NOV 1 — When I wrote about the funnelling of petrodollars into European football, a commenter queried the level of knowledge I had on the state of the beautiful game in Malaysia. Knowledge, good sir, I have little of; the Malaysian football business – for in this day and age, it is a business — is fairly opaque and I am struggling to uncover any investigative journalism on the matter bar the works of one Rizal Hashim. Opinions on the local game, though, I have a few.

Amateur and professional pundits alike have taken the state of Malaysian football to pieces and tried to glue it back together again; but despite all efforts, as we see it today Malaysian football has proven to be Humpty Dumpty*. When I speak to older football fans, they tell me tales of Mokhtar Dahari running defences ragged; of Soh Chin Aun and Santokh Singh, our formidable back line; of R. Arumugam, the safest hands in all of Asia! I often imagine myself in their shoes some 30-40 years down the line, talking about Malaysian football to the youths of the future. What do I say? Who should I name as our midfield maestro, our wizard on the wings? Indeed, who should I really think of as the footballing heroes of my time when there are little heroic feats to boast about?

Listing what is wrong with Malaysian football is easy. Many others before me have done it, and others after me will do again. Most of us are aware of the history, which I admit is still a sketchy picture for me. (Is there a book on the history of Malaysian football, anywhere, which readers can recommend? Or at least a thesis or dissertation, maybe?) But here goes my attempt at painting this picture as I see it.

A formidable force in the 1950s and 1960s, we announced our arrival on the international scene in the 1970s and 1980s, qualifying for the Olympic Games twice. But unlike Korea and Japan, who built on their successes, we seem to have reached our plateau at this juncture.

The 1990’s began promisingly, with a new professional league in place and the introduction of international players seemed to pique fans’ interest. But just as attendances at games were about to scale the heights it enjoyed in earlier decades, the bribery scandal tore the Malaysian footballing world apart.

It was a scandal like no other, stabbing fans right in the heart. The implication of national heroes Matlan Marjan — once honoured with the national captain’s armband — and crowd favourites Abbas Saad in the scandal shook the faith fans had in the game. Sports was, after all, the last bastion of gamesmanship and honour. Once this was taken out of the equation — and for personal gain at that — nothing could really heal the wound.

In recent years attempts have been made to rejuvenate the local scene. The local league now features club sides as well as state teams, and recent success by club side MPPJ seemed like a breath of fresh air  albeit only momentarily — the club went under only a few years after their success amidst rumours of financial irregularities.

The MyTeam program, in which usual channels of talent spotting were bypassed in identifying potential stars of the future, captured the public’s imagination, but despite this, the overall state of dismal international performance continues.

In my own personal list of “things that are wrong with Malaysian football” — of which I am sure every Malaysian fan has his or her own version — I cite the following: First, mismanagement at the league level. Whether it is of the financial resources or of existing talent, more needs to be done to stop us repeating mistakes from our past. Malaysia cannot perform well internationally if the system that feeds players into the national team is broken. And things cannot be fixed for as long as governmental politics is not divorced from the game.

Gone are the days when token Datuks are named as managers. The state of our football is so dire we do not need further levels of feudalism to muddy already opaque waters. The new batch of football clubs in the Malaysian leagues which are not state run seem to run on a business model not unlike other professional football clubs abroad — maybe this is a step in the right direction. Let’s hope there is professionalism involved in its management, and that corporate sponsorship of these teams translates to a more efficient business model rather than being the CEO’s pet project of the moment.

Second, I cite education as being the problem. In a country world where credibility is won by the number of A-grades one scores at SPM level, parents have been known to discourage talented footballers from pursuing a career in sports because it does not guarantee financial security.

And quite rightly so, because as a profession football is very precarious. All you need is one bad injury, and without academic qualifications to fall back on, the risks outweigh the potential benefits, especially taking into consideration that Malaysian footballers are not quite earning the same wages as their colleagues in other countries.

I wonder whether the system in place during the pre-professional football era, where players were given salary-paying jobs in banks or the semi-government sector, allows more stability, and perhaps would encourage more talented players to opt for playing football as a feasible post-high school career.

Or perhaps FAM could adopt the Malaysian Hockey Federation system that allowed their players to play while supporting their academic pursuits, which has seen graduates of Nor Saiful Zaini and Brian Jayhan Siva to name but two.

Third, lack of professionalism and the absence of proper attitude. Signing professional contracts is the start of the journey, not the destination. The David Beckhams and Ryan Giggs of the world put in hour after hour of training day in day out, even after winning international caps. Despite winning almost every major trophy to date, the players at Barcelona still turns up for training on time — and coach Pep Guardiola would have a lot to say if they didn’t. With our players more interested in making the pages of Mangga, should we really be surprised that we are where we are?

But on darker days, I dwell on the alternative explanation. Maybe, just maybe, there is no point in trying to resurrect Malaysian football because perhaps, just perhaps, it is not meant to be for us. Maybe we were just lucky with Mokthar and Chin Aun, and we need to stop hoping that the Akmal Rizals and Titus Palanis are here to recreate our past glory.

Was it even glory in the first place, considering that we merely qualified for the Olympic Games? If there was any glory to “recreate”, surely it would be to do with reaching that pinnacle of footballing heights, the World Cup!

Maybe we’ve maxed out all the credit we have, and it’s time to cut our losses. Maybe it’s not the lack of drive or infrastructure or money, but merely the fact that we’re not cut out for this. Maybe we’ve fallen too far behind to catch up; the game that we used to know has evolved into an industry while we were busy banishing our top players who accepted bribes to throw games.

Perhaps we are the Asian equivalent of Hungary — once great, but never again. Maybe we need to take football as it is, enjoy it as it is and not ask for more. Instead, we should funnel our funds into that 1 Malaysia Formula 1 team, so 1 Malaysia that, I hear, it even has its own KPIs!

*Colchester-related factoid: Humpty Dumpty was a canon used during the siege of Colchester in 1648. The church from where it fell from is now the Colchester Arts Centre. Or so I am told...