And it's the same case of our players is never given the airtime their needed.

Well I'm no expert but logic tells me that since this is a pretty big achievement for the team, the FAM or whoever it is that manages the team should have arranged for a journalist to travel with the team to document their accounts there. Even if the print media don't see it as valuable content, their story could be told using online channels e.g. creating an FB fansite, blogs, etc.

If they really are serious about promoting football again, they need to look into various communication channels available to them. Media value is key in securing sponsorship of any sorts and it's the first thing they should address. The same could be said of Malaysian footballers abroad like Lim Teong Kim and Titus Palani. If I remember correctly, Akmal Rizal had a diary in a local daily when he was abroad. Given the rise in online media channels of late, it would make sense to do the same again so Malaysians are aware of how these guys are fairing in the global arena.

This post has been edited by Duke Red: Aug 5 2010, 04:14 PM

Just give one of them a twitter account.

FT MSSK 0 - Barca 3

Which reinforces one of my earlier points. That some people have the vision but they are surrounded by people who don't know how or what to do to promote the game again.

Wikipedia might not be accurate but it isn't not pure fabrication either.



If you look at the list of FAM committee members, they consist almost totally of either royalty or politicians. Where are the ex-footballers, football managers or anyone who at any one time in their lives were actually involved or were exposed to the intracacies of the sport? If they don't know what to do, outsource the marketing of the clubs or the leagues to experts. I mean if we were actually once considering to build a multi million dollar sports complex in the UK, I'm sure we can afford a reputable marketing consultant and qualified personnel.

So fans should do something and not just sit around and complain. Well if the politics in our country is a reflection of the politics in sports, what can we do? It isn't as though we get to vote for to determine the FAM committee. At least in the recent elections, there was some semblance of hope in that our electoral system was completely rigged.

Group C results (5th August 2010)
MSS Kedah | 0-3 | FC Barcelona
Manchester United | 1-0 | Alta Loma Arsenal SC
FC Barcelona | 0-0 | Sutherland Sharks
Alta Loma Arsenal SC | 2-0 | MSS Kedah
Sutherland Sharks | 0-2 | Manchester United

Standings

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Added on August 6, 2010, 2:13 amMatchday +3: 6th August 2010
10:30am (BST) | 05:30 pm (MST) | MSS Kedah vs Ulsan Hyundai MS (KOR)

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Added on August 6, 2010, 4:09 amReuben Gill



A foreign-born Malaysian+angmoh lad who held Malaysian citizenship.

According to his Facebook fan page which he created to enter Nike's "The Chance" contest, he went to Italy in July last year to play for an academy which is not stated.

this is the page. don't forget to
Facebook | The Chance.. help me write the future

Facebook | Reuben Gill

This post has been edited by AKace: Aug 6 2010, 04:31 AM

Except for that no.16 kid, our boys seem to be physically on par with the mat sallehs.

Must be the raging hormones kick in around aged 15-16 for them!

I guess that's the difference between Nasi Lemak and Pasta...

It's also genetic to a large extent. I mean Asians generally are smaller than our Western counterparts. Size isn't everything though, I mean the Mexicans are hardly the biggest blokes around. I remember a game they played against South Korea maybe 2 World Cups ago and the Korean's kicked them about the park. Can't dispute that size does give you a slight edge, not just physically but mentally as well. Perhaps we should start by picking bigger blokes and training them to play. Our centrebacks are hardly the biggest guys around and while we may be able to compete by Asian standards, we'll not win many balls against much taller Western teams.

MUPC 2010 World Finals: MSS Kedah

Matchday +2 (5th August 2010)

Match #3: MSS Kedah 0-3 FC Barcelona








Match #4: Alta Loma Arsenal SC 2-0 MSS Kedah








MUPC.com

i prefer if english coach(perhaps with premiership experience) to become our head coach and given significant authority to the player,training regiment,technical stuff(the training area,the players' development,etc)

i also looking forward to see our technical team to be sent overseas and learn something.not just the player

and we also need more exposure for our team.like toulon festival,etc.i also second the idea of train first,compete later


...and we better feed our player better.i see our player to be shorter than the south korean.....

