Malaysia's disappointmenmt at Junior World Cup - "To rebound with State league for Under 18. Is this the excuse not to have a post mortem?"

Unlucky in the preliminary round and miserable thereafter was the conclusion of the MHF Management Committee at their last week's meeting, when they discussed the National Juniors performance at the Junior World Cup (JWC). They could have got to the last eight but a draw with Spain meant they lost out on goal difference.

Therefore it was all about luck not about the Juniors playing accordingly where it matters. Unlucky to lose to Korea because of goalkeeper's mistake and so on as the excuses were being made. All is good if MHF want to console themselves but the reality is, there has to be a post mortem as to why the team was unlucky. At least in the language of MHF.

This is where MHF does not have the "guts" to do it. They are frighten of an "autopsy" on the performance of the team, as they may not be able to accept any unusual findings. So the best thing is to sweep the whole issue of the Juniors performance at JWC under the carpet.

Sweeping under the carpet has become the "specialised skill" of MHF. They have choreographed the art of sweeping so as issues such as allegations on match fixing, the players appearing for training smelling with alcohol, players who were caught "red handed" on excessive drinking of alcohol and returning wee hours of the morning, may become acceptable norms. These with time may be added on as the new standards so as it can become the qualities of the future Malaysian hockey player. As I have stated it before: "A stitch in time saves nine." Something MHF seem not to subscribe to, for they may not be worried of the future. At least their decisions may seem to reflect it.

Fearful to make decisive and unpopular decisions, MHF continue to plod along and hope time will make people forget the issue or allow other new issues to bury the old issues. By then it would become a complex web of issues that people would be just too tired to pull out issue by issue. Therefore they all get swept away ultimately. So why make a fuss on the first place. "Machiavellian" of the highest order.

In order to let people forget the past issues ie the performance of the Juniors and the need for post mortem, MHF may have developed this new idea of State Under 18 league. Preoccupied with this, people would forget the 4 years of resources put into preparing the Juniors for a home organised JWC. This 4 years have cost the NSC coffers a minimum of around RM 4.4 million. Now it would seem there is no need to account for the cost especially when the targets have not been achieved. Maybe this is the "new order" of the day for "Malaysia Boleh" in MHF.