Plea for truthful representation from National Hockey Coach

When I read this morning's paper, the headlines on hockey seemed to give me some hope. Malaysia are still ranked 14th despite failure to qualify for the Olympics. I thought this was a good start for my day until I indulged into the article proper. It changed my day as, in the usual smaller print, it became apparent that China(15th) and Japan(17th) would overtake us when the rankings are done after the Olympics. In the same line it was indicated that India and Pakistan, who are ranked in the top 10 would also drop in position.

The report was only a small column and yet the headline gave a wrong impression. Malaysia's ranking had not changed because FIH has yet to update its list. They want to do it after the Olympics as it would capture the post Olympic rankings, i.e after a major hockey tournament. To provide a view that Malaysia's position after qualifiers has not changed does not reflect the true scenario of the rankings.

To mitigate the drop in rankings for Malaysia, the aspect of India's and Pakistan's position seem to be played up. The only reason I believe this scenario was painted is to highlight that even top teams suffer such fate. Seriously, I am not worried about India and Pakistan. They were great hockey nations and good luck to them.

My interest is Malaysia, and I always want to rate Malaysia with the best. However, we have peculiar officials who cannot get themselves to be ranked in the tournaments that make a difference. Yet today they are soliciting for tournaments that can help in the ranking. This is honestly a "weirdo" way of thinking. When the opportunity was there they allowed it to slip. Now they want other tournaments to help them. What guarantees are there that this coach would get Malaysia to perform well and better our rankings.

It seems that it is only "hot air" from the coach. Obviously the Reporter is providing him a platform to voice his opinion. I have nothing against that except the Reporter must also have the responsibility to ask the "if's" and "but's". He seems more interested in highlighting the coach's contract is till 2012. It seems that the Reporters (save the ones from Malay Mail) these days connected to hockey have an agenda too. It is becoming too obvious and may call into question the wisdom of some of the articles.

The bottom line is Malaysia has performed badly. It seems the perennial excuse of fitness is the cause of our bad performance. Strange, as our players are always in centralised training and still fitness is the excuse. Then there must be something surely wrong with our training sessions or our coaches do not have the proper skills to train the players. Therefore which of these is it?

The Management in MHF must surely take responsibility for all that is going wrong in hockey. They seem to have left it the so called Coaching Committee and coaches, who have lead them up the "garden path" until they arrived at the "cliff end". Poor chaps are now caught at a point of "no return" and the only choice is to "jump off". The question: Why all this is permitted to happen? There are personalities in MHF who have utilised certain person's name to instill fear and get things done for their own benefit. They make him to be the "de facto" chief and he calls the shots. They offer trips and other positions with the National Teams, to keep key officials with affiliates happy so as their shortcomings do not become apparent. This way they believe they can sustain their power in MHF. I am sure the President is kept in the dark on all these as he does not have his people there to let him know what is going on.

This is where the media comes handy for these people, to provide the perception that things are going on well in hockey. Such an impression creation is a strategy for certain group to sustain their position in MHF, notwithstanding where we are ranked in world hockey.

MHF's Chairman of Coaching may ultimately be responsible for Malaysia's demise in international hockey.

MHF's Chairman of Coaching was a fantastic center forward during his heydays in hockey. However he does not realise that his heydays are well over. Similarly too is his outlook as the Chairman of Coaching. The coaches whom he had appointed at the Senior and Junior team are the reflection of the current deteriorating standard of Malaysian hockey at the international arena.

So why does he want these coaches around till 2010 or 2012? Just to give them more time to ensure that "death" comes to Malaysian hockey in a painful and prolonged way. If MHF is against foreign coaches then I suggest that the Chairman of the Coaching Committee provides a far better justification. What he had stated now cannot hold the ground based on recent performances.

