Friday, April 18, 2008

A letter from a hockey lover

I received an e-mail from an ex-colleague last night. Attached to it is this letter, which contains a number of valid points. There are also allegations made against a few people.

This is the letter, unedited...MHF and NSC should really take note!




FAIL, FAIL, FAIL…
Athens Olympics 2004 World Cup 2006 Beijing Olympics 2008
Egotistical MHF and Wrong Appointment of Coaches
NSC and MHF - Please Help!

Received an sms on Thursday 10 April 2008 from a hockey lover, he said Malaysia is down 4-3 to Italy and few minutes to play. I could not believe the news; I assume it is a typo error by the data entry personnel. But my friend checked again on the net and said is confirmed. Lucky Malaysia equalized in the 70th minutes to obtained one point from Italy, a pizza diet nation.

Could not believe it because of the following reasons:
1 Italy is ranked 37th and Malaysia 14th
2 Spent millions on the Malaysian team preparation till MHF is in debts of 1.71 millions.
3 Big Funding from NSC on the Coaches and Team.
4 Malaysian team played in an elite tournament i.e. Champions Trophy (Dec 2007) and also went to Australia (Feb/March 2008) for exposure.
5 Two years of preparation i.e. full time training (day in day out).
6 Lofty level of benefits – allowances, accommodation and food is free.
7 Foreign assistance – Goalkeeper Coach from Pakistan and Advisor from Germany.
8 Scientific training – Support from ISN on fitness and nutrition
9 Physiotherapy, Medical Officer and Masseurs for the team.

Based on the above, what have the other participating teams in the Qualifiers get and done prior to the Qualifiers? But still they managed to perform to certain level and got reasonable results in the tournament. What excuses do the Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) and National Sports Council (NSC) have in their pockets or hats?

Played 6 games – 3 win, 2 draws and 1 lost. Scored 16 and let in 14 goals.

Does the above points justifies their achievement in their Olympic qualifiers in Japan. Even the blind and deaf but hockey lover would say that the team achieved is an illogical achievement based on the support and benefits.

The new MHF office bearers are almost 1 and ½ years old in the office. Most decision and policy made by certain quarters are “FLIP-FLOP”. Nothing is done based on merit and every decision is made on personal interest. The game of hockey is an ancillary to the arrogants. The Federation exists because of the game but due to ego of certain quarters think that they are bigger than the sport. They show and demonstrate their powers as though the game of hockey belongs to them.

They control most of the affiliates by giving a chance for the affiliates office bearers (President and Secretary) on a rotation basis to be the Team Manager of the Malaysian Hockey Team. This is done because of their future votes in the BGM shall permit these bigheaded office bearers to sustain power in the office.

The members or appointees selected by MHF for various positions must have the following criteria’s:

1 Must be a bootlicker and must be a friend of the arrogants
2 Every decision is maneuver before a meeting – Decision made before discussing in the meeting. Is like kangaroo courts!
3 Listen to the instruction and be a puppet master to the arrogants
4 Don’t worry whether you have the qualification to take up the post.
5 Enjoy the get together after every meeting – booze and makan sponsored by the arrogants and then claim from MHF.
6 Play the same tune or else you would be out of the system.

The Qualifiers in Japan, we heard that about 31 people went to the games to make sure the team performed at its very best – at least a seat in the Finals.

There were many officials from the Coaching team, Medical Team, Management team, Trainer, Cooks, Physiotherapist, Masseur, Video-man, NSC officials and others. Only missing link is Weatherman and Cheer Group – no allocation but NSC could consider including them in the next qualifiers, but make sure the cheerleaders are girls to stimulate the coaches and the team. No wonder the Organizers said the hotel rooms are fully booked and Gifu Government also mentioned that the turnover of tourist rise by 10% for the month of April…

