Foul!

The outburst did not go down well with those within FAM. After all, Tunku Ismail Ibrahim is serving a six-month suspension for lambasting the national FA over the poor quality of referees and allegations of matchfixing among teams in the M-League earlier this year. He now joins the list of “infamous” personalities, including the likes of Kelantan FA president Tan Sri Annuar Musa, Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin and Perlis FA president Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim, who have taken a swipe against FAM. Many argue Tunku Ismail needs to abide to his suspension by staying out of football matters. After all, a bad law is still a law. But if we were to sidestep from “protocols” — FAM or royalty — Tunku Ismail had said what many commoners, including journalists, have been saying in the past — FAM hardly listens. If we were to examine further, Johor is playing in the FA Cup final after years of being in the doldrums. The only time a Johor team won the FA Cup was when Joh...

KENYATAAN MEDIA OLEH DYAM TUNKU ISMAIL IBNI SULTAN IBRAHIM, TUNKU MAHKOTA JOHOR – BERTARIKH 5 JUN 2013 Melihat keadaan semasa dalam FAM, sukar membayangkan akan berlaku peruahan-perubahan positif dalam landskap bolasepak Negara ini. Mungkin dua puluh tahun daripada sekarang pun, kita akan menghadapi kemelut yang sama. Kita lebih gemar mengundang pasukan-pasukan luar seperti Chelsea untuk beraksi di sini, tetapi mengabaikan pembangunan bakat baru dari kalangan belia dan hal-hal kritikal berkaitan bolasepak Negara. Apabila saya dikenakan tindakan penggantungan selaku presiden PBNJ, saya dimaklumkan bahawa tiada sesiapa pun berada di atas undang-undang. Sebelum ini, segala hukuman akan dijatuhkan oleh Lembaga Disiplin dan Tatatertib FAM. Tetapi dalam kes Pahang menentang Johor Darul Takzim dalam perlawanan separuh akhir Piala FA, hukuman telah dijatuhkan oleh Jawatankuasa Pertandingan Tempatan. Kita juga tidak diberikan ruang untuk membuat sebarang rayuan atas ...

Johor Prince Tunku Ismail Ibrahim has quit as Johor FA president after helming the association slightly over a year. His presence in the scene raised eyebrows due to the manner he was made president and was seen at the sidelines which is only restricted to accredited personnel. Money, and lots of it, was spent on getting some of the best players in town. Under his leadership, the management decided to change Super League club Johor FC as Darul Takzim FC while Premier League outfit Johor FA remained the same. Former Singapore international Fandi Ahmad was hired to guide the southern team. There was also the ' spat ' between Johor FA and Kelantan. He spoke publicly about match-fixing in the league and even claimed a police officer was involved. Tunku Ismail spoke his mind and shared his views with the author as reported here .   However, Tunku Ismail's comments , lambasting FAM's attitude in combating match-fixing and the poor refereeing standards did not come...

And it was done very quickly indeed. Selangor coach Irfan Bakti's words during the Malaysian Football Monthly, hosted by Ross Yusoff, certainly caught Astro Arena's Dez Corkhill, professional player Stanley Samuel and I by surprise. "Well at the moment we have another two foriegners with us and I heard there is a clause on this factor that we can register a new player to replace Ramez and at this moment we have Peter Chrappan from Slovakia and I hope tomorrow (today) morning we will receive the clearance from FAM and he will be able to play tomorrow (today)," said Irfan. Listen to the conversation here . What clause I wonder? That aside, can someone explain the April transfer window? Apparently players who are serving contracts but decide to mutually terminate the contracts with their employees are not allowed to play for another team when the window opens. Instead, it is strictly for players who do not have any on-going contracts with any M-League teams. ...

Obviously it started with international football. How Sir Alex Ferguson seemed rather bitter after Manchester United were held to a 1-1 draw against Tottenham Hotspur, how Liverpool's ' SAS ' combination of Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge saw the 5-0 demolition of Norwich and Pep Guardiola 's move to German giants Bayern Munich. Nevertheless, the main highlight of the night - to me that is - was Malaysia's 158th position in the Fifa ranking and military officers seen at the stadium in Kota Bharu during the recent Kelantan-Darul Takzim FC match. It was a good discussion between football coach by day, club manager by night Craig Morraies , long time football pundit and radio star Ross Yusof, host Roshan Narayan - who is adjusting to married life (hehe)- The Star's Nelsen Ng and yours truly on another episode of Bola@Mamak . It has been awhile since I was invited to the show due to my recent working commitments. Looking forward to another great discussion...

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...

"Saya sudah menemui ramuan terbaik untuk pasukan (bagi menghadapi musim baru Liga Super), namun masih terdapat beberapa kelemahan yang perlu saya perbaiki terutamanya di bahagian tengah." Itu kata-kata jurulatih pasukan Selangor Irfan Bakti seperti dilaporkan Bernama semalam. "Saya akan lihat perkembangan pemain disebabkan kita sudah masuk fasa akhir persediaan bagi menghadapi Liga Super musim depan sebelum menyenarai pemain. Saya yakin kita akan lihat kualiti dan karakter pemain yang sebenar disebabkan mereka perlu bersaing sesama sendiri untuk memastikan mereka terpilih." Ini pula pendapat jurulatih Negeri Sembilan Divaldo Alves Pasukan-pasukan kini bersiap sedia untuk musim baru Liga M. Siapakah pasukan pilihan musim depan? Darul Takzim FC yang dibarisi pemain-pemain 'bintang', Selangor, Kelantan, Negeri Sembilan atau pun Perak? Mampukah ATM beri saingan? Apa pendapat anda? HD kata: Sudah pasti tahun depan musim yang menarik.

"This team is not a holiday place where players come and collect their salary and sit, but they must play for the team with full determination." Those were the words of Johor FA president Tengku Mahkota Johor Tunku Ismail Idris Sultan Ibrahim, as quoted by Bernama, yesterday. Sadly, I missed the press conference at the Thistle Hotel in Johor Baru - the same venue where I sat down with the young prince as we spoke about Johor football, athletics and match-fixing (involving a D7 police officer) in March . Sports247 has an extensive coverage of the event - perhaps due to their 'excellent' relationship with the Johor palace - as seen here , here and here . Newbie Aysha Ridzuan, meanwhile, gives a different perspective of the conference in her blog . It was an odd scene for me because the head coach just gave up his seat for his player.... ...I have been in this industry for only over a year. Maybe I haven't seen much, maybe I'm naive. But a little co...

Pertama sekali, kelab Super League Johor FC kini dikenali sebagai Darul Takzim FC . Yang kedua, penyerang negara Safee Sali ( gambar ) berhijrah ke Darul Takzim FC kerana ingin "menyelamatkan kariernya". "Dalam keadaan sekarang, saya pilih menyertai Johor untuk menyelamatkan karier saya. Saya nampak usaha Johor untuk cuba membuat perubahan dalam arena bola sepak negara...saya terima dan hormati cara mereka.  "Saya dapat rasakan Johor akan memberi impak yang amat positif dalam saingan liga musim depan ," kata Safee seperti dipetik Bernama. Di Jakarta pula, Kementerian Negara Pemuda dan Olahraga (Kemenpora) melakukan pertemuan dengan Persatuan Sepakbola Seluruh Indonesia (PSSI) dan Komite Penyelamat Sepakbola Indonesia (KPSI) untuk membahas upaya penyelesaian konflik sepakbola Indonesia. Baca laporan penuh di sini dan artikel-artikel lain mengenai situasi di Indonesia di Kompas dan The Jakarta Post.