Lets have a National Sports Hall of Fame

A Hall of Fame is a museum where potraits, memorabilla or belongings of people who have excelled in a particular sphere are kept. To be inducted into a Hall of Fame means one is given recognition for his or her contribution in a particular field.

For Malaysia, a Sports Hall of fame would be an institution that appreciates the high achievements of athletes and excellent contributions of officials at all levels.

Obviously, a certain standard must be attained before a person can be inducted in any hall of fame. The natural standard would be an involvement in sports for more than 20 years, and winning medals at the highest level possible.

Presently, there is a Sports Museum and Hall of Fame at Wisma OCM in Jalan Hang Jebat in Kuala Lumpur. Many athletes, officials and pertsonalities have been inducted into it. Well done.

But many names are not there and I had asked why former soccer administrators like Koe Ewee Teik and Dato' Teoh Chye Hin were not in the Hall of Fame. I was told it was because they have passed away. But one look at the names there, one would notice many names of people who are also not around now.

I suggested that Datuk T. Paul Murugasu should be inducted and after some thoughts, the former FAM Honorary Secretary was included. Former Asian Football Confederation (AFC) General Secretsary, Datuk Peter Velappan has also been inducted.

I also inquired why people like Teh Jin Swee and Shuaib Kassa (badminton), Ahmad Tajuddin (sepaktakraw) were not inducted and I was told that because nobody knows where they are and some other strange reasons.

Ms Vivian Soars (picture: from Level Field) who passed away last week has not been inducted even though her name was proposed before. The others from women's hockey who should also be considered are the late Dorothy Sibert Bailey and Mrs Teh Jin Swee.

Some one asked why are people like K.Rasalingam and S. Anthonysamy not included and the answer given was they were active at state level. Everyone who know something about sports is asking that grassroots be given priority because the achievements of athletes and teams at international level depends alot on the contributions of those at grassroots.

I believe a school teacher like A. Trappadi who worked tirelessly at his level to produce on medal winning athlete like B. Rajlkumar, should be given due recognition. He should be above those who only win elections to stay in office.

Anyway, its a waste of time talking, arguing and listening to excuses which change seasonaly. It is a total waste of time.

Therefore, I feel the time has come for the Youth and Sports Ministry, together with organizations like Sportswriters Association of Malaysia (SAM) to put up a National Sports Hall of Fame that will truly appreciate all these great people people.

This Hall of Fame must be managed by a group of people who follow sports with passion.

We must know to differentiate between the levels of sports. In some sports we can excell to a high level mainly because only 50 countries play the sport. But in sports like athletics, football and cycling, which is actively participated by almost the whole world, the standard is different.

The same goes for boxing where SEA Games is almost world standard with countries like Indonesia and Philippines having world champions in different weight divisions.

We cannot expect a boxer to win silver medal at the Olympics before he can qualify to be with some badminton players.

I hope that a Hall of Fame that appreciates all these facts would become a reality soon.