Noordin: I do not intend to join MHF

12/05/2002
Sunday chat

TAN Sri Noordin Hassan, president of the Kuala Lumpur HA has distanced
himself from rumours that he has been invited by Malaysian Hockey
Federation (MHF) president Sultan Azlan Shah back into the Federation.
TIMESPORT'S JUGJET SINGH spoke to him on Friday after he was called by
the Sultan to the Istana Perak in Kuala Lumpur as an independent observer
to an impromptu meeting among the MHF top guns.
Q: Would you consider joining MHF if there is an invitation?
A: No. I have no interest in holding any post in the MHF simply because
I am more than satisfied with what I am doing right now. The KLHA is where
I would like to serve hockey from.
Q: Why take such a drastic stand?
A: What can one man do in the MHF? Lets say, I am invited back into the
MHF and I accept it. There is the president, the deputy president, and
five vice presidents to convince before I can start on any project. So,
what if I receive no support from the majority? It will be a waste of
time, right?
So, it is better that I concentrate on the KLHA where I have a good
working relationship with my office bearers.
Q: Can you explain further?
A: I am not saying that there are no disagreements when we hold our
meetings. But I am a simple man who does not like to offend anybody, so I
listen to everyone and then throw the suggestion to the floor. If it gets
a good response, we carry it out. If not, we scrap it.
In that way, everyone is happy and they do their job with great
satisfaction and the end results are good.
Q: You have made your stand clear, but as a former vice president and
chairman of the competitions committe in MHF, do you have any suggestions
to solve or improve the current problems faced by the MHF?
A: Dulu (last time), MHF did not have that many competitions,
international Tours and matches. But times have changed and the
administrative side has been burdened with too much of work to do in a
short span of time.
So I suggest that the MHF start by hiring professional staff to run some
of their affairs. In that way, the volunteers in MHF can delegate some of
their duties to the paid staff and have more time to attend meetings and
other urgent matters.
Right now, everyone has too much in their hands and that is why the
administrative side is not working properly.
Q: Most of the states have been complaining that MHF does not lend them
any support, financially or otherwise in running their programmes. Is KLHA
in the same boat?
A: We do not receive anything. And neither are we asking for anything
from the parent body because all my committee members know their jobs
well. Also we are lucky because most of the big cooperations are based in
Kuala Lumpur and whenever we ask for financial help, Tenaga, Telekom,
Dewan Bandaraya, Sapura and a host of other sponsors have always
accommodated us.
The situation in other states might be more difficult, and maybe that is
why they have come out to voice their disatisfaction.
Q: Teams scramble to take part in the KLHA League which runs in four
divisions while none of the other states have a domestic league. What is
your receipe for success?
A: Again I credit luck. We are a small state so travelling to venues is
not a big problem. Also, most hockey players, once they reach a certain
age flock to Kuala Lumpur because of work or studies and they fall on our
laps.
We have had such encouraging response that sometimes, we have to turn
away a few teams because they do not meet a certain standard. We want to
maintain some credibility in the sport and only allow serious teams into
our fold.
Q: KLHA are now thinking about forming a schools league. Tell us about
your plans.
A: KLHA with help from the KL Schools Sports Council want to re-
introduce hockey to KL schools. Over the years, the game has somewhat
become diluted in our schools and the main reason is because the students
do not have many competitions to prepare for.
With the schools league, we want to provide them with one more
tournament to look forward to. KLHA and MSSKL have identified 19 schools
that are active in the sport and the matches are slated to begin sometime
in the middle of June, even if we do not get a favourable response from
the 19 schools in the beginning.
Q: Do you have any parting words for the MHF?
A: I have nothing to say to MHF because they know better, but for those
who love hockey my advice is to keep abrest of the changes in the game,
from rules to the playing pitch, so that they know how to handle
situations when it warrants change.
Even I cannot hold the KLHA president's post forever, and when the time
comes and a suitable replacement who can carry on our work comes forward,
I will gladly watch from the sidelines.
(END)