In my article yesterday titled: TM's decisiveness on Beng Hai's "hour of need", i inadvertently omitted to mention George Koshy's name for being supportive of getting Beng Hai's return to Malaysia. As Team manager, George is in New Zealand with the team and is the principal personality holding the reins of the Malaysian contingent.
I duly apologise to George for the error as the omission may have given rise to various other interpretations to the readers of the article. It is my hope that this little note would help to rectify the situation.
This also mean that i can take this opportunity to wish George and the team the very best of luck and hope they are able to fulfill their objective. Good Luck
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
TM's decisiveness in Beng Hai's "hour of need".
Today Beng Hai has arrived in town in a sombre mood as he makes his way to Taiping to be with his family and loved ones, who are gathered to pay their respects to his late father. Beng Hai's father succumbed following a road accident on Monday. At that time Beng Hai had just arrived in New Zealand with the national team for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.
On receiving the news Beng Hai in his usual self did not want to trouble others nor distract the team, as such he kept the news to himself. If it was not for the kind intervention of MHF, the Malaysian officials in New Zealand would not know of this "heart breaking" news that Beng Hai was carrying himself. Indeed from what we gather Beng Hai wanted to keep things as normal as possible without displaying any emotions. He probably wanted to continue his duty despite the adverse emotional stress he was undergoing. Poor Beng Hai was caught in two worlds i e the duty as a national coach in New Zealand and to be with his family in providing support to one another in this hour of bereavement.
Fortunately, there was a thoughtful MHF official who brought the news of Beng Hai's father's sudden demise to the TM. Apparently without a second thought the TM requested that all necessary things must be done for Beng Hai to return to Malaysia to participate in the last rites for his father. Such decisive action of TM paved the way to get Beng Hai to Malaysia as soon as possible.
While arrangements were being made from Kuala Lumpur, Saiful as Assistant coach and Gopi as Assistant team manager were prepared to hold the reins in Beng Hai's absences. At the same time the concerned Beng Hai felt that once he has fulfilled his obligatory last rites to his father, he would immediately depart for New Zealand to be with the team. This effectively meant that Beng Hai would be in the country for only 24 hours, thereby making it for Malayia's 1st match.
At this moment Beng Hai would be going through a heightened emotional stress level trying to cope with the demise of his father, the grieving scenario of the family and also wondering about his boys in New Zealand. These are challenging times for Beng Hai but what is important is that people have to give and display the much needed support in his hour of need. The TM and MHF had provided the right support while his hockey colleagues are gathering to help him through this grieving moments. What is important is the Malaysian hockey team have to give their best to show to their coach that in his hour of need they are there with the right results. It has to be the team's added passion.
It is only fitting that on behalf of the Malaysian hockey fraternity, may the blog extend our condolences and sympathy to Beng Hai's family and Beng Hai on his father's demise and our prayers for his father's soul.
On receiving the news Beng Hai in his usual self did not want to trouble others nor distract the team, as such he kept the news to himself. If it was not for the kind intervention of MHF, the Malaysian officials in New Zealand would not know of this "heart breaking" news that Beng Hai was carrying himself. Indeed from what we gather Beng Hai wanted to keep things as normal as possible without displaying any emotions. He probably wanted to continue his duty despite the adverse emotional stress he was undergoing. Poor Beng Hai was caught in two worlds i e the duty as a national coach in New Zealand and to be with his family in providing support to one another in this hour of bereavement.
Fortunately, there was a thoughtful MHF official who brought the news of Beng Hai's father's sudden demise to the TM. Apparently without a second thought the TM requested that all necessary things must be done for Beng Hai to return to Malaysia to participate in the last rites for his father. Such decisive action of TM paved the way to get Beng Hai to Malaysia as soon as possible.
While arrangements were being made from Kuala Lumpur, Saiful as Assistant coach and Gopi as Assistant team manager were prepared to hold the reins in Beng Hai's absences. At the same time the concerned Beng Hai felt that once he has fulfilled his obligatory last rites to his father, he would immediately depart for New Zealand to be with the team. This effectively meant that Beng Hai would be in the country for only 24 hours, thereby making it for Malayia's 1st match.