Fans do what fans do. But the positives sometimes do sound amplified because most of the time we have to push against non rationale, misconcepted, ignorant, prejudiced, biased and not entirely fair tides of negativity. But when we are not in that situation, we Malaysian NT fans are mostly a modest lot. It will not be easy for us to forget the pain of being where we are and where we had been.


Define “such results consistenly” in a measurable manner and put it in documentation. You might need to refer to it one day


Friendlies are firendlies and tournaments are tournaments. There are no needs to compare those 2. Most half educated football fans knew how to differentiate them. Just that, in international stage, especially Malaysia, competitive tournaments is hard to come by. The last we have was the SEA Games in December 2009 and the next we can expect is 2010 Asia Games in November 2010. So the friendlies in between do hold a much higher stake compare to normal club football friendlies. For the players, it could mean weather they are in the next team or not, so they have to take it competitively.


If that statement applies to Malaysia vs Korea, thank you, at least, for acknowledging that.


Some of those matches are World Cup Qualifiers, Asia Cup Qualifiers and Rank A international friendlies. So there are bound to field their best team. But we cannot force them to. Even in World Cup finals some team don’t field their best eleven but still the official name of the country at stake and normal rules apply. We cannot control that. We can only beat what’s in from of us.


I don’t really know what they have done behind the scenes. All I know most of them trained with FAM/SSBJ and kept together very early since U-19. It was very late before they are released to the states. I think they receive a much better diet, technical, tactical and physical preparation compare to state trained President Cup players as the seemed more matured on the pitch. That’s why FAM resists the pressure to disband Harimau Muda A from state team who want to poach these players. If the players release to the states, they will be gone to the dogs, surely.


And your realistic expectation is…..?


Oh really. I thought Wayne Rooney turned pink because he was irritated with himself for not being able to break those tree-house-living -poor-excuse-of-a-footballer Mongolian defenders.


No problem. If you are in my position you would be doing the same too


Football supporters in Malaysia are in an identity crisis. If you don’t have a sense of belonging, no amount of marketing can bring you to the stadiums and attract sponsors. Better save whatever extra penny and cents they have to further develop those selected group of players in the U23 and Harimau Muda A squad. Eyes and heart can only be opened when we rise up the World Rankings and performed in tournaments.


No.

If we are complaining about the brain drain, politics, youth development, FAM should do this and do that, I‘ll save us the time and just agree with you.

Most of our opinion are unanimous about our/FAM general weaknesses. It’s just most of the time, it is not fairly and fact fully presented in discussion which I personally don’t like.


That’s fair. But for my part, I can only focus on posts that you quote me. And, generally, by “you” I don’t mean Mr. Duke Red, but all Malaysian Football antagonists in general.


From what I know, FAM does not make public their targets for the team anymore these days. They learned their lessons that when they state their target, they and the team will be ridiculed either way. But generally, they expect the team to WIN whatever task they are given.


Yes. I also have high hopes that development in Kelantan will trigger uprising in other states as well. No self respecting west coast northerners or klang valley city boys should just stand and see these budu-eating-east-coast-barbarians filling up their stadiums for them.


I do. I have no choice really.

I have to admit, i do enjoy watching the quality of imported football broadcastings. But like a good movie, that I would pay for a good plot and narrative, by the end of the movie, even by how good and dashing Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie is, added with multimillion dollar CGI, it is still fake and no attachment to me in reality.

They just cannot beat the adrenaline rush I have when watching the team that represent me, life in the stadium.


No. You win. Because you know people and information that I don’t.



