Football: Ministry spends RM6.5m on grassroots UP to RM6.5 million from the national football development fund has been disbursed to the FA of Malaysia (FAM) for grassroots development activities this year.
Deputy Sports Minister Datuk Razali Ibrahim said the expenditure, comprising 65 per cent of the fund's RM10 million allocation, includes the salaries of 112 coaches, equipment and costs of organising junior tournaments.
"When talking about developing football at the grassroots level, RM10 million is nothing compared to South Korea which spends about RM300 million annually.
"We have been allocated an additional RM10 million for 2012 under the new budget but there are no assurances we will continue receiving this amount in the future.
"And of this amount, 65 per cent has gone to FAM for various initiatives, including the training and payment of coaches, equipment and other costs," said Razali after chairing a football development committee meeting in Bukit Jalil yesterday.
The committee, with representatives from the Sports and Education ministries, the National Sports Council, FAM and other stakeholders, has been tasked with ensuring Malaysia's qualification for the 2019 World Youth Cup with some 1,600 children under the age of 12 training at 14 state centres under 112 coaches with former national goalkeeper Lim Kim Choon supervising the programme.
These players represent the first batch of talent to be groomed for the 2019 target with a new batch to be identified next year as the committee looks to develop talent at every age group.
Razali said the first test of these budding players will be a "MyKids" tournament in Tronoh, Perak on Nov 21-30 involving all 14 training centres.
"The top four teams from this tournament will advance to the Champions of Champions tournament in December where all the winners of the various junior tournaments organised in the country will compete in a single event to determine the best of the best," he said.
The Champions of Champions will, among others, include the winners of the Sultan Ahmad Shah Cup and Danone Nations Cup Malaysia. -- Devinder Singh
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Added on October 20, 2011, 11:48 pmFootball / Malaysia Cup: Poor display draws jeers 2011/10/20
By Ajitpal Singh
ajitpalsingh@nst.com.my
Selangor players look dejected following their 2-0 defeat to Terengganu at the Shah Alam Stadium on Tuesday. — Picture by Supian Ahmad
SELANGOR produced a half-hearted display in their 2-0 defeat to Terengganu at home in the semi-final first leg of the Malaysia Cup on Tuesday.
So pathetic was Selangor's performance that even their diehard fans jeered at the players during and after the match.
The entire Selangor backline, which was the team's forte in previous matches, along with national captain Safiq Rahim and Amirulhadi Zainal, failed to play their normal game for reasons only known to them.
As for Hardi Jaafar, the temperamental midfielder was substituted after just 35 minutes by coach P.Maniam, a directive which clearly came from the FA of Selangor (FAS) management.
A FAS official had rushed down from the VIP sitting section onto the sidelines to instruct a third party to inform Maniam about it.Azidan Sarudin played lone striker in the absence of injured captain Amri Yahyah but the former Kuala Lumpur captain failed to spark and was replaced by Fadzli Saari in the second half.
Maniam said his team were a bundle of nerves after Terengganu had scored a first-minute goal.
"We created a lot of opportunities but luck was not on our side. My defenders were lacking today (Tuesday). Anyway, the tie is not over yet as we have 90 minutes left to play in Kuala Terengganu," said Maniam, adding that Amri's absence also affected the team's display on Tuesday.
Terengganu coach Irfan Bakti Abu Salim was delighted with his team's performance.
"Attack is the best form of defence. We pressured Selangor and got an early goal and soon after that we scored our second. We came here prepared and got the result we wanted.
"We were better because our attacking players -- Ashaari (Samsuddin), Abdul Hadi (Yahya), Abdul Manaf Mamat and Joseph Kallang Tie -- played well," said the Kelantan-born coach.
Irfan, however, reminded his players not to celebrate their victory yet as they need to concentrate on the return leg in Kuala Terengganu on Saturday.
For the record, Terengganu, the FA Cup champions, have made four appearances in the Malaysia Cup final but won only once in 2001.
Abdul Manaf's wonder goal in the first minute and his second in the 33rd minute were enough to earn Terengganu victory.
The 24-year-old has pledged to help Terengganu win the title this year.
"I want to do this for my late father. I feel that no team can stop us as we have hit form. However, we cannot be too confident as Selangor can still come back in the return leg," he added.
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