At this moment Beng Hai would be going through a heightened emotional stress level trying to cope with the demise of his father, the grieving scenario of the family and also wondering about his boys in New Zealand. These are challenging times for Beng Hai but what is important is that people have to give and display the much needed support in his hour of need. The TM and MHF had provided the right support while his hockey colleagues are gathering to help him through this grieving moments. What is important is the Malaysian hockey team have to give their best to show to their coach that in his hour of need they are there with the right results. It has to be the team's added passion.
It is only fitting that on behalf of the Malaysian hockey fraternity, may the blog extend our condolences and sympathy to Beng Hai's family and Beng Hai on his father's demise and our prayers for his father's soul.
Friday, October 23, 2009
TM must be commended for being firm on the discipline issue.
On Thursday 22nd, malaysianhockey.blogspot.com carried an article titled "Door shut on Ismail". In brief, it relates to a discipline issue where a player misled his coach and took leave from training but was caught "red handed" at a online gaming centre. He withdrew from the national team by furnishing a letter to the team manager. The Management Committee accepted his withdrawal and sources indicate that he is not permitted to participate in the national league i e MHL.
On Thursday at Kuantan prior to the 3rd Test match between Malaysia and Australia, the player, certain key MHF officials and the 2 national coaches with the national team manager apparently "ambushed" the TM to ascertain whether the player should be reconsidered for the national team. "Ambush" is the key operative word because there was a confusion created that the player was prepared to withdraw his letter and the TM had "approved" him to be reconsidered for the national team. Obviously there were sufficient personalities with the intelligence to pursue the matter with the TM. Sources indicate that the TM was solidly firm not to change his mind as per the decision of the Management Meeting. Indeed the story goes that the TM was upset with the player, more so as he originates from Pahang.
Analysing the entire episode the said player must either be a "smart cookie" or he has good advisers. His strategy and tactics that he adopted were "good maneuvers" and in a way it may have paid off. The fact that he instantaneously withdrew from the national team after the incident was probably to be outside the ambit of being disciplined by MHF. In fact, that strategy worked as the MHF's Management Committee mildly disciplined him, without referring his case to the Disciplinary Board. This provided him a lifeline and he was able to activate it in Kuantan following the national team's 2 defeats in the hands of the Australians. The timing was immaculate particularly as Malaysia's forward line were "firing" blanks and his recall may have been imminent.
Somewhere good sense prevailed and the TM and various other personalities knew exactly what they wanted. It was a "no go" for the player and therefore the message even though mild in nature was not minced. The decision of the Management Committee remained intact.
It is sad such a young player has to face such consequences. The point being he courted the danger and apparently it was not the 1st time. Maybe this punishment would open his mind and eyes to understand that it does not pay to play truant and on top of it to indulge in an activity where the statistical chances of winning is slim. So why waste the hard earned resources. Now that a major slice of his income is lost i e as a national player, it is probably going to have an impact on his quality of life. This probably would be a lesson to him and i hope with time he matures to realising that he can still work his way back to the national team. Of course he has to drop all the extra unwanted "luggage" he is now carrying. If that happens i am sure MHF would not want to exclude him in the future national teams provided he earns his place. It is probably a price he has to pay and that is the message for other players waiting to don national colours.
On Thursday at Kuantan prior to the 3rd Test match between Malaysia and Australia, the player, certain key MHF officials and the 2 national coaches with the national team manager apparently "ambushed" the TM to ascertain whether the player should be reconsidered for the national team. "Ambush" is the key operative word because there was a confusion created that the player was prepared to withdraw his letter and the TM had "approved" him to be reconsidered for the national team. Obviously there were sufficient personalities with the intelligence to pursue the matter with the TM. Sources indicate that the TM was solidly firm not to change his mind as per the decision of the Management Meeting. Indeed the story goes that the TM was upset with the player, more so as he originates from Pahang.
