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Not Right To Ignore FAM, Says Azalina |
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Posted by admin
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Friday, 30 May 2008 14:32 |
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SHAH ALAM, May (Bernama) -- Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, who was Youth and Sports Minister previously, said Thursday it was not right that the organisers of the Champions Youth Cup (CYC) football competition had neglected the FA of Malaysia (FAM).
The second edition of the tournament organised by Gifted Group Limited (GGL) at a cost of RM17 million and scheduled to be held from Aug 5 to 16 had to be called off after it did not get the sanction of the FAM, who are the football governing body in the country.
Azalina, who was on an official visit to Selangor in her capacity as Tourism Minister, said this to reporters here when asked to comment on the debacle.
She said that when she was the Youth and Sports Minister, the idea to have the tournament was brought up at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Sports Development, which is represented by 15 other ministers and chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
"It was a decision of the committee to organise the tournament. I was also disappointed when I got to know the promoter did not want to work with the FAM on it.
"For me, it was the most important thing they should have paid attention to," she said.
-- BERNAMA Excerpt below taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_Association_of_Malaysia The FAM after years have been subject to criticism by many including the locals. Many fans are unhappy with the ever changing league format and the decline in the standard in the local league and national team. The fact that the FAM introduces ad hoc decisions has also marred its relationship with several state affliliates. There was a stage when the FAM allowed 4 imports, but within months changed its ruling to only allowing 3 to be eligible for every affliate, making teams loose out on compensation over termination of foreign players contracts. A recent spat over the FAM's unprofessionalism saw the Football Association of Sarawak (FAS) denied its 3-1 victory for the suspicion of fielding an ineligible player due to the FAM's ruling which only came into effect after the player played put Sarawak back into rough waters with its parent body and although the player was mysteriously allowed to play after half of the season has ended, many fans are still unhappy that FAS remains the only association under the microscope of the FAM. The FAM has also been recently underfire from the press and the local football fans due to its dismal performance in the Asian Cup where the Malaysian team lost all its games to China 5-1, Uzbekistan 5-0 and finally Iran 2-0. The FAM then "claimed" that major revamps are underway to help Malaysia raise its footballing standards.
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