Thursday, September 10, 2009
Should Sarawak be allowed in the Malaysia Cup?
Jonathan Fernandez
Sarawak's Mohd Hairol Mokhtar in actionSITTING on a huge debt, barely enough senior players to make up a starting 11 and without a real fulltime coach, Sarawak indeed are the paupers among others in the Malaysia Cup which begins on Sept 26.
The East Malaysians, who finished just one spot above bottom in the Premier League, are in turmoil. So much so that they don’t even know why they bother playing in the Malaysia Cup in the first place.
Hardly surprising, given the fact that they are in the red by at least RM800,000 due to money owing to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and salaries to players.
Their status as a Premier League team is in grave threat as well as they struggle to entice financial support or sponsorships to aid the mandatory RM100,000 deposit for next year’s campaign.
For the record, teams in the Super League must have a minimum budget of RM2.5mil and able to deposit RM150,000 with the FAM by Oct 14 while teams in the Premier League need to have a budget of RM1.5mil and a deposit of RM100,000.
However, next season is the least of their worries with the Malaysia Cup just around the corner. The camp is in ruins with unpaid players highly demotivated.
Taking all into consideration, the best Sarawak can hope for is to not lose all pride and dignity in their Group B fixtures which includes the likes of Terengganu, Negri Sembilan and Johor.
Tasked with the interim handling of the team is the man who’s taking on a double role act. Caretaker coach Abdul Wahet Uji, who took over the reins after the premature exit of Dutchman Robert Alberts, is also the executive secretary of the FA of Sarawak (FAS). As if juggling two jobs at a time is not hard enough, leading a pack of virtual no-hopers only adds more to the misery.
“We are participating merely to make up the numbers. It’s sad and disappointing actually to see us in this situation just because of financial woes. Nevertheless, we will carry out our duties and try our level best to gain whatever we can. We have nothing to lose,” said Abdul Wahet.
With the team barely training together as Sarawak struggle to find ways to pay their players’ dues since March, Abdul Wahet said that the best that can be achieved from the Malaysia Cup is the exposure and experience for the youth players.
“This is not real a team. It is more of a squad. While other teams have been busy signing players on loan, we have been struggling to even hold on to our very own. We can just hope that the younger bunch of players gain some valuable lesson from the Malaysia Cup.”
COMMENT - sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind. It's in nobody's interest to allow Sarawak to continue like this, inviting humiliation. And for what reason? If there is no money how will they get to Negeri Sembilan for their first away game on 29 September? And how will they get home again? Someone please end this sorry saga. It does Malaysian football no credit at all.
Or does it? Will the gallant underdog surviving off iced lollies and using the sticks to build rafts to cross the South China Sea attract the sympathy of the nation and a national outpouring of pride?
Sarawak's Mohd Hairol Mokhtar in actionSITTING on a huge debt, barely enough senior players to make up a starting 11 and without a real fulltime coach, Sarawak indeed are the paupers among others in the Malaysia Cup which begins on Sept 26.
The East Malaysians, who finished just one spot above bottom in the Premier League, are in turmoil. So much so that they don’t even know why they bother playing in the Malaysia Cup in the first place.
Hardly surprising, given the fact that they are in the red by at least RM800,000 due to money owing to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and salaries to players.
Their status as a Premier League team is in grave threat as well as they struggle to entice financial support or sponsorships to aid the mandatory RM100,000 deposit for next year’s campaign.
For the record, teams in the Super League must have a minimum budget of RM2.5mil and able to deposit RM150,000 with the FAM by Oct 14 while teams in the Premier League need to have a budget of RM1.5mil and a deposit of RM100,000.
However, next season is the least of their worries with the Malaysia Cup just around the corner. The camp is in ruins with unpaid players highly demotivated.
Taking all into consideration, the best Sarawak can hope for is to not lose all pride and dignity in their Group B fixtures which includes the likes of Terengganu, Negri Sembilan and Johor.
Tasked with the interim handling of the team is the man who’s taking on a double role act. Caretaker coach Abdul Wahet Uji, who took over the reins after the premature exit of Dutchman Robert Alberts, is also the executive secretary of the FA of Sarawak (FAS). As if juggling two jobs at a time is not hard enough, leading a pack of virtual no-hopers only adds more to the misery.
“We are participating merely to make up the numbers. It’s sad and disappointing actually to see us in this situation just because of financial woes. Nevertheless, we will carry out our duties and try our level best to gain whatever we can. We have nothing to lose,” said Abdul Wahet.
With the team barely training together as Sarawak struggle to find ways to pay their players’ dues since March, Abdul Wahet said that the best that can be achieved from the Malaysia Cup is the exposure and experience for the youth players.
“This is not real a team. It is more of a squad. While other teams have been busy signing players on loan, we have been struggling to even hold on to our very own. We can just hope that the younger bunch of players gain some valuable lesson from the Malaysia Cup.”
COMMENT - sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind. It's in nobody's interest to allow Sarawak to continue like this, inviting humiliation. And for what reason? If there is no money how will they get to Negeri Sembilan for their first away game on 29 September? And how will they get home again? Someone please end this sorry saga. It does Malaysian football no credit at all.
Or does it? Will the gallant underdog surviving off iced lollies and using the sticks to build rafts to cross the South China Sea attract the sympathy of the nation and a national outpouring of pride?
# posted by Me @ 6:28 PM 
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