The coaching department comprise of 4 members - 1 head coach, 2 assistant coaches and 1 Goalkeeper coach. MHF appointed a new assistant coach who hardly only played hockey at University or State level. No coaching background, surprisingly how did NSC allow to slip in this guy into the coaching setup and fully paid for his trip? The other coaches are appointed based on friendship and not on merit. To be a coach in the National setup you need be a friend of the arrogants and follow what they say. Don’t worry whether you are qualified or not and what was you past coaching credentials, all this is not an important yardstick for the evaluation of the appointment. The Coaching Chairman is just a dummy master who just chairs the meeting and endorsed the arrogants decision. The decisions are all made before the meeting. Poor old man! There were rumors that the current coaches have filed in for their salary increment to NSC. The revised salary asked around $15k to $21k. Don’t worry it is possible due to friendship policy between MHF and NSC. Can be done even failed to qualify…

There are two Mangers i.e. Manager and Stand-in Manager registered on the bench. But why MHF need to register two managers but only one manager was in action. What to do, just follow instruction. Everything is done based on what the arrogants feel is right. Whether the team needs one or two Manager is secondary “Mahu tolong kawan ma..”

Let’s go back to the Qualifiers result.

For sure they will be out due to Germany supremacy! But the question is how did the Malaysian team bowed out of the tournament. Not even securing a final seat, which was the MHF and NSC target.

For sure all the Media members under the friendship policy was also advised to play a low key and do a marketing job for the arrogants to keep on their posts. Tak payah risau, ada booze and makan waiting… Any MHF media jobs or tender can be considered.

After the tournament all the media members started their marketing gimmick to protect their friends by saying keep the same squad and coaches for long-term preparation. They perform accept for the third goal Japan scored? This goal is used as a deflection of the actual fact of the failure. The arrogants and friendship media members need a reason to plot their failure. They forget about the overall summary results!

The MHF and NSC could do a through and accurate investigation on the whole set-up and see where it went wrong. But the media boys started to protect their friendship policy.

Failures are a familiar story for Malaysia hockey and are common for not making the cut! But the MHF and NSC would still retain the same coaching setup because of the existence of friendship policy between the arrogants of MHF and an official of NSC!

NSC needs to intervene because the funding is people’s money – taxpayers. The public needs to know what happened? Please drop this friendship policy in any decision-making, do the right thing based on the merits. NSC is holding the key to the door of the Malaysian hockey future direction.

If one has done crime, please arrest and punished, don’t allow the criminal to be free and continue to do more crime. NSC and MHF please arrest these criminals and punished! Tolong tangkap and masukkan dalam ISA!

If the same arrogants people are running the game of hockey, don’t have any hope for the 2010 World Cup and the 2012 Olympics. By then our ranking would be 30 to 40 in the World hockey.

But MHF has also created a history that the team has missed two Olympics in a row. Syabas and the officials of the Malaysia books of record, please dot down this fact into the records book. Don’t worry the third one is coming soon if this arrogants and the coaching setup remains.

It is very disturbing the way the coaches have asked the NSC to review their salaries and allowing a University coach to be in Japan is very annoying. Rather than paying these arrogants, please take this budget and appoint a foreign coach. We had Terry Walsh, Paul Lissek and others! Is Paul Lissek still around or gone back to Germany for good.

We need a surgeon i.e. foreign coach to curb the cancer that is Stage 2, need to operate and cut the affected area, which are the bigheaded officials and coaches. Please also do an electric shock wave on the dummy master to wake him up to appoint good coaches!
NSC and MHF should do chemotherapy on the cancer! Please get the independent parties to perform this exercise. If not the same patient is treating its own recovery method, which most of the Association does after a failure.

Please address this issue to save the standard of Malaysian hockey and the game we loved the most…

The Implication for not Qualifying:

1 Ranking now 14th to 20th (postulation) after Beijing Olympics. Drop too many points to sustain number 14th. Missed 2 Olympics and 1 World Cup.
2 The Sports Ministry may consider to revised from Category A to Category B sports.
3 No sufficient / allocation of funds for future exposure and oversea stint.
4 Future generation hockey players’ benefits jeopardize.
5 Top ranking teams (1 to 10) may not invite Malaysia to participate due to the poor standard of international hockey.
6 The interest of future generation to be involved in hockey looks very dim.

Oops! Forgot that the Alongs and Debt Collectors are looking for the treasurer of MHF to settle the debts. Especially, the hotels and a restaurant owner where these arrogants have abused and misuse their powers during tournaments. More so these are public money that are sponsored by NSC and also Tenaga Nasional Bhd.

