People who sees the title might think that, and hey, they're not wrong. As the title suggests, it is about football.
However, I am not going to comment on last weekends game, where Arsenal won 4-1 at JJB Stadium, or how out of nowhere Macheda saves the game for Man United yet again, or how Aston Villa fought hard to get a point at home. No, I won't, because there are countless football news sites that are dedicated to bringing you those reports.
I am however going to address the issue that in that last paragraph, I mentioned English Premier League teams, and not M-League (Liga Malaysia) teams. Football enthusiasts, especially Malaysians out there would say.. "Buat aper nak cerita pasal M-League, buang masa jer". I admit, I would be one of those people saying those exact words.
Yesterday, I watched a documentary solely directed to get views on this issue. It was made by a senior of mine is Subang Utama. It was his final year, or mid year project, i'm not sure, but project la..where he had to produce a video of some sort. His video was called Bolatendang, a documentary on why Malaysian football is not at par with the other Asian countries.
Links to the videos are the following:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZXndWGKLIw&feature=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYQrVpcgNlU&feature=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZa1SAzZ-_I&feature=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etjjHtH5Ua4&feature=channel_page
(All links are from youtube user MohdZyD's collection)
After watching the video, I wanted to give my own comments on what I thought, and felt that I was also one of those people mentioned, as far as selective support goes. He mentioned that it was a fact that you would rarely see any Malaysians actually wearing the national team jersey in public, instead, countless would wear Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool...etc. I think in a way, by making it more stylish (I think the current and last Malaysian National team jerseys were quite stylish), so that more rakyat would want to wear them. Which brings us to another question, people wearing them for pride or just because its wearable in public?
Anyway, without drifting away from the main issue here, is there a question of national pride amongst the rakyat when it comes to football?
The main issues that were discussed when you watch the video are national pride, bad FAM management, not the best players selected, money and fear of failure. In my opinion, an issue that was not really addressed in the video was the fact that the parents of today do not want to let their sons play football professionally because frankly, they do not think that there is a future in football. It is different from UK, where there are more chances for youth to flourish, and if not, they would still have a decent career as a footballer in the lower leagues. Incentives are there, a promise of a livelihood is there. In Malaysia, parents would want their kids to be a professional something, other than a professional footballer.
Now it is more apparent that the excuse of Malaysians are too small physically to compete and be a force internationally is just that...an excuse. We see the best players in the world today are on average our size or smaller. Messi, Aguero, Arshavin, Walcott, Modric, all small compared to their opponents and team mates but still light up the field. There was a mention of science and football, where players can now be built made to order basically, with diet and training. Malaysia can do this starting an early age. But we go back to the same question, would parents want their children to dedicate their lives to football. Will there be a future?
I was almost in tears (cheh...sajer nak drama lebih)...when I saw clips of Arwah Mokhtar Dahari, as he split defences left right center. Thats another problem, our footballing heroes are not being put up on a pedestal as they should be. I only hear of their greatness, through my uncles and older cousins, but I have never seen them play. It is a problem because, they should be idolised the same amount or even more than Cryuff, Platini, Pele and Maradona, because they were OUR heroes. Our kids should say " I wanna grow up to be like Mokhtar Dahari".
Tell me after seeing how he plays, that its not similar to the other greats of yesteryear. Where was youtube when i was growing up? I would definitely aspire to want to play football like him.
Seeing that this post is looking a wee bit on the long side, I better say my last few thoughts on the matter. Whats the matter with our Malaysian football? It's not that we lack the quality because we're as good as any other Asian country and can compete. Its not the physical side, because games can be tailored according to the team. It really is our pride that gets the best of us. Its an abundance or in short supply, its never just enough. We get to a period of good patches where we play great football, and we start to forget. When we are down and out, we struggle to pick our heads up.
We are a country that celebrates successes, but does not support enough when we failed. Media bashes the team when they lose, and yes it happens everywhere, but everywhere, support is still there, and the team has the mental toughness to pick themselves up. I for one will try to change my attitude towards football, because no offense to bowling and shooting, I want Malaysia to succeed in Football too.
ZyD bro, if you're reading this, great video and hope its ok if I link the videos here.
Give Malaysian Football a chance, there's proof that its possible.
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