Pic courtesy of Ben Ibrahim
I was the Head of Communications for the PODIUM program during that time, and part of my job was to manage the frenzy celebrations. As soon as our athletes landed at KLIA in August 2016, my phone went crazy for almost eight months. It was not just media companies that were calling but also big international and local brands that wanted our Olympic medalists to attend their events. Our medalists also received products from these brands, but some of our athletes did ask the question, “Why do some people only want us when we are winning? When we lose and are not in the limelight, our phone never rings?”
One athlete even told me, “I personally went to knock on many corporate doors for some sponsorship over the years to fund my flights and competitions. I never got a cent because they thought sports is not a big thing here in Malaysia.”
Pic courtesy of Ben Ibrahim
To be fair, many people in the private sector are not aware of how our national sports industry works. Many employees from the corporate world come from a mainly Science or Business stream school background, and their lives have been about school, tuition, and trying to obtain a scholarship to make their family proud. So you can’t blame them too much for not knowing how our industry operates.
Due to the above, we sport people need to build better sports awareness with the corporate sector to build relationships not just to gain sponsorship, but to also create friendships. No matter the result, we as friends will always stand by each other in good times and in bad.
2020 has been a year to forget for the sports industry due to COVID. I am confident 2021 and beyond will be better. But to the few corporates who have helped Malaysian sports, I say thank you and please continue to support our athletes.
Pic courtesy of Ben Ibrahim
To other private organizations – MNC, SME and small businesses – now is the right time to support our athletes. Our sportsmen and women are hardworking, fit and strong, humble and friendly, great team players, and have a high social media following.
My former ISN colleague summed it up the best when he was constantly educating some of his green expatriate colleagues about Malaysian sports. He said, “Malaysia is probably one of the very few nations where our athletes will shake everybody’s hands and say hello how are you. In other countries, you might be lucky just to get a wave from that famous sportsperson.”
Support Malaysian sports everyone, we are all about winning and always wanting to improve. Isn’t that the values that we want to instil in our children?
Ben Ibrahim is a TV Commentator, Sports & Media Consultant. In his career, he has also worked for FIBA, FISU and Foxsports.
He also set-up the Malaysia Valke Rugby Club for the Global Rapid Rugby 2019/2020 competition.
You can contact him on his public Facebook page on his Instagram @benibrahim_