These arrogants have not even contributed any single penny but they behave as though the sponsored money is belongs to them and not the game.

Within 13 months the arrogants have raped the Federation and is in debts now. Their operating account is also freezed like the Qualifiers result.

Now they are searching for victims to bailout these debts. NSC please don’t bail them anymore…

To End. The hockey fraternity is in dilemma and heartbreaking for the state of hockey in this country.
The way forward…

Appoint several independent members (Former Coaches, Players and Administrators) with few NSC and MHF genuine officials who have an importance on this matter. The Chairperson shall be a reputable representative from NSC who has no any direct or indirect interest with regards to the game of hockey at any rank.

With this, an independent post-mortem with taking into account the “Game of Hockey” is a bigger agenda than these arrogants in the MHF setup.

If such remedial action is not taken by NSC and MHF, then we better forget in investing our support and time to the game of hockey that we loved most because of the:

“Egotistical MHF
And
Wrong Appointment of Coaches”

Thank you and all the best to NSC and MHF…

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

To add on,
Sarjit has got no interest in coaching. He has taken up the post so that is money lending business is secured. Most of the players have dumped money and same goes to the coaches.I scratch your back and you scratch my back. NSC has to look into the appoinment of the Junior Coach also. I am sure there is going to be a disaster
Paul Lissek is hanging on because he has dumped few hundred thousands in Sarjits Business. He is also not interested in coaching anymore.He is collecting is pay from NSC. Somebody has to look into all this.

epain said...

nak komen skit lah situasi ni...

sy ni bukanlah terlalu bias dgn hoki ni...

tp drpd apa yg boleh dilihat...hoki selain badminton setidak-tidaknya merupakan sukan berpasukan yang menghadirkan kebanggaan buat malaysia....

pernah layak ke olimpik...ditambah pulak dgn ranking yg bagus...

kebelakangan ini isu kemunduran hoki semakin diperbincangkan...

tp sy anggap ni semua mcm circle of life...atau dlm bhs melayu...hidup ibarat roda...ada masa diatas ada masa dibawah...

tgk india...satu negara yg dianggap sbagai negara hoki, tidak layak ke olimpik...adakah jurulatihnya tidak bagus?....

tp sebenarnya mereka berada di saat gerhana...dimana pool of best player semakin kurang....

kita pulak menghadapi masalah yg sama iaitu pool of player semakin kurang....

setiap kali kegagalan, kita akan marah coach...tp kita tengok tak masalah lain?....

sy bukan nak defend sarjit, tp tgk, dia "dipaksa" utk guna pemain muda...tetapi dlm masa yg sama tetap gunakan pemain di "zaman emas" seeprti chua, kuhan, jiwa sebagai tunjang...

ini menunjukkan pemain muda kita kurang kualiti...bayangkan nanti, semua pemain ini take over sebagai senior....

berkenaan sistem, kalau kita lihat PHM mempunyai sistem yg sistematik dan konsisten...mempunyai kejohanan utk peringkat umur dan tidak pernah miss...

cuma segala yg dibuat tidak mendapat sokongan padu negeri...mereka seakan acuh tidak acuh wujudkan pasukan pelapis...dan hanya harapkan PHM utk buat semua...

masalah yg sama melanda bolasepak...

jd utk mempersalahkan jurulatih seorang tidak adil....kerana jurulatih bukan seorang...dia sebahagian drpd "pasukan kejurulatihan"....

Freak On A Leash said...

Rizal my friend, I am taking this article and putting it on my blog. damn well written. will credit your blog, of course.
Cheers,

Gary Mark

SalamMedia said...

I miss mirnawan nawawi.

Anonymous said...

Salam Bro

Dengar cerita Sarjit memang terlibat dalam money lending, ada juga desas desus seorang wartawan dari akhbar bahasa inggeris menjadi sarjit punya rakan kongsi, baru baru ini beliau berada di Jepun, Soalannya mengapa akhbar ini tidak menyuruh sarjit untuk letak jawatan, sedang kala apabila pasukan bolasepak tewas kita munyuruh semua orang meletak jawatan. Apa pandangan saudara ?
Kalau wartawan menjadi rakan kongsi apakah beliau patut menjadi seorang wartawan ?

