Mokhtar is gone. Leave him alone.

I am not a sports writer like the great Jonathan Fernandez or his father Uncle Johnson but like every other Malaysian, I have my own opinion on our favorite sport, soccer.
A couple of days ago, I had the opportunity to meet the Selangor football team, as they were giving away tickets to students from SRJK (T) Simpang Lima in Taman Sri Andalas. State captain and currently the national golden boy, Amri Yahyah was greeted like a cult hero by these students much to my surprise. No offence meant, but this is a good thing. Our kids are looking up to one of their own as a role model.

During the press conference, State Executive Councilor Xavier Jayakumar said that sports in schools should be run by the State sports governing body and not by the education department. This made plenty of sense, as I remember the time when I was a school athlete many years back all sporting events were cramped into a month.

Over the years, I heard all the oldies go on and on about how good of a player Mokhtar Dahari was, and how great the Malaysian football team was in the 60s. Guys, reality check. Hendrix is no longer around. There are no hippies around and the glory days are over. Stop bringing it up.

Stop reminiscing about the past and lets move one. Let Mokhtar be peace in his grave. Lets take steps to improve our soccer. Xavier suggested that the State football association should set up a soccer academic or clinic in schools. I truly agree but how are they going to do it?

Here’s what I think they should do:

• Set up a weekly soccer clinic in a school at every DUN where students from all the other schools can come and train for free with professional coaches. As soon as they enroll into Year 1 in primary school, they will be coached every week. And this will continue until they are 12.
• Set up a little league for the DUN area, where students will play against each other and if they are better than their peers, move them up a level and so on.
• Establish a database to monitor the progress of these kids
• Scarp away MSSD and have a running league where students will play 30 -40 matches through out the year. This will allow them to show their true potential.

If this is done in every State, within five years, we will have 20,000 players coming through the ranks. And from such a wide range to choose from, we will have quality. But like I said earlier, I am not a sports writer but a sports man who enjoys his football.

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