I had previously asked this question: "Can any of our current coaches stand even in the shadows of the top 10 coaches in the world?" The answer then was no and it shall not change for years to come. I think this person in MHF should ask himself if he knows what is he talking about? Is he there to provide lip service to support coaches who seem to be embroiled with all sort of allegations. These coaches do not understand modern hockey and the basic principles of planning combined with foresight. Now that I know the views of the Chairman of the Coaching Committee, i can understand why all these coaches lack the depth to be good national coaches. It reminds me of the maxim: "The tail is only as good as the head".

We must put a stop to all this selfish attitude to safeguard one another position, so as the various personalities can sustain their position without proper accountability. It is shown in the performance of our team i.e. Senior, Juniors and the Under-16. All have failed and weaker teams are proving to be a challenge to Malaysia. The writing is already on the walls and if MHF cannot see it, then hockey is finished in Malaysia.

"What is really going on in cricket?" - MCA

Last week I praised MCA on its decisive action to resolve the umpires, national players and national coach series of incidents over the last 2 months, however I said there is still a need for fine tuning. Instead MCA decided to completely overturn their good decisive action to improper judgement on their approach to the meeting with the umpires last Saturday.

Firstly, in incidents like what took place between a national player and the umpire, followed by national captain, national coach and the umpire, MCA must carefully think through how to handle it.

In the case of the national player and the umpire, it was a domestic competition and therefore the Competition Committee should be the principal party to follow through the matter. In the other case of the national captain, national coach and the umpire, the incident took place at a friendly game organised by MCA itself. Therefore it would be more appropriate the Disciplinary Committee be responsible for it. In both cases the MCA Umpires Board should be present to hold brief.

What took place on Saturday was the Vice President of MCA responsible for Development and the General Secretary conducted the meeting with the umpires. They seemed more worried that the umpires would boycott matches where national players are involved. Therefore they have issued an ultimatum for a decision.

The question I have to ask why is this particular Vice-President being so "sibuk" over the matter rather than the Chairman of the Umpires Board? Why should he conduct the meeting and then report it to the Umpires Board? It all seems a very strange way of handling such matters.

As for the General Secretary, he must realise that from an ethical position, he is already disqualified from participating in such meetings. His son is a national player and is the national captain and this rules him out. So why is he putting his head into such matters?

What i cannot understand is the MCA Exco members are literally "bullying" the umpires into submitting to their ultimatum. They do not seem to have any interest in conducting a timely enquiry as the national player and the national coach are on holiday. Further they want the umpires to come with a Code of Conduct, without realising such a Code already exists in the ICC guidelines. The MCA officials who conducted the meeting are completely lost and do not know how to sensibly resolve the issue.

To me the Umpires Board should receive an undertaking from MCA that national players and the national coach would conduct themselves properly at the matches from hereon. They should also receive further undertaking that the 2 inquiries would be held within a specified time period. Equally, the Umpires Board must on their part also provide an undertaking that the umpires would ensure the Code of Conduct would be properly adhered.

If such undertakings are in place and a monitoring system is implemented, I am sure there is no need for any ultimatum. Just a little bit of "grey" matter needs to be utilised in the thinking process, so as such matters can be easily sorted. What MCA has done is to make the situation even more tense.

Beijing Olympic Games - Gold Medal opportunity for Malaysia

The Chef-De-Mission of the Malaysian contingent to the Beijing Olympic Games is Datuk Ho Koh Chye. A renowned sports personality, Datuk Ho started life as a teacher and at the age of 20 he represented Malaysia in hockey at the 1962 Asian Games. Playing as a goalkeeper, he has represented the nation in 2 Olympics and 2 Asian Games. From back at the goal post, he is able to get a good view of the game and this taught him the art of reading the game.

This became his forte and he utilise this intuition throughout his life be it as player, teacher, coach, team manager, hockey administrator, Deputy DG of NSC or as Deputy Chef-De-Mission. He has the ability to motivate his charges and is able to get the best in them.

