj or now known as Muhammad Dharma Raj Abdullah has done well to guide his boys for this tournament. Now lets hope for some consistency as a bulk of these lads are expected to graduate into the senior team. Pic courtesy of Sultan of Johor Cup official website. HD says: Well done lads.

"Terbaik dari estate" That was headline of Rizal Hashim's post today. It was about K.Reuben tackling the referee during the Australia-Malaysia international friendly recently. Read more here . Former international Shebby Singh also spoke about the incident in his column here . If reading ain't your thing, just watch the incident here . And just like Rizal, I rather not comment further. HD says: Must be a 'painful' incident for all involved.

Socceroos slay Malaysia said the Sydney Morning Herald. Australian Broadcasting Corporation, meanwhile, said Socceroos put five on Malaysia . The Aussies obtained their goals from Luke Wilkshire (3rd minute), Josh Kennedy (34th, 45th) and Alex Brosque (39th, 69th). The match was during the announcement of the 2012 Budget by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak - which sees the allocation of RM15mil to build an additional 150 futsal courts and RM50mil to build football fields with artificial turfs, equipped with floodlights at 30 selected locations nationwide. Joesph Kalang Tie failed to live up to expectations in the engine room while the back four were disappointing - yet again - leaving goalkeeper Khairul Fahmi Che Mat to do most of the work. We could have played way better. The chilly weather of about 13 degree Celsius didn't help either. Kudos to the 300-odd Malaysian supporters - largely comprising of students armed with banners and drums - who turned up to cheer on the national t...