Analysing the entire episode the said player must either be a "smart cookie" or he has good advisers. His strategy and tactics that he adopted were "good maneuvers" and in a way it may have paid off. The fact that he instantaneously withdrew from the national team after the incident was probably to be outside the ambit of being disciplined by MHF. In fact, that strategy worked as the MHF's Management Committee mildly disciplined him, without referring his case to the Disciplinary Board. This provided him a lifeline and he was able to activate it in Kuantan following the national team's 2 defeats in the hands of the Australians. The timing was immaculate particularly as Malaysia's forward line were "firing" blanks and his recall may have been imminent.
Somewhere good sense prevailed and the TM and various other personalities knew exactly what they wanted. It was a "no go" for the player and therefore the message even though mild in nature was not minced. The decision of the Management Committee remained intact.
It is sad such a young player has to face such consequences. The point being he courted the danger and apparently it was not the 1st time. Maybe this punishment would open his mind and eyes to understand that it does not pay to play truant and on top of it to indulge in an activity where the statistical chances of winning is slim. So why waste the hard earned resources. Now that a major slice of his income is lost i e as a national player, it is probably going to have an impact on his quality of life. This probably would be a lesson to him and i hope with time he matures to realising that he can still work his way back to the national team. Of course he has to drop all the extra unwanted "luggage" he is now carrying. If that happens i am sure MHF would not want to exclude him in the future national teams provided he earns his place. It is probably a price he has to pay and that is the message for other players waiting to don national colours.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
There is no "whomp" in the national hockey team.
I had the pleasure of witnessing a few people exchanging views on the current Malaysian hockey team. This was in pursuant to the 1st and 2nd "Test" match between Australia and Malaysia on Monday and Tuesday at the Tun Razak Stadium. Most of them had strong views and in a nutshell it seem to revolve around the following points:
- Australia brought a young team and 9 of their senior players are absent and are still playing in Europe.
- The Malaysian team seem to be "headless" and "speechless" as no one seem to be directing the operations in the field.
- The Malaysian players basic skills of trapping the ball, goal shooting, creating passing opportunities, supporting the player with the ball, and so forth seem weak.
- Malaysian players do not seem to have the passion nor the hunger to perform.
- Although there were glimpses of individual dribbling and taking on the opposing player but the finishing was poor.
- Save for 1 or 2 players most of the Malaysian players could not "match" the "body contact" approach the Australians had adopted.
- The Malaysian players lack the imaginative sense to create opportunities to score including through "set pieces".
The Malaysian coaches Beng Hai and Saiful must take these points aboard. After all it is "test" matches and it is important the team's weakness are spotted and worked upon before the qualifiers. Although there is not much time yet the key aspects can be addressed. I am sure Beng Hai must be doing all that is possible to get the best out of the team.
An area that seem disturbing is that there is something missing in the national team. There seem to be no "whomp" factor i e a sense of "cohesive urgency" in the Malaysian game play. I wonder whether the prolonged politicking in the national team over the months have taken the toll that the players are just carrying the "stick" in the field to earn the "caps" and the monthly salary.
I raise this as there are some stories going around about the national team and its management. Firstly, the 1st choice national goalkeeper wanted an extended Deepavali leave to celebrate his 1st year of Deepavali as a married person ( a cultural aspect ), thereby missing the "Test" matches. The 2nd choice goalkeeper overslept before a match and therefore he is yet to be utilised.
Secondly, there is the aspect of announcing the list of players. The names were released last week and yet the team manager remained silent about it. There are strong indications that the relationship is estrange between the team manager and the coaches. This can be of concern as a significant number of national players are in the team manager's club payroll. Finally, early this week the coach had to make it known to the media. It would seem strange why the team manager went on "silent" mode.
Thirdly and interestingly, a former foreign coach with the national team has become privy to what is happening in the national team as some of the current players who were under him are talking. Apparently he is well versed with the situation and that may not be helpful.
All these combined and with the previous discipline issues it seem to have created an aura that nothing is going to go right. Whether this aspect is a figment of ones imagination could also be a question? However the way matters have progressed it seem to indicate otherwise.
