IN the past few weeks, Malaysian football has had so much chatter on national players and if it's correct to allow naturalised players represent us. Or to put it accurately, players who are invited to become Malaysians specifically to play for the national squad.
This discussion has come up once again, after being dormant for years. So first, let put things in perspective.
Belgium is currently ranked #1 in the world and has a population of 11 million. Denmark rounds up the top 10 list and has a population of 5.5 million. It's key to note here that football is their most popular sport.
Hong Kong with a population of 7 million (ranked 144) and war-ravaged Afghanistan with 38 million people (ranked 149) list basketball and cricket as their #1 sport respectively.
So how is it, Malaysia (ranked 153), one of the most modern hubs in Asia, with a population of 32 million and its football mad population is lower than Gambia right now? If fact, the situation is so dire that once again we are talking about giving away our citizenship to football players.
That we - the nation of Mokhtar Dahari, Soh Chin Aun, Santokh Singh and Arumugam - have fallen this low from our diverse population and multi-cultural backgrounds must resort to importing talent? Don’t we have any of our own anymore?
The legends mentioned above all played in soggy, sandy and most times muddy pitches, day and night, sun and rain and most of the times without proper equipment like football boots and balls.
Instead of investing in hard work, systematic planning and development of the game in schools, football centres and grassroot coaches which ALL the countries above us have done, we with the help of our clueless politicians have built huge stadiums, facilities and hosted international professional teams just to mingle and take pictures with world stars.
Forget all the countries mentioned above, every single one of them except Afghanistan. How many stadiums do they have? How many times have Premier League teams visited to play top dollar exhibition games? Let us have a discussion on what we have done wrong time and again, before we invite outsiders and give them our passports in the hope we perform better.
Comment on our Facebook and we look forward to hearing the Rakyat’s thoughts. - The Vibes. June 19, 2021
The writer has travelled to every state in Malaysia and seen boys playing on football fields with hopes and dreams of representing the nation. Should we abandon them?
