All we get is lies damn lies!

14/10/2001

Game all with Johnson Fernandez

MALAYSIANS form the largest number of the foreign Press corp at the JuniorWorld Cup in Hobart, Tasmania. There are six of us, the others being Jugjet Singh (New Straits Times),V. Ashok (Berita Harian), S. Ramaguru (The Star), Asan Ahmad (Bernama) andSaadon Jaafar (Utusan Malaysia). In fact, there is just one other guy, from Holland. Four Nigerianjournalists are also registered but they have not been seen. There was a bit of excitement in Hobart that Malaysia had deemed itnecessary to send journalists to a junior event. There was generalamazement, and the obvious questions followed. Is hockey very popular in Malaysia? And so on... On the first few days we proudly announced that all the major newspaperswere in town because the Malaysian team were expected to do well. Some ofus genuinely believed that Malaysia were even good enough for thesemifinals. Even after the opening 3-2 defeat by New Zealand we clung on to the hopethat Malaysia would bounce back. We even thought that perhaps starting thetournament with a defeat may even be good for the team. And so we were still there the following day, still in a state ofdenial, for the game against Argentina. One minute into the game, Argentina led 1-0 and the Malaysianjournalists looked at one another. This was not good. Well, there wasstill 69 minutes of play left. When the second goal came, we knew how wrong we all were! The selection process had started about three years ago and this teamwere kept together for the last 11 months. They had cost the taxpayersabout RM2 millions. The Malaysians were just a bunch of losers. They may have wanted to playwell but they didn't know how. And worse, I don't even think the teamofficials knew the first thing about motivating the players. And that is something the Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) and NationalSports Council (NSC) should think about when they appoint officials. But more than anything I need to tell them this - if a world classtournament is not being played at home, do not bother entering a Malaysianteam. Like some of our badminton players, the hockey team are also jaguhkampung. Or if they still insist on sending teams overseas, then be prepared tosend about 10 planeloads of supporters as well. Malaysian athletes have no character. It is not enough for the playersto know there are people rooting for them. They need to hear thesupporters. One of the habits of officials when they return from playing toursoverseas is they sing praises of the team and tell you how every playerperformed exceptionally well. They will never tell the truth for fear they may be replaced, or thattheir own quality as an official may be questioned. So they paint a veryrosy picture of the team's prospects. In fact, this is not the case of the hockey team alone but severalothers like soccer. The truth is always buried in a pile of cover-ups,distortions and lies. After the game against Argentina, as coach Yahya Atan walked towards thetraining pitch, he stopped where two Malaysian players were standing nearthe changing room. And he said to them: "Itu lah, suruh you orang lari bukit, tak nak. Itutak boleh, ini tak boleh. (This is the result. Tell you to do hill runsand you refuse. This cannot, that cannot). I was shocked to hear that. Very, very concerned because I asked myselfif Yahya enjoyed the respect of the players. Who was running the team? The officials? Or the players? Did the playersactually have a say in how they should be trained? Did they have the rightto refuse? I knew then immediately why this team had lost their two matches. No matter what happens from hereon, no need to pity the players.Basically, what we sent to Hobart were shirkers. They may have drawn with Germany and even finish as the best team in thelosers' pool by finishing ninth. Don't be fooled by it all. These players do not deserve sympathy. They had taken us all for a verylong ride - to Korea, India, Poland, Germany and Hobart.