My statements are based on current situation. I knew of the case of 1994 but I take it after the hard pressed action we took, they are not prevalent anymore. But with billions of dollars changing hand in world football betting ring each day, we cannot be sure. Even EPL is not totally safe from that issue.

About your stories that you shared, how do I go about searching for them? Would like to know how bad it was.


I never said I better than you. I just had doubt you would have total grasp of my side of the opinion.


Unless you have childhood friends from Liverpool city in England and understand whatever that is coming out of Jamie Carragher’s mouth, I don’t think you understand totally what I meant.

Tell me something. IF, hypothetically, due to their unmanageable debt and financial irregularities, Liverpool FC had to made solvent and need to restart back down at the bottom pit of English League. They lose a whole generation of talented footballers, no longer blessed with millions of sponsorship money and had to fight with Premier League teams for fans and cable viewership. Bear in mind that this is due to their own doings.
Would you still support them then, or would you withhold your support until they return to the Premier League?


The fact that this discussion need to be discussed in "Real World Issues" forum means that it is already out of FAM or FIFA’s hand. No football industry can flourish in a land where people don’t have a sense of pride towards their identity and community.

This post has been edited by aressandro10: Aug 6 2010, 03:56 PM

Was reading the interesting debate and notice Duke Red mentioned Kelantan being one of ones with a proper vision and amtibion amongst the local teams. I cant agree more. At least in terms of branding wise etc.

They have recently set up their own clubstore - can see here http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=199565&id=770833404

This is esential if you are even gonna start talking bout marketing - you need a place where fans can get the merchandise etc for the club.

hope it is well managed and does not follow the footsteps of other ill fated attempts previously (by PErak, Selangor)

they are working on building a new stadium with bigger capacity. not sure how far the progress went tho.

not just clubstore, we also have own cafe, radio & tv steaming channel

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Added on August 7, 2010, 2:10 pmyes we working on that, but political thing and finance`s problem make it slow, the state government already give a land to built the stadium but i think we still wait the oil royalty money

here the stadium



This post has been edited by faris21: Aug 7 2010, 02:10 PM

i can say they are on the right path to pursue their ambition. at least can attract fans and generate some income. if not much but it still there ya know.

didnt notice ur post earlier on stadium pic, well on political views does state gov allow such case?

This post has been edited by RitzyMazzy: Aug 7 2010, 02:26 PM

Matchday +3 (6th August 2010)






Match #5: MSS Kedah 0-0 Ulsan Hyundai MS (MSS Kedah win 9-8 on penalties)

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Added on August 8, 2010, 4:30 am

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Added on August 8, 2010, 4:30 am



This post has been edited by AKace: Aug 8 2010, 04:30 AM

Not being familiar with how frequent we play international matches, I can't quantify "consistent results". Just as our slump didn't happen overnight, I don't expect us to rise from the ashes of the Phoenix anytime soon, at least to the level we were once at. Winning the SEA games last year gave us at least a glimmer of hope that we would some day soon, rule South East Asia again. In recent years, the likes of Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia have ruled the roost. At one point we were so bad, we lost to Laos, a team that until today has no professional league. If we continue to build on the SEA games win and achieve decent results in upcoming tournaments or qualifiers, that would be an indication of consistency.

They aren't the same, no doubt. The timing of a friendly is important as well. If you are playing a team that is preparing for an upcoming tournament, then you are more likely to face stiffer competition, opposed to a team experiment with new players. I'm sure player on both sides will go all out to prove they are deserving of a place in the starting lineup but having fresh faces also there is a high chance of playing a 'weakened' side. Like you say, we can't decide who the opposition fields, but we can decide when and who to play against. My take is, as I have mentioned above, is that a clear indication of progress is when the team plays in their next tournament/qualifying campaign.




Isn't this inevitable though? In the end, football is a career and like any other career, they'd want to get paid and from what I hear, some local footballers earn a fair sum. This brings me back to the point I made earlier about this team going down the same path as their predecessors. If visiting managers were honest, then it's clear that what we lack isn't skill and ability. It's when they grow up and start playing for state sides that the problem begins. If this is the case, then how likely is it that this current crop of youngsters will turn out any different than those before them?