If all these are factual events then i can understand why the national team is under performing and the "whomp" factor is missing. Too much of distraction for the players and at the sametime they are being pulled in different directions, thereby making them lose their sense of focus. It is imperative that the individual disgruntling must give way to national interest i e the big picture of the country needing to qualify for the 2010 New Delhi World Cup. The differences have to be shed and everyone must work together as a unit, if we are to make that fundamental difference. The right motivation with the right attitude combined with the right spirit, anything is possible. Lets get the battle jointly going so as we can win the war jointly to qualify for the World Cup.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Malaysian cricket - "A left over from the colonial era but certain officials undyingly maintain that mentality".
The former national coach resigned from the national cricket team after the fiasco of "cheating" him of a trip to Singapore for the ACC tournament at the end of August 2009.The manner in which certain officials conducted themselves on this matter reflect the lack of human understanding in them. They had created a "make believe" scenario as though the local coach was going to the tournament. At the same time they continuously delayed the paper work for him to obtain the necessary leave approvals. It was a process of buying time for they wanted the trainer to join the foreign coach for the trip. This made more 'political" sense for these officials as part of the "back scratching" concept in return for support from the affiliates. Essentially the former national coach was a victim of the maneuvering and manipulation that was being played by 2 key officials and a key staff.
The disgusted coach resigned with a "stinging" letter recommending MCA to continue employing foreign coaches. After all MCA was handsomely paying them with excellent fringe benefits while the local national coach was paid a pathetic attendance allowance. This did not go down well as the Executive Secretary of MCA wanted that part of the written statement to be withdrawn.
The former national coach had been involved with the national team from 1998 and in many ways for the love of the game he had "mortgaged his soul" by tolerating all the rubbish that was dished to him during that long years. He probably reached a "saturation point" when the MCA officials "played their latest number" on him.
Following the diabolical performance of the national team in Singapore and the departure of the foreign coach, there existed a "vacuum" on the coaching front. With the resignation of the local national coach, pressure was building up with the forthcoming of the Carl Schubert Trophy and the Saudara Cup games. Both the Under 23 team and Senior national team respectively needed to get into their regular training sessions. Guess who MCA turned for help? No other than the former local national coach.
What is interesting is that MCA took the coach for "granted" i e the "mortgaged soul". Indeed MCA was so sure he would turn up that they even sent out the leave approval letter to the coach's employer. However it would seem that the local coach had learnt his lesson and was determine to "redeem his mortgaged soul". Apparently now he wanted a formal invitation for the appointment and this MCA hesitatingly agreed.
Sources indicate that the local coach had responded in writing to MCA with his terms if he was to take up the appointment. Apparently he wanted a number of matters to be clearly defined from salaries, allowances to team selection and decision making. The concerned MCA officials were too "shocked" to react as they had underestimated the local coach. It would seem the MCA officials had loss their basic human touch because they always look down at people and communicate.
The officials were not prepared to engage into discussion with the local coach, so they turned to the national under 19 coach as a replacement. This person was the former national wicketkeeper and a amiable character. MCA was cautioned of his lack of ACC coaching certificates in an ACC tournament and yet thereafter MCA did nothing to rectify the situation. This person gladly accepted the appointment as coach for both the games. His terms of appointment is not clear-cut and probably in the future he too would be a victim of MCA's "games".
MCA cannot afford any long term appointments as their cash position is greatly depleted. Indeed the team for Carl Schubert Trophy had their train tickets purchased by a staff who advanced his personal funds. The position is so critical that MCA officials are debating whether they need to "break" their last deposit of RM$50,000 to pay off the long overdue creditors. There is a lot of "balancing act" that is taking place particularly with the "rolling" of funds. Therefore any long term financial commitments are not being considered.
In all this MCA had painted the wrong scenario giving the impression that everything is going on well. They have misled people to a stage they completely forgot or overlooked the human aspects of the issues. MCA played on the emotions of people whose sole "weakness" was the love for cricket. They capitalised on it and used to the maximum and when the time came the person was "constructively" dumped. Still they had the audacity to turn to him and when he wanted matters to be put in their proper perspective, like pushing "buttons" MCA left him in the lurch. Probably because cricket in Malaysia is a left over of the "colonial" era and some officials still strive with such mentality. Sad but it seem to be the operative nature of these people.
