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.”