Salam

Anonymous said...

Missed players like R Shanker, Nor Saiful, Mirnawan, Maninderjit and others. There were the best...

Why are these people not involved with the game...

This article is rated the best so far in the hockey circle. But is MHF and NSC is doing after reading this letter. Rizal pls send one copy to them. Urgent! Before they make any more stupid appointments and policy...

To bro Rizal
Good platform for hockey lovers to say their views..

All the best and Good Luck..

rizal hashim said...

Noktah Hitam,

I used to go to Jalan Duta to support the national team, the national junior team and Maybank, my favourite team those days.

I remember the triumvirate of Mohamad Abdul Hadi, Zainal Husin and Nor Saiful Zaini wreaking havoc in the opponents' D.

I remember Arrifin Ghani's tendency to miss open goals and the loose balls, unlike Australia's Mark Hager and Stephen Davies.

My first tournament as a young lad was the Intercontinental Cup at Merdeka Stadium, yes on grass.

Ow Soon Kooi, Poon Fook Loke, Surya Prakash, Colin Sta Maria...Foo Keat Seong...

Then to fuel my interest further, I read Dunia Sukan. I had a fulfilling life as a sports fan.

Then I got to cover Mirnawan, Mike, Lailin, Haji and Gang...

Covered the 1993 Champions Trophy, met Shahbaz Ahmad, Hager, Davies, Dutch captain can't remember his name but I do remember Florin jan bovelander...

Malaysia will never produce another Boss, nor Nor Saiful, Hadi, Soon Kooi, Fook Loke, Keat Seong, Embaraj...

Sad

Anonymous said...

Sy pun nak komen sikit,
Dua tahun lepas, bila pasukan kendalian Wallace Tan kecundang di China, heboh macam2, panel inilah, panel itulah. Semua org terlibat, habis dia orang interview. Kenapa skrg semua senyap belaka! Surat khabar bhs Inggeris semua diam belaka! Dengar cakap maket, news boys ini semua rakan kongsi Sajit Singh SepuluhDua Sdn Bhd. Mana boleh lawan boss? Saya cadang tubuhkan balik panel, panggil balik Dato' Yoges, Dato' Ho. Amacam, boleh tak bro Rizal?
Satu lagi, pasal orang tua coaching chairman ini. Dia tu puppet sahaja, ambik arahan drp arrogants, tarak tulang belakang. Harap2 boleh dapat datukship punya pasal. Kesian dia, orang lain dah dapat, dia belum lagi. Amacam, boleh bagi dia datukship bro Rizal?
Perlantikan jurulatih utk pasukan2 Malaysia menjadi bahan ketawa seluruh dunia. Yang tak berkualiti dan tak berkelayakan, semua dia masukkan, inilah jadinya, persembahan buruk krn persediaan kurang berkualiti. Kesian pemain2. Amacam, boleh lantik sy bro. Rizal, sy pun mau $9,000 tapi saya ada SPM tau, dia org ini baru SRP punya standard. Baru2 ini sy baca orang tua ini lantik Rajan dgn 'apa nama dia' dr Kelate utk bawak pasukan B16 ke Jerman bulan depan. Sedangkan ada jurulatih lain yg lebih berkemampuan diketepikan. Amacam bro Rizal, sy pun nak pergi Jerman, boleh tak?
Akhir kata, selamat maju jaya kpd PHM, harap2 dapat lakukan sesuatu utk pulihkan maruah negara!

Anonymous said...

Truth Be Told!

