KUALA LUMPUR – The management of KL Stadium in Cheras should fall back to the KL Football Association (KLFA), said its president Khalid Abdul Samad.
During the press conference at the stadium today, Khalid said the grounds are currently being leased by a private company from the KL City Hall (DBKL).
However, he said the company obtained the lease from DBKL through false pretences.
“The reason they got the lease was because they claimed to be shareholders of KLFC (KL City Football Club), but in reality, they do not own any shares in this team.
“This private company obtained the lease through political cables and false pretences. This is not right,” he said.
Khalid, who is also Shah Alam MP, added this is a strong enough reason for DBKL to revoke the contract they currently have with the private company.
“They never held their end of the deal as ‘shareholders’ and there is a clause in the contract that allows DBKL to revoke the agreement.
“We have taken this matter to court, and I have also brought this up in Parliament,” he added.
The lease contract for the KL Stadium is for three years (2021-2024).
He said the private company has done nothing to maintain the stadium, leaving KLFA to bear maintenance costs out of their own pocket.
“Even though DBKL stated that the company is responsible for the facility’s condition, they (the private company) denied it, leaving us to do it on our own.
“They also rent out the stadium for so many other uses, but do not share the revenue with us.
“This shows that they are merely here to cash in on the profits, without a care about the condition of the pitch and the wellbeing of the football club that calls it home.”
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Khalid also said if the stadium does not fall back into KLFA’s hands, he would rather it be under DBKL’s care than to see it with a third party.
At this time, KLFC is not allowed to conduct training at the KL Stadium as the private company does not allow it, which leaves the team to train at their training ground in Pudu.
“Head coach Bojan Hodak complains to me all the time, saying that the pitch in Pudu is too hard and players get injured easily,” Khalid added.
Meanwhile, KLFC chief executive officer Stanley Bernard echoed Khalid’s comments, saying that it is unheard of for a stadium to be operated by a third party.
“A stadium is a symbol of a club. You do not hear any other big clubs playing at a stadium that is not owned by them or their FA.
“We have given them (private company) everything to do their job. But we would not be here if they did that job properly,” he said.
Stanley added that the pitch roller at the KL Stadium had broken down, yet the third party owners did nothing to fix the issue.
“We had to bring in our one ton roller from the Pudu training pitch all the way here so we could conduct maintenance work.
“You need passion to take care of the pitch, and they clearly don’t have it,” he said. – The Vibes, July 13, 2022