It isn't just the football in Malaysia but to some extent, the nation but I don't want to stray off topic. When I dig up youtube videos of the national side from the 70's, I honestly feel an overwhelming sense of emotion. Watching Mokhtar Dahari score that goal against England, or even Hassan Sani set up James Wong for the goal against Korea leaves me wondering what happened? Back then the team was truly 1Malaysia as was the nation.

Ok fine so I'll have to stray for awhile. Back in 1992, I was at Stadium Negara cheering our Thomas Cup team on as we faced Indonesia. Fans of every race sang in unison as our players took to the courts. Led by team manager Punch Gunalan, the likes of Rashid Sidek, Foo Kok Keong, Razif & Jailani Sidek, Soo Beng Kiang & Cheah Soon Kit were victorious. At one point, Foo Kok Keong even threw up into a bucket, he was so fatigued. Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah was on her feet the whole time. After Soo Beng Kiang's winning smash, the whole stadium erupted and Malaysians of all races were embracing random strangers. Not for the first time, sport brought a nation together. Maybe one day, football will. I don't care to speculate why so few Chinese or Indians play these days. Salary? Perhaps. One more problem for the FAM to address then. Market the league and bring in sponsors again.



Got it off Wikipedia I just googled, "Malaysian Football; corruption". Take your pick.



I've actually been asked this question countless time, especially since I inked my arm. I'd be lying if I said that the trophies and titles mean nothing. It's the reason I got to watch them play back in the day there was no ASTRO. Only teams that featured consistenly in cup finals were aired on TV. Since then however, I've done some pretty extensive reading on the club to understand the culture and philosophies of the club. I've read about Shankly and I've heard about Paisley from Phil Neal himself! Legend! Met him with a few other blokes when he was down in KL and we have a few beers together. I've always wondered why players who have played at Anfield, claim it's such a special place, and why this club was such a special club. From what I could gather few fans have such an affinity to their football club. This was most recently evident in Istanbul. At 3-0 down against AC Milan, the fans sang "You'll Never Walk Alone", and the players responded. With Liverpool being by and large an industrial city, our fans consists largely of blue collared employees. Well since then of course, like any other football club, you get your group of wealthy tourists. The club was seen by it's fans as a symbol of hope and once a week at least, they were taken away from the monotony of their daily lives. It's why these cab drivers and truck drivers use up all their savings following the team around Europe.

Now I've been to Liverpool and I've seen first hand what the club means to them, and I can see why. The fact that until today, fans from all over remember Hillsborough and have done their part in supporting the campaign for justice shows such a strong sense of solidarity. It may sound like as script from a bad movie, but Liverpool to me isn't just a football club. The values that Shankly had instilled are practiced not just by the players but by the fans. I've read his book but I don't want to get all preachy. If anyone wants to know more about Shankly, just google him.

To answer your question, yes, I'd still support them even if I don't get to watch them because to me, the boardroom and the decisions they make, do not represent Liverpool Football club and I'm sure our fans agree. If they didn't, they would have boycotted the club in protest against the owners. The thing is, I feel a connection to our national team, and in recent years, I'm getting increasingly disconnected from our nation as a whole, and the sad thing is, it isn't by choice.

You are right. In this aspect, there is nothing the FAM can do for me but it may not apply to everyone. It certainly doesn't seem to apply to you or anyone else here and so it doesn't mean the FAM can drop the ball.

