No point sending outranked women’s Harimau Malaya to Hanoi: Ex-FAM youth head

KUALA LUMPUR – It is pointless to send the Harimau Malaya women’s team to the SEA Games if there is a lack of support for women’s football in the local sporting scene, said former Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) youth development head E. R. Subramaniam.

Speaking to The Vibes, he agreed with the reason given by the Women’s Football Committee chairman for not sending the women’s team to Hanoi – that neighbouring countries had much stronger teams.

“Why send the team all the way to Vietnam if they are ranked much lower than all the other teams?” he said.

Currently, the Harimau Malaya women’s team is ranked 88 in the world − well below other Southeast Asian countries, such as Thailand (38), Philippines (64), Laos (84), Myanmar (47) and Vietnam (32).

Subramaniam said it would be far more beneficial if FAM were to invest the money in local women’s football rather than spend it in pursuit of international aspirations.

“We don’t have a women’s league here − there is no youth development programme, no grassroots planning.

“They should come up with a proper plan so that we have a backup team for the future,” he added.

He went on to say that the reason for the lack of participation of young girls in football boils down to cultural upbringing.

“For many families, girls are not allowed to play sports let alone be on the same pitch as the men’s team.

“This is a major setback (for the women’s team) as there is no exchange of knowledge between the men’s team and women’s team,” said Subramaniam.

To ensure that up-and-coming women players have a platform to showcase their skills, Subramaniam said a proper structure and programme should be set in place.

At the same time, former Harimau Malaya men’s team head coach B. Sathianathan said the lack of support from local districts in implementing a women’s league is partly because of the team’s poor quality.

“So many things stop women from playing football.

“Cultural factors, strict upbringing and religious backgrounds all play a factor in preventing women from getting into sports,” said the current head coach of Sarawak United FC.

He said state football associations and clubs need to restructure women’s football and place more emphasis on developing the sport for women at state and district levels.

Sathianathan also said the mentality of fans to constantly criticise poor performances of players serves to only cripple the morale of the entire team.

“We have a society where if we send a women’s team and they get thrashed, everyone will criticise them without understanding the underlying issues faced off the pitch.

“If we keep putting them down, they won’t have the motivation to keep pushing on,” he added.

However, Sathianathan did say fear of defeat should not be the deciding factor as to the team’s participation in the SEA Games.

“If we are going to be afraid of losing, then we will never learn and never improve.” – The Vibes, March 16, 2022