Horsing around?

I was reliably informed that not all Ministers adhered to the Prime Minister's directive in 2007 that all Cabinet ministers, deputy ministers and parliamentary secretaries be barred from holding positions in sports bodies!

I'm sure we all can recall in August 2007 that those holding such posts were ordered to resign with immediate effect.

Directly affected then were Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Dr Fong Chan Onn (Malaysian Bodybuilding Federation president), Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy (Table tennis association of Malaysia president), Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis (Equestrian Association of Malaysia), Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor (KLFA president), Deputy Information Minister, Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (Perak FA president) and Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities, Datuk Anifah Aman (FAM vice-president).



Notice the right side of the picture? I put forward the pros and cons behind the decision, possible scenarios and a suggestion in this article which appeared in the old Malay Mail on August 2, 2007.

The Pros

# The Ministers will not be bogged down by voluntary duties in sports bodies

# time to take stock so that the interest of a few does not supersede the sport

# a signal for political parties and leaders at grassroot, State and national level to initiate changes and stop picking politicians - has -beens or budding ones - as head of sports bodies

# there is little risk of politicians in Governmental positions of exposing themselves to criticism from the Press and public alike

# paves the way for corporate captains and academicians to enter the scene

The Cons

# it eliminates Ministers who could be genuinely and sincerely interested in sports

# in the absence of his or her peers, the Sports Minister could become all too powerful and autocratic, with little space for dissent

# Members of Parliament and party leaders are allowed to use sports bodies as a stepping stone

Just a thought

# Herald a change in the Sports Ministry by appointing a former legend as the Minister. Brazil once had Pele as the Sports Minister. Not practical in our society?

The Minister in question is no longer holding any Cabinet post. Word is JJ is determined to cling on to the presidency of EAM now that he is no longer affected by the decision! But why did he not relinquish the post in August last year?

Visi 2026 Kiddokickers

I came across this flyer at the grocery shop...and my mind quickly took me back to several conversations I had with a number of ex-footballers on the need to highlight their activities, not so much to gain mileage but to inform the public on the nature of their business. After all the idea is to widen the talent pool.

Check out http://www.kiddokickers.com/ or www. giatsukan.com This sort of initiatives, where the culture of playing the game is greatly enhanced, must be lauded and encouraged fully. I know areas like Subang Jaya in the Klang Valley, or districts in Kedah and Perak are blessed with community-based programmes but Kiddokickers offers something unique in the sense that the ones offering the expertise are ex-footballers who have competed at international level.

This is one way of giving back to society, say the backbone of Kiddokickers - Ghani Malik, K. Sanbagamaran, Azrul Amri Burhan, Azrin Shah Zainal and Kamarulzaman Yub Abdul Majid. Their vision is of course to change the footballing landscape and help Malaysian football regain its footing.

Usaha Kiddokickers amat dialu-alukan. Setidak-tidaknya tenaga di sebalik program ini berusaha membuat sesuatu dalam mencari bakat untuk diketengahkan ke peringkat tertinggi. Mereka percaya pembangunan bola sepak boleh dijayakan seawal kanak-kanak itu berusia empat tahun!

Adieu, sayonara, Slider

I'm in the dark as to why Haris Hussain is called Slider by his friends, aides, accomplices and cohorts. But that's not the issue here.

The recently promoted associate editor of the Malay Mail tendered his resignation recently.

So I attended Slider's farewell do at Sooka Sentral, exactly a week ago! It was good to meet old colleagues and bitch about people, hahahaaha!Those who really made their presence felt were Nudge, Muli the Politician from Perlis and his significant other, my fellow Johoreans Dawn, Chew and Adly plus Jyja, the sales "girl" whom I have had the pleasure of being friends with since our teenage years. While they were in merry-making mood, I merely ate.


I don't have to agree with what His Momma says...and I also do not understand why does Haris have to show his tongue, it's not exactly tongue-in-cheek, eh? Seen in the background is Graig Nunis who thinks life revolves around either Liverpool or Seremban. And that is sad. Right after taking this picture, my battery went "kong"...and what does that tell you???