The disgusted coach resigned with a "stinging" letter recommending MCA to continue employing foreign coaches. After all MCA was handsomely paying them with excellent fringe benefits while the local national coach was paid a pathetic attendance allowance. This did not go down well as the Executive Secretary of MCA wanted that part of the written statement to be withdrawn.
The former national coach had been involved with the national team from 1998 and in many ways for the love of the game he had "mortgaged his soul" by tolerating all the rubbish that was dished to him during that long years. He probably reached a "saturation point" when the MCA officials "played their latest number" on him.
Following the diabolical performance of the national team in Singapore and the departure of the foreign coach, there existed a "vacuum" on the coaching front. With the resignation of the local national coach, pressure was building up with the forthcoming of the Carl Schubert Trophy and the Saudara Cup games. Both the Under 23 team and Senior national team respectively needed to get into their regular training sessions. Guess who MCA turned for help? No other than the former local national coach.
What is interesting is that MCA took the coach for "granted" i e the "mortgaged soul". Indeed MCA was so sure he would turn up that they even sent out the leave approval letter to the coach's employer. However it would seem that the local coach had learnt his lesson and was determine to "redeem his mortgaged soul". Apparently now he wanted a formal invitation for the appointment and this MCA hesitatingly agreed.
Sources indicate that the local coach had responded in writing to MCA with his terms if he was to take up the appointment. Apparently he wanted a number of matters to be clearly defined from salaries, allowances to team selection and decision making. The concerned MCA officials were too "shocked" to react as they had underestimated the local coach. It would seem the MCA officials had loss their basic human touch because they always look down at people and communicate.
The officials were not prepared to engage into discussion with the local coach, so they turned to the national under 19 coach as a replacement. This person was the former national wicketkeeper and a amiable character. MCA was cautioned of his lack of ACC coaching certificates in an ACC tournament and yet thereafter MCA did nothing to rectify the situation. This person gladly accepted the appointment as coach for both the games. His terms of appointment is not clear-cut and probably in the future he too would be a victim of MCA's "games".
MCA cannot afford any long term appointments as their cash position is greatly depleted. Indeed the team for Carl Schubert Trophy had their train tickets purchased by a staff who advanced his personal funds. The position is so critical that MCA officials are debating whether they need to "break" their last deposit of RM$50,000 to pay off the long overdue creditors. There is a lot of "balancing act" that is taking place particularly with the "rolling" of funds. Therefore any long term financial commitments are not being considered.
In all this MCA had painted the wrong scenario giving the impression that everything is going on well. They have misled people to a stage they completely forgot or overlooked the human aspects of the issues. MCA played on the emotions of people whose sole "weakness" was the love for cricket. They capitalised on it and used to the maximum and when the time came the person was "constructively" dumped. Still they had the audacity to turn to him and when he wanted matters to be put in their proper perspective, like pushing "buttons" MCA left him in the lurch. Probably because cricket in Malaysia is a left over of the "colonial" era and some officials still strive with such mentality. Sad but it seem to be the operative nature of these people.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Elected or Appointed into MHF - "Some are there just to add to the numbers"
MHF has 10 elected posts while there are 3 Independent members who are appointed. The Chairman of the various Committees like the Coaching, Development, Umpires, Disciplinary and so forth are also appointed position. Some of these positions have they role constitutionally defined i e the President, Secretary and Treasurer. To a certain extent the Deputy President too. Similarly also the function of the Chairman of the various Committees. In all these, the question is whether these people follow what has been enshrined in MHF Constitution?
The area i am looking at is the role of the 6 Vice Presidents. Their function is not clearly defined and a lot has to do with what they have been delegated to handle. The active of the lot is the Chairman of the Competitions Committee. His committee is suppose to have handled the organisation of the Malaysian Hockey League (MHL) and the Razak Cup. In a way they have attempted to re-engineer these tournaments and credit must be given to them for looking at things differently rather than in a stereo type fashion.
