Horse tales

The Auditor General report states, among other things, that National Sports Institute, an agency under the Ministry of Youth and Sports,  bought wrong horses for an international competition.

The report states, 18 out of 23 specially bred horses bought by the NSI for equestrian and endurance contests, failed to meet criteria set by the Federation Equestre Internationale.

This may sound strange, wrong and obviously those responsible should be asked to explain. But, this is sports in our nation. Many would come out and say many things, but those saying the things also would have many strange things in their closet.

Therefore, the story (sad story) will continue and continue. Wrong horses, wrong coaches, wrong appointments and so on are common sayings in sport. Maybe my blogger friend Haresh Deol (Foul) should write a book entitled The Wrongs in Malaysian Sport. Unfortunately, that also won't make anything right.

Felda and 1M Cardiff sign MoU

FELDA and 1 Malaysia Cardiff City are today, Tuesday 18 October 2011, proud to announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with a view to facilitate the development of grass roots football and education programmes throughout Malaysia.

Dato’ Chan Tien Ghee, Cardiff City Chairman was joined by FELDA Director General Dato’ Dzulkifi Abdul Wahab and esteemed FELDA delegates for a two day tour in the Welsh capital, concluding with the signing of the agreement at Cardiff City Stadium.

The agreement is seen as a major step in further expanding grass root community outreach programmes in the country following the initiation of the 1MCC football scheme in July 2011.

Of the occasion, Dato’ Chan Tien Ghee said, “We are delighted to welcome FELDA Director General Dato’ Dzulkifi Abdul Wahab, his wife Datin Zainon and their colleagues here in Cardiff to see how the club operates from the first team right through to the excellent grass root outreach programmes, including the likes of social inclusion and disability football schemes undertaken by the Cardiff City Community staff on a daily basis.

“The 1MCC and FELDA agreement underlines the community based initiatives and efforts at Cardiff City. FELDA are the largest land owners in Malaysia with over 200,000 children who could benefit from a social inclusion scheme as offered by the 1MCC grass roots programme.

"The aim of course is to develop the Cardiff City model in Malaysia to allow communities and children to benefit from our expertise, regardless of their background. The 1MCC programme isn’t an Academy or simply designed for more affluent families, it’s there to include and help many children develop their football skills and education. We stated this pilot programme in July and the response has been outstanding. It’s certainly something to build on, which with the support of FELDA we have every chance of achieving.”

FELDA Director General Dato’ Dzulkifi said, "At FELDA we have a strong interest in supporting the community and education programmes. We have over 100,000 families in our area, of which some could be rising stars of the future. As such we very much look forward to progressing this venture with the 1Malaysia Cardiff City initiative. The project covers children from six to sixteen years of age and involves a mix of education and football.

"Our trip to Cardiff was to witness first-hand how well the coaches work, along with the excellent facilities. Our aim is to integrate these methods with the youth in Malaysia in terms of how the children spend their time, how they study, diet and stay healthy. It’s been a very productive visit. The development will give our children the opportunity to venture into sports as a carrier through a proven education framework such as BTEC and to use football to enrich or families.”

FIFA strikes back

The FIFA Ethics Committee, chaired by Claudio Sulser (Switzerland), has on 14 October 2011, taken decisions regarding the ethics proceedings that had been opened in August against several Caribbean Football Union (CFU) officials.

The proceedings had been opened in regard to apparent violations of the Code of Ethics connected to the investigation of the cases related to the special meeting of the CFU held in Trinidad &Tobago on 10 and 11 May 2011.

The Ethics Committee took the following decisions:
Franka Pickering (British Virgin Islands) has been banned for a period of 18 months from taking part in any football-related activity (administrative, sports or any other) and has received a fine of CHF 500.

Horace Burrell (Jamaica) has been banned for a period of six months from taking part in any football-related activity (administrative, sports or any other). The Ethics Committee decided to suspend three months of the ban, subject to a probationary period of two years.

Osiris Guzman (Dominican Republic) has been banned for a period of 30 days from taking part in any football-related activity (administrative, sports or any other) and has received a fine of CHF 300. The Ethics Committee decided to suspend 15 days of the ban, subject to a probationary period of six months.

Ian Hypolite (St. Vincent and the Grenadines) has been banned for a period of 30 days from taking part in any football-related activity (administrative, sports or any other) and has received a fine of CHF 300.

The Ethics Committee decided to suspend 15 days of the ban, subject to probationary period of six months.

Aubrey Liburd (British Virgin Islands) has received a reprimand and a fine of CHF 300.

Hillaren Frederick (US Virgin Islands) has received a reprimand and a fine of CHF 300.

Anthony Johnson (St. Kitts and Nevis) has received a reprimand but no fine.

The following officials have received a warning:
David Hinds (Barbados), Mark Bob Forde (Barbados), Richard Groden (Trinidad & Tobago), Yves Jean-Bart (Haiti) and Horace Reid (Jamaica).

