Tuesday, November 20, 2012

No more Titah Tuanku ruse..

MALAYSIAN Hockey Confederation (MHC) president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah sent out a stern warning to the states when he said   “Jangan cakap banyak, buat kerja”, in his closing remark at a special seminar for affiliates and office bearers in Johor Baru on Sunday.
   He also censured those who utilise “Titah Tuanku” (royal decree) randomly as he remarked that any such instruction would come from him directly from now on.
  Tengku Abdullah also paid particular attention to what he termed as jealousy, back biting and character assination as the traits that hockey could well do without.
   “Stop the politicking and get down to work. There is much to do and everyone needs to play their part in ensuring we qualify for the 2016 Olympics,” said Tengku Abdullah.
  In proposing sweeping changes within MHC, Tengku Abdullah also said that he wanted the constitution of MHC reviewed as it was not lean as it should be.
   “We have just too many positions and the issue of reserving certain positions for a particular gender needs to be looked at,” said Tengku Abdullah.
    “I wish to propose that a free elections and only for the top two will there be a case of gender equality.
   “And the time has come for all in the hockey fraternity, be it from MHC, the states and even the media to close ranks and work towards improving hockey in the country.”
   And in his presentation at the seminar, Tengku Abdullah outlined the structure that MHC will adopt from January 2013.
   Four departments are to be created, namely Administration, Competitions, Coaching & Development and the International Department. To be helmed by full time Directors, these departments have been given specific tasks.
  In addition Tengku Abdullah also wants the 1MAS program to be reviewed, as he wants specific attention to be paid towards training of penalty corner specialists from a young age.
   “In order to ensure that hockey reaches the masses, I want the 1MAS program to be expanded and from now on it will be a 1 pitch 1 centre ratio and not one state one centre,” clarified Tengku Abdullah.
  “We need to pay special attention towards development and I want all states to ensure that they have a development program and not depend on ad-hoc way towards developing hockey.
   “And it is a requirement for states to have a league and I will consider a grant for states that hold their leagues.”
   The President also allowed the states to present their views and was receptive of the ideas put forward. A Task Force will be formed to implement the changes.

The warnings were there

THE warnings were all there after Malaysia beat Germany who became the eventual champions, but still, the chinks could not be polished in time and the Malaysian juniors were brought crashing down to earth.
  After winning gold last year at the same venue, and then going on to win the Junior Asia Cup gold medal, there was much hope that this batch of players would at least play in the thrid-fourth bracket and not languish at the end of the pool.
  Malaysia went into the tournament without two of their best juniors in brothers Fitri and Faizal Saari, who are now in Argentina for the Champions Challenge I tournament, and nobody expected them to beat Germany or India to the gold medal.
  But nobody also expected them to squander so many penalty corners in every match, almost an average of nine every match, and nobody also expected them to argue with umpires and pick up more yellow and green cards than score goals.
  Those were the two glaring chinks which saw Malaysia slide form champions to also played in the second edition.
  "We will work on the penalty corners from now until the Junior World Cup (next November in New Delhi) as even our current flicker Noor Faeez (Ibrahim) would be overage together with a few more players.
  "This batch needs much work on them before we can talk about playing in the semi-finals of the Junior World Cup," said Malaysian coach K. Dharmaraj.
   On the tournament itself, the crowd in Johor Baru were simply fantastic and never stopped cheering even when Malaysia were beaten 5-2 by New Zealand in the pool match.
  About 5,000 of them turned up for every match, and even torrential rain failed to leave the seats empty.
  And all the coaches, from India to Pakistan to Germany to Oceania only had good things to say anbout the Sultan of Johor Cup.
   The Australian coach Paul Gaudoin summed it up when he said: "This is one of the only junior tournaments in the world and we are really grateful to be here."
   No other countries in the world have a junior tournament like the Sultan of Johor Cup, which offers a platform for a sterling age-group tournament and the Malaysian Hockey Confederation and the Johor Hockey Association should be commended for running the show.