Another Vice President is responsible for the Medical Committee and he has been serving MHF for sometime. He is not new and seem to enjoy that position because it gives him accessibility to various hockey parent bodies in the international scenario. He was one of those who wanted to be a candidate for the Deputy President's post but was persuasively discouraged from contesting it last year. In MHF this person has done nothing much in the Medical Committee and indeed some wonder whether he has a committee and if so it would be interesting to look at the Committee's plans. Maybe it operates on an ad-hoc basis because of the traditional outlook of the role of the Medical Committee i e limited in nature. In a way this is sad as Sports Medicine is playing a significant role in modern day and could be under the ambit of the Medical Committee. Sometimes people do not like to venture into new areas.
Lately the Chairman of the Medical Committee has rubbed certain Ministry officials on the wrong side by his style of questioning their development programme. The story is that he has nothing much to do in MHF, therefore it allows him to be critical of others. The believe is that he wants to impress certain parties of his knowledge in hockey.
Then we have a corporate personality who is serving his 2nd term in MHF as Vice President. I believe he is Chairman of the Finance Committee and is responsible for raising funds for MHF. It surprises me that he has time for hockey despite his busy schedule, heavy work load and the responsibilities that he has to burden in the corporate sector. From various sources he is extremely supportive of sports particularly hockey. There is no doubt that with his presences MHF have had sufficiently large sponsorship for various of their events from the organisation he helms.
Another Vice President is a legally trained person who originates from Negri Sembilan. He is the Chairman of Special Projects, which according to many could be anything but at most times has nothing to do. Because of this they have now made him the Assistant Team Manager for the Project 2013 team. It would seem that he is one of those who is pushed "here and there" to fit into situations where they cannot find anybody.
Finally on the last 2 Vice Presidents, MHF have 1 each from the states of Sabah and Sarawak, who constitutionally must be elected to the post. They are there in name but do not appear for the meetings or functions and their contribution is as good as nil. Yet! for all purposes they are Vice Presidents.
The preceding paragraphs in a nutshell provide in summary of the role of the current Vice Presidents of MHF. The post of the Vice President is a key position and yet some of them do not have any major role to play. It seem to be a story of "to many chiefs and very few Indians" ( note that the Indians here denote the American Indians). So how can MHF function when most of them are some form of "chiefs" without an "army" to do the work. This is the saddest aspect in MHF i e only a few are passionately involved because of their love for hockey whereas many are there for various other reasons which is only best known to them.
The area i am looking at is the role of the 6 Vice Presidents. Their function is not clearly defined and a lot has to do with what they have been delegated to handle. The active of the lot is the Chairman of the Competitions Committee. His committee is suppose to have handled the organisation of the Malaysian Hockey League (MHL) and the Razak Cup. In a way they have attempted to re-engineer these tournaments and credit must be given to them for looking at things differently rather than in a stereo type fashion.
Another Vice President is responsible for the Medical Committee and he has been serving MHF for sometime. He is not new and seem to enjoy that position because it gives him accessibility to various hockey parent bodies in the international scenario. He was one of those who wanted to be a candidate for the Deputy President's post but was persuasively discouraged from contesting it last year. In MHF this person has done nothing much in the Medical Committee and indeed some wonder whether he has a committee and if so it would be interesting to look at the Committee's plans. Maybe it operates on an ad-hoc basis because of the traditional outlook of the role of the Medical Committee i e limited in nature. In a way this is sad as Sports Medicine is playing a significant role in modern day and could be under the ambit of the Medical Committee. Sometimes people do not like to venture into new areas.
Lately the Chairman of the Medical Committee has rubbed certain Ministry officials on the wrong side by his style of questioning their development programme. The story is that he has nothing much to do in MHF, therefore it allows him to be critical of others. The believe is that he wants to impress certain parties of his knowledge in hockey.
Then we have a corporate personality who is serving his 2nd term in MHF as Vice President. I believe he is Chairman of the Finance Committee and is responsible for raising funds for MHF. It surprises me that he has time for hockey despite his busy schedule, heavy work load and the responsibilities that he has to burden in the corporate sector. From various sources he is extremely supportive of sports particularly hockey. There is no doubt that with his presences MHF have had sufficiently large sponsorship for various of their events from the organisation he helms.