Felix Ledesma (Dominican Republic) was considered not to have committed any violation.

The hearing of Noel Adonis (Guyana) has been postponed, while in the case of Patrick Mathurin (St. Lucia), more information is required and therefore no decision has been taken at this stage.

The cases of David Frederick (Cayman Islands) and Joseph Delves (St. Vincent and the Grenadines) were closed since they are no longer football officials. Should they return to football official positions, their cases would be examined again by the Ethics Committee.

Its's now Dato' Alex

ASIAN Football Confederation (AFC) Alex Soosay will be conferred Darjah Indera Mahkota Pahang (DIMP) on Oct 24th at Istana Sultan Abu Bakar, Pekan.


Here is the report by Blogger, Jaiho

Alex was appointed as General Secretary on July 15, 2009 after the resignation of Datuk Sri Paul Mony Samuel, Alex is an AFC veteran, having headed several key departments during his 14-year-long career. The Malaysian has played and coached at the national level and was Executive Secretary of the Negeri Sembilan Football Association before joining AFC in 1994.

Well-known as a hands-on organiser, Soosay was involved in the AFC Asian Cups of 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2007, and the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Championship, 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Congratulations Dato and we wish you all the best ...

RIP Ghenda Singh

Former national hammer thrower, Ghenda Singh Amar Singh passed away at the University Malaya Medical Centre on Sunday (9/10/11). He was 89.

I do not know Ghenda that well but I have been a close friend with his son Semret Singh, another national hammer thrower, since the 1980s. I know how much Semret looked up to his father and at this time, I would like to extend my deepest condolence to Semret and his brothers and sister.

Semret continued the tradition and won two Sea Games gold medals (1985 Bangkok and 1989 KL) and even broke his father's record of 44.14m after managing 51.644m at the Police Games in 1986.

The earlier record was set by Ghenda in 1966 in Ipoh.

Ghenda started competing in 1960 and retired after the 1977 KL Seap Games at the age of 55. A pectoral muscle tear did not stop him as he defied doctors' orders to compete in the 1977 Games. He won the bronze medal.

Ghenda leaves behind wife Mohinder Kaur, sons — Semret, Kulwant, Kaldip, Manohor, Mahinderjit — and daughter Persin Kaur to mourn his loss.

Those wishing to pay their last respects can do so at No 2, Jalan BRP 4/10, Bukit Rahman Putra, Sungai Buloh, 47000, Selangor. The cottage will leave the house at 10.00am on Wednesday to Jalan Loke Yew Cemetery in Kuala Lumpur. 

Malaysia vs India next month

New Delhi: Indian senior football team will play two international friendly matches against Malaysia next month in the run up to the South Asian Football Federation Cup to be held here in December.
The international friendlies will be held on November 13 at Indira Gandhi Athletics Stadium at Sarusajai, Guwahati and on November 16 at Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.
"The All India Football Federation is pleased to confirm two international friendlies for the Indian senior team against the Malaysian senior team," the AIFF said in a release.

The international friendlies will be held in India on November 13 and 16.

Getty Images

India played their last international friendly on August 25 when they lost to Guyana 1-2 during their two-match trip of the Caribbeans under interim coach Armando Colaco.
India are currently ranked 163rd in the FIFA charts while Malaysia are at 147th spot.
The SAFF Cup will be held at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here from December 2-12. - PTI

CAS rejects Hammam

Mohamed Bin Hammam has failed in his bid to be reinstated as head of Asian football by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said Monday (3/10/11).

The 62-year-old Qatari is serving a lifetime ban from football after being accused by Fifa of bribery during his failed bid to become the world governing body’s president in May.

As the most senior AFC member, China’s Zhang Jilong assumed the roles of acting head and Fifa executive committee member after the ban.

Hammam was attempting to overturn that decision and be reinstated to both roles in the interim ahead of his CAS hearing into the Fifa ban and the AFC decision.

Hammam had ran against Fifa president Sepp Blatter but withdrew from the race on May 29 after being accused of handing US$40,000 (RM124,000) bribes in brown envelopes as a sweetener to Caribbean football officials to secure their vote.

Blatter was re-elected unopposed for a fourth term three days later. Hammam, who was re-elected unopposed for a third and final term as AFC head in January, has continually said he was innocent and is taking his case to CAS after having his appeal against the decision rejected by Fifa last month.

The Qatari has been heavily critical of Fifa since the decision in May.

He has appeared to flout Fifa rules on the ban from all football by using AFC headed paper and referred to himself as the AFC president when making public a number of statements on his blog.

The AFC said they welcomed the decision by CAS to reject the appeal to have Zhang removed.

“AFC has strictly followed the AFC Statutes at all times in relation to Mr Jilong’s designation as AFC Acting President and nomination to the Fifa Executive Committee,” the statement read.

“Hence, AFC welcomes the CAS decision on provisional measures and is confident of its prospects of success at the CAS hearing on the merits of the appeal.” — Reuters