FIFA Ranking (Aug 2010)

104 | +1 | Thailand | 276 pts | +3

120 | +1 | Singapore | 198 pts | -

127 | - | Vietnam | 174 pts | -5

135 | +3 | Indonesia | 143 pts | +2

138 | -6 | India | 129 pts | -31

139 | +3 | Malaysia | 128 pts | +4

140 | +3 | Myanmar | 127 pts | +5

FIFA.com

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Added on August 24, 2010, 9:40 am
International friendly

Oman vs Malaysia
Date: 3 September 2010 (4 September 2010)
Venue: Al-Wakrah Stadium, Doha, Qatar
Kick-off: 9.00 pm (2.00 am)

FIFA.com

----------------------------------

Malaysian squad

Goalkeepers:
Sharbinee Alawee Ramli
Khairul Fahmi Che Mat

Defenders:
Aidil Zafuan Abd Radzak
Muslim Ahmad
Nasriq Baharom
Sabre Abu
Asrarudin Putra Omar
Azmi Muslim
Fadhli Shas
Mahali Jasuli

Midfielders:
Amar Rohidan
Gary Steven Robbat
Safiq Rahim
Gurusamy Kovindasamy
Kunanlan Subramaniam
Kyril Muhaimeen Zambri
Badrol Bakhtiar
Faizal Abu Bakar

Forwards:
Amad Fakhri Saarani
Izzaq Faris Ramlan
Norshahrul Idlan Talaha
Zaquan Adha Abd Radzak

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Added on August 25, 2010, 4:25 pm
Harimau Muda A stint in Slovakia

The team will be exposed to 12 competitive matches against the Slovak Div 1 sides. In addition, the team will play four international friendly matches against the Under-21 sides of Austria, Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary in a matter of three months.

Coaching staff:
Head coach: Ong Kim Swee
Assistant coach: Hassan Sazali Mohd Waras
Goalkeeper coach: Yong Wai Hwang
Physiotherapist: Mohd Nasrul Ahmad Tajuddin

Players:
Goalkeepers:
Muhammad Zamir Selamat
Mohd Izham Tarmizi Roslan
Mohd Farhan Abu Bakar

Defenders:
Mohd Muslim Ahmad
Mohd Affize Faisal Mamat
Mahali Jasuli
Muhammad Faizal Mohd
Mohd Fadhli Mohd Shas
Muhamad Nazri Ahmad
Nicholas Wee Shen Ming
Amer Saidin
Mohd Fandi Othman
Nazirul Naim Che Hashim

Midfielders:
Gary Steven Robbat
Gurusamy Govandar Kandasamy
Abdul Shukor Jusoh
Muhammad Rafiuddin Roddin
Sivanesan Shanmugam
Irfan Fazail
Wan Zack Haikal Wan Noor
Saarvindran Devandran
Wan Zaharulnizam Wan Zakaria

Forwards:
Izzaq Faris Ramlan
Muhammad Ferris Danial Mat Nasir
Syahrul Azwari Ibrahim

FAM

This post has been edited by AKace: Sep 6 2010, 01:11 PM

That’s not too far away from my low expectations after all. Waiting nervously to see how they perform in the Asian Games and AFF Cup. My hope is at least the semifinals of AFF so that I can support them at the stadium on the home leg. Looking at our opponents around the region, this, of course, is not granted, but anything less than that would be a failure.

Can we? really?

If only we can simply fill in whatever fantasy opponents’ name, time and venue and the match will indubitably materialized. But with our ranking around +/- 140th right now it’s not as simple as that.

I don’t see why higher ranked teams would want to play us except to milk huge appearance fees or maybe to fish some votes like when we still have some power in the AFC which now we have not.

The thing about good timing is not always available every time. So from time to time we have to make do with what we have as long as there are matches for the boys to play. I can see FAM is trying their level best to be selective regarding our recently. Very rarely in the past 2 years we play against weak national teams. In fact, they may have been too selective that actual rank A matches getting fewer and further in between. The Korea game and coming September friendly vs Oman in Doha are welcomed relieve for us NT fans after a long drought of matches.

