What is Malaysia's rank currently in football?
Currently we are 152. What does this mean? Well it means Rwanda a nation that experienced genocide and has one doctor per one hundred thousand people is ranked higher than us at 121. I am not saying football rankings is more important than healthcare but shouldn't it mean that with superior healthcare our athletes should be healthier and have superior performance? By the way Rwanda's population is about 9 million only. Iraq at number 83 is a wartorn country or at least that is what the media want us to believe. What does this mean? Does it mean the United States of America have to invade us for out teams to improve? We are definitely richer than most of the countries that is ranked above us so what is our problem?
I am led to believe it is too much government intervention. Who controls the the Football teams playing in the Malaysian League? The State Football associations. In fact most of the football players can be considered civil servants. If you look at the powerhouses fo the world from Brazil to the most lucrative league in the world they have free competition. Anyone can form a football club and if you play well you can progress from the Confederation League all the way to the Premiership and if you don't do well you will be relegated. Look at the MyTeam which came so close to beating the national under-21. What is more remarkable is they have only been playing together for a month and they are amateurs who work by day as a roti canai seller or something. Who do they consist of? The best Shebby and Jason can find. No regard for race, politics, or connection. Sadly the momentum is lost but we should more teams like Myteam and they can play in a whatever league they want.
For those who are race-conscious and are worried that if we allow people to form the teams they want wouldn't it affect the muhibbah spirit. Well I have news for you. In a competitive league where money is important to the owner and victory to the fans there is no place for preferential treatment or any prejudice. Even if you start with an all-Chinese team reality will set in and before long just to satisfy both fans and owner, it will only consist of the best. No Arsenal fan will complain about the team being mostly African or Frenchmen of African descent no matter how rascist they are off the pitch. They only want to win and the players play their best because their rice bowl depend on it. Look at the M league the players still get paid no matter how empty the stadium. In England their pay is the a function of stadium attendance and number of people who watch them on television.
Well you may say that with all these money flooding in it cause the high stake sort of environment that lead to diving. Well the problem can be solved first by breaking tradition and allowing referees to assisted by video replay and most importantly when the fans will have nothing to do with it. That is they are more interested in seeing smooth play than winning. However if they don't that is their choice it is their money and time and not yours. If you don't like it go and go select a league that plays more to your idea of the spirit of the game probably the Somalian National League or something where they play not for nmoney but for the love of the game( You have to really love it, it is banned under pains of death in Mogadishu). I believe a Maradona will emerge and no matter how hard he is tackled he can still run and score a goal and when that happens men of greater talent will stop diving.
Well then what about all those teams with big money won't they crowd out the smaller ones. My answer to that is Malaysia will take quite a bit of time to reach that level but when we do reach that level it is important that we maintain a free entry into leagues. That is to say anyone who can get 10 other persons to play with him regularly will not be hindered in trying to join a league and if there be a thousand team then they shall play off one another to get promotion up to the third then second and finally premier league. This is situation is of course impossible as there are only a certain number of people good enough to play and has that amount of dedication and before you know it all the teams will be merging to make up for each other's lack and you come up with better teams. Even small teams if they train their youth well can become big money teams. Arsene Wenger spent a fraction of what Chelsea does and now all his young players are maturing and they will worth more than when he bought them. He can then either sell them so he can buy other big name players or retain them until they are of no use to use they sell them off for still a tidy profit. This economic situation forces teams to find their niche and if they can't afford open market transfer than they will stop neglecting the youth training. In the end Abrahamovitch doesn't have infinite resources and soon you will be seeing more Wenger style investment which can only bring good as it develops the younger talent.
As to foreign players I don't care if the team is one hundred percent foreign. It will make the locals work harder for a place.
Are the players payed too much? NO WAY. They are payed that much because the owners feel it is worth it and why? This is because the owners make a profit from the fans but are the fans complaining? No they are not. If they feel exploited they can stop going to matches as no one forces them to buy season tickets. Like I say the players pay is a function of attendance and if they fans say their performance is worth their time and money who am I to argue with the masses. When the fans i.e. the consumer is tired of diving let me tell you the diving will stop becasue no matter how many rules there are always ways around it. HTe acting just get better because there is an incentive to. Man work because not for the joy of it but for the incentive positive or otherwise.