So, when Datuk Ho said he felt Malaysia has a chance to obtain its first gold in the Olympics, I think he was not doing that as a public relations exercise. I am sure he meant every word of it. The badminton players have the potential to deliver. Datuk Ho seems to have the personal "feng shui" to bring success. He did it with the 1975 World Cup hockey team as coach and 1992 Barcelona Olympic hockey team as team manager. All the more reason why his presences as the Chef-De-Mission would provide our badminton players the hunger to get the gold.

If only Squash and Lawn Bowling were part of the Olympics, then Malaysia would be looking at a few more golds. Pity, but that is life. Still I am sure Datuk Ho would be doing all that is possible to ensure that the Malaysian flag is hoisted with the 'NegaraKu" music being played. History would be created and our first Olympian millionaire would be showing off his gold medal.

Good Luck Datuk Ho and Malaysia at the Beijing Olympic.

A new GM for MHF.

News is buzzing amongst the hockey crowd that a known person would be appointed as General Manager for MHF. No he is not a former national player, coach or administrator. Rather he was a former Secretary of a State Hockey Association and was also an Organiser of a State Foundation that were back to back Champions for 2 years of the MHF National League.

Apparently, he also did a stint as a Sports writer with a renowned evening papers. Here he did become famous with some of his articles particularly in hockey. Holding on to a position too long is not his forte. He went on to serve as an aide to the former Minister of Sports and Youth. Again, he was there for a short period. Thereafter he moved on as an aide to the first Chairman of Sports Advisory Committee and then joined him at FAM. From there he hopped on to "My Team" and worked his way as GM of Malaysian Super League (MSL).

In between all these he had spells in Royal Selangor Club and the Lake Club. There is no doubt that he had lived a nomadic life style, not wanting to remain permanently to see the result of some of his hard work.

This person is hard working and is prepared to put in the hours. He has been in love with hockey and he would travel the extra mile to ensure that things are properly done. He was a good friend of the late S. Satgunam, the former Secretary of MHF. This is where he was able to appreciate the administration of MHF.

To some he is not an easy person to get along. He is quite fixed in his way because he wants to achieve results. This at times would not go down well with people. However, with people in NSC he has always had a good relationship and this would help him when he takes up his position in MHF.

The only concern I have is whether this person would get easily disappointed or upset the status quo that he may not have a good spell in MHF long enough. One does not have to be a PhD holder to know that he had not survived long in a number of his other positions. The feeling is that he takes each job like a new toy. After sometime he gets bored with it and then he looks for another new toy i.e. another job. This is something he must be aware and he must know that this reputation of him always precedes him.

Anyway, lets welcome him to the job in MHF and wish him the very best in his undertakings. I hope he can catalysts the change in MHF for the betterment of Malaysian hockey. MHF needs it badly.

Well done MCA! Still, there is a need to fine tune.

A gag order and a banning order were the prescription of MCA on the events relating to a national umpire, 2 national players and the national coach. It took sometime for MCA to move but having done so they seem decisive. Now, a meeting with the group of national umpires is scheduled and an enquiry to an incident in May is also on the card. The latest incident, which includes the national coach and national captain is yet to be fixed.

Why such a delay in getting down to resolving the problem? Allowing these incidents to happen and not acting on it permitted a series of other incidents, and the result is the current predicament. Anyway it is the past, but it is important that MCA learns from this experience.

As for the meeting with the Umpires, it is important for MCA to hear out their problem. These are people who have to make split second decisions and also having to tolerate the mercy of the daily weather. On top of it they have to accommodate the players from their appeals, to staring eyes and at times cynical comments. Some of these antics can be very testing for the umpires.

On the other side, we also have to consider the plight of players, especially those who are highly competitive. It gets very trying, annoying and irritating when there are incompetent umpires in the field. The players get to a "breaking point" and then let loose their tempers. This is when flare up takes place between players and umpires.