Yes. I also have beef with state side training method as well. It’s a well known fact that for each national call up , the coaches have to spend some time to build up the player’s fitness which leave little room for tactical training. That’s why you might have heard in the news that FAM and KBS want to keep the U-23 and HM A throughout but as you said, due to income issues that might not be possible.

In my eye this crop of youngsters already turning out differently than those before them so would rather go with the upward flow than waiting for them to fail.

its true. I have this feeling that even if our NT reached the world cup, we can still find some people withheld support for our NT. Public supporting our geographic roots and identity is somewhat taboo or not in trend these days. Without that any football club, state or NT will be rendered useless economically.

Vietnam, Indonesia or Myanmar’s NT performance is not that far ahead of us if we compare to Korea, Japan and China like we always do. Nor do their National FA is far more competent or less “corrupt” than us. PSSI’s current president has been jailed 14 months for corruption yet still holds the post.

Yet whenever their NT plays in Gelora Bung Karno’s stadium, you can always expect above capacity crowds all proudly jumping and singing their support to their team. So little gap but so much difference compare to our NT support in Bukit Jalil.

I think football or FAM is not the only problem. The issue also lies with the fans themselves who want to detached themselves from who they are. Any kind of aggressive marketing strategy will only thickens their defensive wall, wasting time and money.

These glory hunters will only response when we win something and that what we should focus on.

I truly highly wish so.

Yes. We do have issues about the lack Chinese football players these days. But the same issues don’t apply to Indians. In fact they are a very strong pillar supporting our football. A lot of good coaches are Indians including our NT coach K. Rajagopal and his predecessor B. Sathianathan who now Kelantan’s star coach. Selangor’s league winning team is coached by K. Devan. I think in every MSL team have Indians playing important role in the team. K. Gurusamy for example is the captain of Harimau Muda A team.

My, admittedly generalized, speculation is this happens because Indians are not a complicated lot and not adhere to other issues that somewhat hinders Chinese participation in the industry. If you want and good enough to play, what is stopping you? Just do it and break whatever obstacle in the way.

I think blaming everything on FAM is “just too easy” and “lazy”. We should be more specific. Grassroots development, for instance, is under State FA’s portfolio but FAM is receiving bulk of the blame for it.

Race unbalance happens in every industry but FAM I think should be impartial regarding this matter. Questions should be directly imposed to Malaysian Chinese Football Association on what is their effort to further promote professional football among their members.

i don’t have a single ounce of marketing talent in me. That’s probably explained why, before I criticize them, I cannot come out with a good way to market this shit on my own. To me marketing is just a tool. A guide. They are not the true pulling factor.
So, in your opinion, what kind of marketing strategy that can work as a pulling factor for our football? What would you do differently?
Thats disappointing. I was hoping for exclusive real live quotation from a real acquaintance of yours. Beside, you assumption that our football is full of corruption is based on current situation or pre-94?

This is football supporting is all about. As our football players need to learn how European players play, local football fans must also learn from European football fans how they support their team.

Sure, they will curse everyone from the chairman down if the football is not up to mark, but leaving their team behind is never an option.
You have come across like someone who really meant that. So I will give you the benefit of the doubt and trust you.
Pity, that when you make the choice to support the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United , Liverpool or Chelsea these days there are little possibility for you to actually prove that loyalty in real situation. A mere 20 years without trophy is nothing compare to the pain of relegation or even worse disintegration and rebuilding.

When you find yourself still supporting the club at it’s true low point, like the fans of Nottingham Forest, Juventus or Fiorentina did, will you feel the pride of being a true fan.

its not really about me now is it. We, local football fans, will always park our ass at the stadium whenever possible. But our numbers is not many. The “ bigger picture” is about turning the likes of you to the stadium. The disconnection that you feel applies to a whole lot of people as well. And to do that reconnection is a really mountainous task put upon FAM which is rarely appreciated and taken for granted.

This post has been edited by aressandro10: Aug 26 2010, 02:38 PM