I am an avid hockey fan and am well versed with the going ons in the local hockey scene. The recent dismal performance in Japan is excruciating and pained my heart to the core and I implore the relevant parties to investigate the following. If found to be true, stern action including dismissal must be taken to rescue Malaysian hockey from the depth of destruction by these unethical and unscrupulous individuals.
The NST is a reputable major daily of the country and had send its sports reporter to cover the matches in Japan. There is strong allegations in the hockey fraternity that this scribe is a partner to the head coach in his money lending business which involves fellow coaches and players in the team. He is also alleged to have shared room with the asst. coach for the whole duration of his stay in Japan. If these allegations are true, it explains the lack of or rather absence of criticism on the team's performance and the coaching staffs' capabilities. Reporters are supposed to stay neutral and call "spade a spade" and yet this same scribe was quick to draw out his knives on the previous head coach and his coaching staff 2 years ago when the team failed in China. If I am a racist I would even say that he is keeping silent to protect his fellow countrymen coaches. There is another well known hockey reporter from "The Star" and he is also keeping quiet because he has borrowed money from the head coach reportedly to be interest free. The juniors coach is believed to have just invested $50K. This unethical and unhealthy practice of money lending involving coaches, players and reporters must be investigated thoroughly by the relevant authorities. The NST, NSC and MHF must get to the bottom of this. Malaysian hockey will be brought down to its knees by these morons if something drastic is not done now.
The team failed because of poor preparation. I have watched the team train from afar on numerous occasions and most of the pitch time was spent playing 2 sides while the coaching staff have their "teh tarik" on the bench. Technical and tactical development were grossly neglected. Then, there is story emerging that video sessions during the Qualifier lasted hardly 10 mins each time. Do we then expect good results from preparation of such quality? And yet these coaches have no shame to demand astronomical salaries and hold the MHF and NSC to ransom by refusing to sign their contracts. Should the NSC refuse to pay them now (since the contract is not signed) or reduced their current salaries since they have under performed?
The MHF Coaching Committee is a joke actually, headed by an old puppet who could better use his remaining days to be with his loved ones rather being ridiculed and reviled by those who know hockey. The committee is a well organised syndicate with one particular "one eyed bandit" (who is also an investor) from Negeri as the instigator to all their decisions. They appoint coaches based on their whims and fancies and not on merit and ability which explains the current coaching scenario in the country. The knowledgeable and abled ones who dare to speak out are systematically removed while the "yes" men and morons are quickly appointed.
Fact is Malaysian hockey has never been faced with such disease before and it'll be interesting to see whether the authorities concerned have the guts to right the wrongs.

Juan Escarre said...

We should discard the current system of National Pool Full Time Training. Only 30 players involved in elite training, while others are stuck without club, with club but no training or local competitions. The downside of National pool training could also mean that players not being allowed to play Club Hockey in foreign land. That's denying them opportunity.

Improve the grassroot of our domestic competition. All State HAs must do their part to organize their STate Leagues. When there is a league, there will be some hockey activities. State hockey is not simply producing State U14, U 16 & U18 teams(to an extreme extent, holding trials for Razak Cup Squad) State Hockey should also consider the needs of the senior players to play some Competitive hockey at least at the local level. That is providing their own league.

The current Razak Cup is not really a good indicator of senior state level hockey. It is simply a matter of technicalities and playing by the loopholes to represent their states. From a sentimental point of view, it is a tradition to behold. But then, realistically it is a waste of time. Not really a tournament worth mentioned nowadays.

Instead, improve the domestic setups to have club competitions nationwide. But then, have a look at MHL. No new teams dare to enter simply because they don't have good foundation to begin with. To have a debut season ending with thrashing is not a good start and could only spell the beginning of the end. Had they been involved actively in their respective States, at least they have some foundation to go a step further.

Countries (especially in Europe) with low hockey population like Spain, Poland, Belgium and France could produce good hockey teams from u-16 upwards because their Clubs do their work and they have a fixed domestic calendar to adhere. It's a very ironic situation in Malaysia when everything is dictated by the success and failures of our National Team.

Top Down approach (us) vs Bottom Up (others). If you prioritize accordingly, you will get the beneficial result. Have we seen our result? Have we look enviously at others? Have we done benchmarking process?

Anonymous said...

Abang Rizal,

I am very curious on the allegation directed to reporters covering the Malaysian Team to the Olympic Qualifier, in Japan.

What are the duties of a reported? Can he report as he likes and mislead the public on the actual event taking place?

Is it true that only the editor has right to critic and not a field reporter?

Thank you for your comments so that we will not be fooled in the future.

CONfused.