Thursday, April 19, 2012

Kafe Sukan, two years on...

Kafe Sukan was one of Astro Arena's signature show when the channel was launched in March 2010, alongside Formasi hosted by Zainal Abidin Rawop.

When Astro Arena chief the late Matt McKeown spoke to me about my role in Astro Arena in late 2009, he wanted a blogger to be part of one issue-based program. Read here. Later I discovered it was Slamet Sazly Yakub who had proposed my name to Matt and channel manager Venu Ramadass, a former national cricketer whom I had the privilege of knowing while writing for the Malay Mail. They identified the blogger first, before identifying the host. Bukan angkat bakul, merely stating fact. Several discussions on what was supposed to be the elements on the show were held between Venu, Slamet and I.

The first episode kicked-off on March 29, 2010, produced by Slamet. Read here. Later Nasser Zainal Abidin became producer until June 2011.



Original promo



Akbar pre-i-Pad/tablet days



Live at the impressive sportsdirect.com near Subang Jaya



I invited former NSC director-general, Datuk Wira Mazlan Ahmad and former Berita Harian sports editor, Norbakti Alias



Datuk Lee Chong Wei was in a relaxed mood throughout the show

Not only I proposed and invited most of the guests, but also initiated Kafe Sukan live at Kolej Komuniti Selayang following suggestions by Chef Aswad. The show featured Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal and Datuk K. Rajagobal.



Akbar and I on the receiving end



Akbar is the face of Kafe Sukan, hosting issues on various sports, including motorsports



The doping scandal was discussed by Tan Sri Dr M. Jegathesan and Datuk Dr Ramlan Abdul Aziz



Abdul Halim Kader, ISTAF secretary general enjoying the limelight



Musa Noor Mohamad and Manshahar Abdul Jalil spoke about coaches




Hamberi Mahat, among those who had the balls to speak against Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim


Following the AFF Cup win, I told Slamet we must get Rajagobal. In order to get Rajagobal to the studio, the process began days earlier, taking me to FAM, Filem Negara and Astro Arena. I don't think any frontliner on any TV station would have done the same. Let me refresh your memory here

Kafe Sukan is now produced by either Rozaini Ahmad, Lukman Salleh and Slamet.

4 comments:

Haresh Deol said...

Happy belated 2nd bday Kafe Sukan!

Anonymous said...

Host dan commentator kena neutral dan objective, comment mesti berasakan fakta, jgn la nampak masa komen mcm anti team tertentu atau players tertentu, maklumlah org sekarang ni semua cerdik2 faham perkara2 yg tersirat. Body language pun org dah boleh baca. Sekilas ikan di air, dah tahu jantan betina.

"if you want to be positive, you can say, the glass is half full,or you can say the glass is half empty, if you want to be negative. "

Another example " striker xxx mensiakan siakan peluang terhidang tadi " atau "Good effort from striker xxx, pujian untuk pertahanan kerana menggagalkan cubaan striker xxx".

Ini adalah contoh2 sahaja yg boleh saya celahkan di sini.

Yg penting , penonton semua tahu menilai, statement yg mana yg sepatutnya sesuai dgn keadaan tertentu, kerana ramai antara kita sudah boleh berfikir, dan ramai juga yg pernah bermain bolasepak.

Jadi, pengulas sukan yg bias akan menyebabkan org yg mendengar naik muak.

Haris Ahmad

Unknown said...

Definitely lots of room for improvements. Firstly, 801 is in a dire need of a definitive direction. This channel epitomizes that glamour and attempting to be informative cannot go hand in hand. We can start with your chosen sport experts, invited to comment on technical matters during major sport event, like the SEA games, and the most recent SUKMA. Year in and out, the learned section of your home audience have to put up with so much BS from your chosen sport science experts. The most recent, during the SUKMA games, my boxer brother was practically turned into a confused sport science idiot when the so-called professor professed that cardiovascular endurance is the most crucial in boxing (in a 3-minute per round sport ??!!), and the taller boxer always at an advantage (in times where Manny Pacquiao is recognized as the best pound per pound boxer). He had gained so much insight from watching Astro Kix sport science documentary...and had to confess 'baru nak pandai nengok Kix, nengok 801 jadi bodoh'...in short, if your team still feels that the nation sport science expert can only come from one university, which probably most of you graduated from, then 801 should forget about informativeness on technical sport science matters, and instead, focus on what you do best...which is glamour.. With this direction, at least 801 will not mislead people watching it. God forbid we have to put up with the same deal for the upcoming Olympics..

If you still feel you are still game for glamour and informativeness, please please please refer to ESPN, especially in improving the drab approach of most of your commentators. Artists or ex-sport person need not appear dumb.. All they need to rectify this is to do more proper content reference before jumping on the sport commentator bandwagon..

There are many other points...but pointless at this stage to list everything out... You might not view these comments positively, hence not publish this at all... But do take note, viewers like us only hope for 801 to get better by the years.l. With that, a belated 2nd birthday ;-)

Unknown said...

Definitely lots of room for improvements. Firstly, 801 is in a dire need of a definitive direction. This channel epitomizes that glamour and attempting to be informative cannot go hand in hand. We can start with your chosen sport experts, invited to comment on technical matters during major sport event, like the SEA games, and the most recent SUKMA. Year in and out, the learned section of your home audience have to put up with so much BS from your chosen sport science experts. The most recent, during the SUKMA games, my boxer brother was practically turned into a confused sport science idiot when the so-called professor professed that cardiovascular endurance is the most crucial in boxing (in a 3-minute per round sport ??!!), and the taller boxer always at an advantage (in times where Manny Pacquiao is recognized as the best pound per pound boxer). He had gained so much insight from watching Astro Kix sport science documentary...and had to confess 'baru nak pandai nengok Kix, nengok 801 jadi bodoh'...in short, if your team still feels that the nation sport science expert can only come from one university, which probably most of you graduated from, then 801 should forget about informativeness on technical sport science matters, and instead, focus on what you do best...which is glamour.. With this direction, at least 801 will not mislead people watching it. God forbid we have to put up with the same deal for the upcoming Olympics..

If you still feel you are still game for glamour and informativeness, please please please refer to ESPN, especially in improving the drab approach of most of your commentators. Artists or ex-sport person need not appear dumb.. All they need to rectify this is to do more proper content reference before jumping on the sport commentator bandwagon..

There are many other points...but pointless at this stage to list everything out... You might not view these comments positively, hence not publish this at all... But do take note, viewers like us only hope for 801 to get better by the years.l. With that, a belated 2nd birthday ;-)