All these could be avoided if strict code of conduct is enforced with regard to players. As for the umpires, it is important that the right qualified personalities are selected for the matches. Further, regular umpire seminars should be held including discussing existing and potential problems. This way the umpires as a body can take a common stance on a number of issues and at the same time uplift themselves technically.

As for what had happened in May and June 2008, those involved as players do not really have much of an excuse. They are Senior national players, more so for the National Captain who had walked into the field to question the umpire. Indeed, what is shocking is that the umpire was attempting to protect the national players from bouncers and beamers.

As for the National Coach, this is a serious matter. The position he holds and the fact that he is a former Test cricketer means he must carry with him responsibilities. To walk into the field and intimidate an umpire is completely outside any reasonable grounds of excuse. As a coach he had shown to his players the level of indiscipline he himself has. There may come a time when his players lack the discipline and then what is he going to do? The lack of proper judgement by the coach is a bad example and it will not help in moulding the national team into a disciplined cricket team.

As for the umpire, he should have brought this to the notice of MCA immediately and insisted for an inquiry. Allowing the problem to brew for a while is a failure in discharging his duty properly. This shortcoming in him has probably endangered his other colleagues and permitted the problem to get out of hand.

As for MCA, the multiple conflicts the Team Manager has to overcome because of his various positions is also a key contributory factor to these incidents. The slow speed in which MCA works, plus attempting to sweep the issue under the carpet did not help to contain the problem.

All in all, now MCA has gone on to the "first gear" in wanting to resolve this problem. Lets see how fast they switch gears and ensure everything is properly done. Finally, its the decision they make will determine what MCA is all about.

MHF, please give us an honest assessment of the Junior Team.

One of the morning dailies reported that MHF is looking at a bigger picture and that's why they are not sending 12 of their good players.Therefore the team to July's Asia Junior Hockey tournament in Hyderabad is a weak team and nothing much is expected. The Chairman of the Coaching Committee goes on further to add that these players who were not named for the trip would not be able to play in next year's Junior World Cup as they would be over age. So, this is MHF's big picture !!!!!!

Another morning daily reported why some of the key players were not included for the Hyderabad trip. 3 key players are still injured while some of the rest are still nursing injury from their tour to Europe. Obviously, this daily is not having sight of the big picture !!!!!!!

2 sets of different reasons reported on the dailies. It would seem the one who highlighted that MHF is looking at the bigger picture must surely be starting to create the excuse in case the Juniors perform badly in Hyderabad. Why? Is that the big picture?

Seriously if MHF had seen the big picture than they would not have selected the 12 players who were going to be over age for the World Junior tournament next year, for the trip to Europe.What the Coach and Coaching Committee Chairman had referred to as a strong team had performed disastrously on that tour. Imagine! They lost to unheard Austria and were thrashed by Belgium. They think if this team goes to Hyderabad, Malaysia would perform much better.

I think MHF honestly believe that hockey lovers are people like them who cannot think. They get their friend in the press to give a favourable impression of what is happening. If MHF had seen the big picture they would have put more players who would play in the Junior World Cup for the European tour as exposure and also as a warm-up for the Asia Junior tournament. Is this not a bigger bigger picture than that of MHF? I think one must not pull wool over peoples' eyes. It can be seen through and through and does not help MHF in its current predicament.

What we are seeing in MHF is the lack of proper planning combined with foresight. As it stands what is happening in MHF provides the impression things are undertaken haphazardly. It reminds me of someone doing school homework who is not worried that what he does is right or wrong. What he thinks is more important, is that the homework book is handed in. So, how can someone then achieve the desired results?

What i am saying is the people involved in all of this sort of work in MHF do not have the calibre to undertake it. It shows in everything they do. I am honest enough to highlight this and i am not prepared to "beat around the bush". Just compare our Coaches from the Senior and Junior teams with the coaches from the top 10 teams in the world. I am sorry they cannot even stand on their "shadows". If they are far below this category, then please do not expect anything from our hockey teams. This is the reality and that is the picture.