Another Vice President is a legally trained person who originates from Negri Sembilan. He is the Chairman of Special Projects, which according to many could be anything but at most times has nothing to do. Because of this they have now made him the Assistant Team Manager for the Project 2013 team. It would seem that he is one of those who is pushed "here and there" to fit into situations where they cannot find anybody.
Finally on the last 2 Vice Presidents, MHF have 1 each from the states of Sabah and Sarawak, who constitutionally must be elected to the post. They are there in name but do not appear for the meetings or functions and their contribution is as good as nil. Yet! for all purposes they are Vice Presidents.
The preceding paragraphs in a nutshell provide in summary of the role of the current Vice Presidents of MHF. The post of the Vice President is a key position and yet some of them do not have any major role to play. It seem to be a story of "to many chiefs and very few Indians" ( note that the Indians here denote the American Indians). So how can MHF function when most of them are some form of "chiefs" without an "army" to do the work. This is the saddest aspect in MHF i e only a few are passionately involved because of their love for hockey whereas many are there for various other reasons which is only best known to them.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Discipline issues in hockey cannot be simply "pooh poohed".
Last week saw some interesting developments in hockey. Hockey lovers were treated to details of 2 incidents relating to:
- A national hockey player who got leave from training in order to repair his car but was caught "red handed" at a cyber-gaming centre at the material time.
- The disciplining of 2 national players who were caught returning wee hours of the morning apparently intoxicated.
Some believe that the players should not be severely punished as:
- They are young, not withstanding their years of experience in international hockey.
- The centralised training environment forces them into such activities as a form of releasing their tension.
- They are much needed in the national team for the World Cup qualifiers.
- The nature of incident does not warrant such punishment as it relates to play station activities and returning after curfew hours.
It is strange how the "news splash" with the main media and the alternative media provided a sensational account of the events and yet following it, they want MHF to be lenient in administering the punishment. The rationale for it is based on the reasons outlined above. It would seem that they want to influence the fate of the players and maybe also of the national team. They believe without these 3 players Malaysia shall fore go any chances of qualifying for the World Cup. This is obviously a persuasive "school of thought".
The 2nd "school of thought" is that the discipline issues are fundamental aspect of performance on and off the field. Players have to be aware of this from the onset and it is part of their training to handle such matters. Therefore once MHF unnecessarily "bents" its standards, it has placed itself in a comprising position. This would bound to "haunt" MHF in the future because of the precedent it has set.
In fact the issue at hand is about a player who had lied to the coach and indulged in an activity which has similarities to the past issue relating to the allegations on "match fixing". On the 2nd incident there has been a history of 1 or 2 senior players turning up for training with stench of alcohol and therefore when these 2 players were caught wee hours of the morning apparently intoxicated, one cannot expect NSC & MHF to close their eyes. All these deserve its level of attention irrespective how good or experience the players. 'Justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done", a known maxim in law.
Therefore the level of punishment must relate to:
- Severity of the incident.
- Was the player a 1st time offender or a repeated offender?
- Has the player received warnings or cautions in the past?
- Does the player's actions influence others or is he disruptive to the team?
- Does the player's actions affect the image of Malaysian hockey?
- Is there any mitigating circumstances that must be taken into account before a decision is made?
The answers to the above questions would help to pinpoint the level of punishment that should be handed out to the players. Essentially, this is where the crux of the matters rest.
With all these taking place, it should be noted that the level of absenteeism for training has been significant and now there are rumours that both NSC & MHF have devised a system of deduction that would affect the players monthly remuneration. If that is so, we have to commend both NSC & MHF for taking such pro-active steps to create a system which hurts the players where it matters i e their salary.
Whatever, it is sad that the players have to face such harsh decisions. After all it is based on their own actions but not that of MHF or others. MHF has to do what is right and not what is popular. The integrity of the sport and its future has to be preserved. Any short term gain cannot replace the potential long term repercussions that maybe there if such indiscipline issues are left unattended. The simple rule is "everyone has to account and take responsibility for their actions". That is the only way if Malaysian hockey is to move forward.
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