Introducing Raven, Malay Mail's version of Padayappa. We used to join forces in designing pages from Open Letters, the Mole column to the write-ups during the 2006 World Cup. He used to say: "I don't like you la Rizal...you are fussy!" Although this is a non-smoking blog (that means I don't smoke and I don't condone smoking), I've no idea how to crop the cigarette out of the picture...so here is Raven at his most Padayappa.


Dawn (right) and Chew...hey Dawn take me to your uncle's shop at Kluang Railway Station. Roti kahwin 3 set...

Yaakob Yusof (left) and T. Vignesh (his nickname at the sports desk was Apom)...the two self-proclaimed "bouncers". Yaakob is now with the production company that produces Expose Mistik at 105 (that's Astro Prima for the uninitiated) while Apom "the gangsta rapper" is enjoying life at the New Straits Times...

Major stumbling blocks to Doha

We knew all along Malaysia's road to Doha for the AFC Asian Cup 2011 will not be paved with gold.

From the belly of the impressive Aspire Dome, where I had the good fortune of witnessing Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong's golden performance at the Asian Games two years ago, Malaysia were drawn in Group C with 1994 Asian Games gold medallists Uzbekistan, United Arab Emirates and India.



Houghton

Uzbekistan will start as the favourites, having given Malaysia a lesson with a 5-0 thrashing in the AFC Asian Cup finals last year. Dynamo Kyiv attacker Maksim Shatskikh is young enough to spearhead their attack again.



Shatskikh


The fickle and volatile nature of Middle east football sees a high turnover of coaches and it remains to be seen if Metsu, the Michael Bolton of world football, will be charting UAE's fortunes when the qualifiers kick off in January 2009.



Metsu

India coach Bob Houghton was once shortlisted for the hotseat at Wisma FAM. So he has a lot to prove.

Coach B. Sathianathan has a difficult task ahead!

Perginya seorang rakan

DIKEMAS KINI

Arwah Abu selamat disemadikan di tanah perkuburan Selayang jam 11 pagi. Warga MSN tidak putus-putus menziarahi jenazah di rumahnya, Jalan Indah 14, dari lewat malam tadi hinggalah talqin dibacakan.

Dua bekas petinju negara, Adnan Yusoh dan Balkis Ahlal, adalah antara yang mengiringi jenazah ke kubur. Aku terkejut melihat kelibat bekas pemain bola sepak negara, Karim Pin, turut hadir di kalangan ratusan lain.

"Kami sama-sama main bola dengan arwah di Taman Koperasi," katanya yang kini menetap di Rawang. Karim, ah, aku ingat zaman dia berganding bahu dengan Azizol Abu Haniffah.

Rasu Maniam, pegawai olahraga yang cukup dikenali kerana daya ingatannya yang kuat berhubung statistik, berkata: "Abu was a gem of a boy."

Hadir sama Ketua Pengarah MSN, Datuk Zolkples Embong, Ketua Pengarah ISN, Datuk Dr Ramlan Abdul Aziz dan pegawai kanan MSN.




"Zal, alah kau ni, sekali-sekali datanglah interviu aku. Aku ada cerita ni...tinju."

Alah, Bu, nanti lah...alasan aku biasanya ada Press conference...cover MAAU lah, BAM lah. Begitulah adat di Majlis Sukan Negara satu ketika dulu, apabila mesyuarat bersama diadakan di luar bilik Ketua Pengarah 1993-2005, Datuk Wira Mazlan Ahmad.

"Kau memang, asyik cover bos-bos besar aje, manalah ada time untuk orang macam aku ni."

Suara garau Abdul Wahab Ismail tidak akan kedengaran selama-lamanya. Baru berusia 42 tahun, Wahab atau lebih mesra dengan panggilan Abu, menyahut panggilan Ilahi malam tadi di Tangkak.

Seperti juga pegawai-pegawai Majlis Sukan Negara (MSN) yang lebih banyak berkhidmat di sebalik tabir, Abu bertugas bukan untuk glamour. Tapi arwah sesekali meminta tolong aku untuk menyalurkan maklumat bahawa MSN ada berbuat sesuatu untuk mengembangkan sukan kurang glamour seperti tinju, judo dan memanah.

