High rental force MHF out

14/08/2003

THE Malaysian Hockey Federation will be moving out of the National Hockey
Stadium in Bukit Jalil soon because they can no longer afford to pay the
rent.
No, the MHF has not gone broke, but they feel that the RM2,000 per month
rent is too steep and with money slow to reach their coffers from
sponsors, they felt moving out is the best solution.
MHF has also moved the final of the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) from
Bukit Jalil to the Kuala Lumpur HA Stadium for the same reason.
"We can no longer afford to pay RM2,000 per month for the office space
at the National Hockey Stadium. And since the National Sports Council has
told us to maximise the use of the Tun Razak Stadium, we will be moving
there once renovation work is completed.
"We have also decided to shift the final of the MHL to the Kuala Lumpur
HA Stadium because it is too expansive to host it at Bukit Jalil. The KLHA
Stadium is very much cheaper than the RM2,000 we will need to host it at
Bukit Jalil," said MHF secretary S. Satgunam yesterday.
Satgunam was responding to a statement made by Olympic Council of
Malaysia president Tunku Imran Tuanku Ja'afar who lamented the fact that
The Merdeka Stadium Board is more interested in making money from non-
sporting activities than helping national sports associations to use their
premises.
"Right now, there are very few activities at the National Stadium
because no club or school can afford to pay for it's use. For the past
year, all the teams in the Junior Hockey League and the Malaysia Hockey
League have selected their home venues at either the Pandamaran, KLHA or
Tun Razak stadiums.
"Only the national players train at Bukit Jalil right now," said
Satgunam.
The national players bill is footed by the National Sports Council, and
that is the only reason they are still at the National Hockey Stadium.
Given a chance, they will bolt to the Tun Razak Stadium too.
But the NSC can't afford to make that move because then the National
Stadium will be totally void of hockey.
"The stadiums were built for sports but it looks as though they are
going towards raising income from activities other than sports," said
Tunku Imran after chairing OCM's Executive Board meeting in Wisma OCM on
Tuesday.
The MHF used to have their office at the Tun Razak Stadium, but after
the National Stadium was built for the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth
Games, they shifted their office to Bukit Jalil.
The Tun Razak Stadium, after being empty for the last five years, has
been overrun by white ants, but needs only minor renovation to get it back
in working order. The turf at Tun Razak is still first class.
The MHF has slowly started to shift matches to Tun Razak, as seen during
the China International Friendlies before the Champions Challenge.
"If nobody can afford to name the National Stadium as their home venue,
we can't force them as there are many alternatives in the Klang Valley and
any one of them is value for money," said Satgunam.
The Azlan Shah Cup, held in Ipoh this year, might remain in the north
next year too because of the cost factor even though the stadium in Ipoh
is no longer suitable to host international events due to the of lack of
changing rooms and media and resting facilities.
The only tournament slated for the National Stadium this year is the
Asia Cup in September and that too because of FIH requirements for two
international standard pitches for big events.
But don't be surprised if that too is moved to KLHA, because if the
South Africans can play all the Champions Challenge matches on just one
pitch, one sees no reason why the FIH can't allow Malaysia the same.
(END)