Arwah Abu adalah antara watak utama merencanakan kewujudan pusat latihan tinju di Johor, hasil kerjasamanya dengan Haji Harun Ismail, bekas petinju yang masih giat mempromosi tinju di selatan tanah air.

Zaman aku membuat liputan di MSN, aku sering dapat scoop disebabkan kenalan yang ramai tanpa mengira status. Abu adalah antaranya. Dulu arwah di bawah bimbingan Haji Zaki Abdul Rahman di bahagian pembangunan dan kemudian Haji Azizan Zainol Abidin dan seterusnya Ghazali Hasan.

Arwah memperkenalkan aku kepada nama-nama seperti Zamzai Azizi Mohamad, Eddy Kalai...disebabkan arwah emak dan nenek aku dari Melaka, macam juga arwah, kami ada lah sedikit connection.

Hasnah Ab Latip yang menjadi PA setia Datuk Mazlan hingga persaraannya, memaklumkan kepada aku bahawa dia sempat bersembang panjang dengan arwah di pejabat minggu lalu. Ketika itu arwah banyak bercerita mengenai hal-hal peribadi dan keluarganya.

Arwah meninggalkan lima anak yang masih kecil. Jenazahnya akan dikebumikan di tanah perkuburan Selayang pada Rabu 2 Julai, jam 10.0 pagi. Daripada Dia kita datang, kepada Dia kita kembali. Takziah kepada keluarga arwah dan warga kerja MSN. Al-Fatihah.

The ball is in FAM's pitch

Sports Minister Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob has volleyed the ball back to Gifted Group Ltd (GGL) chairman Jonathan Price by asking the latter to seek FA of Malaysia's blessings for the Champions Youth Cup (CYC) to be held as scheduled.

After studying the one-sided contract drafted by the office of his immediate predecessior, Ismail is apparently concerned about the RM17 million that had been paid to GGL. The Government stands to lose a further RM35 million as compensation to GGL if the CYC is cancelled. So Ismail wants CYC to go on.

Sultan Ahmad Shah however has objected to it. It was learnt Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had an audience with the Pahang ruler in London recently.

That is why in my earlier posting, I suggested to Ismail that a compromise be sought. A win-win situation. Let's do this year's tournament but cancel next year's edition on mutual basis. Habis cerita.

Manolo and Fernando

I was too young to remember Bernd Schuster's imperious performance in the 1980 Euros but by the time the tournament mooted by the French was hosted by the French, I was old enough to appreciate the good football dished out by Platini and Co, Yugoslavia, Spain and Denmark. I had a video collection of almost all the matches, but now they're gone. The 1984 edition was, to my mind, arguably the best. I saw live on TV how my all-time favourite full-back Manuel Amoros (bigger, tougher and more skilful than Philipp Lahm, like Lahm, Amoros was equally at home on both flanks) broke Allan Simonsen's leg (I don't think it was on purpose), Platini's goals, Chalana's midfield presence and Antonio Maceda's forays upfront or Rafael Gordillo's sorties on the left flank.

Also there was this enduring image that has stuck to my databank until today, that of an overweight person with a drum and a beret cheering on his team Spain from the stands ...That guy is Manolo el del Bombo, surely one of the game's most recognised faces .

I'm sure he did not sleep after the final. It was time for a fiesta. I would have loved to be able to interview him!

As for Torres who scored the winning goal, Abba's Fernando is a good way of paying tribute to El Nino. I was wrong to underestimate him. I thought he would be just like another Spice Boy, promising so much but failing in the end to deliver.

Can you hear the (manolo's) drums fernando?

I remember long ago another starry night like this

In the firelight fernando

You were humming to yourself and softly strumming your guitar

I could hear the distant drums

And sounds of bugle calls were coming from afar

They were closer now fernando

Every hour every minute seemed to last eternally

I was so afraid fernando

We were young and full of life and none of us prepared to die

And I'm not ashamed to say

The roar of guns and cannons almost made me cry

There was something in the air that night

The stars were bright, fernando

They were shining there for you and me

For liberty, fernando

Though I never thought that we could lose

There's no regret

If I had to do the same again I would, my friend, fernando