NOT GOOD ENOUGH: There's still a lot to be done with our national team

THE plight of Malaysian hockey has become the object of much derision over the years. Thus it has become a national imperative to put things right...to restore the gloss and pride of place to the nation’s most successful team sport. The facts are laid bare: we have failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. Period.

 The target was qualification and finishing second best is not getting us on the plane to New Delhi. Neither are we going to be in the world top 12 as aspired by Tengku Abdullah Shah. So it is a failure and calling it by another name will be injustice to teams of 2004, 2006 and 2008 who failed to make the Olympics and World Cups.

But before one starts to assume that the efforts of the team at Invercargill are not appreciated, then they best not carry on reading what this writer has to say here. Malaysia — despite the various issues like indiscipline, dropping of senior players and a less than comprehensive preparation — did well to make the final and lose out by a mere 13 minutes for a place in the World Cup. So, kudos to them for their effort.

Statistics do not lie, and the fact that we conceded many goals via penalty corners stood out like a sore thumb. Our forwards were naive as they failed to capitalise when in possession, but more startling was what Tai Beng Hai said at a post-match Press conference — he instructed players not to create penalty corners but score field goals when in the semi-circle.

Then we had a weakened penalty corner defence and attack as skipper Mohd Madzi Ikmar was warming the bench after the loss against New Zealand in the preliminary round. Madzli was the first choice penalty corner stopper as well as post-man for penalty corner defence, and how keeper S. Kumar must have wished that Madzli was beside him when facing Andrew Hayward in the final.

But not making the World Cup will probably help Malaysian hockey more than if we had qualified for all the shortcomings would have been swept under the carpet, as has been ever since we started failing to get through qualifiers in 1985.

The decision by the National Sports Council (NSC) is the right one — the team be disbanded to allow the new coach to identify players from the Malaysian Hockey League. The next step will be to do away with the year-long centralised training and send players to foreign leagues. Let us not be choosy about the leagues as we have to accept that at a world ranking of 16, top clubs are not about to come knocking on MHF’s doors at Bukit Jalil.

Should MHF retain Beng Hai, then he should be told before the MHL commences and be entrusted with selecting the players for the challenges next year, beginning with the Asian Champions Trophy in April, Azlan Shah Cup in June, Commonwealth Games in October and Asian Games in December.

What Malaysia need is foreign expertise, be it in the likes of a coach or technical director. So the sooner this is sourced, the better. But then again we have some MHF officials who seem to be keener on paper qualifications of these coaches when even their own qualifications are in serious doubt.

 But overall, MHF’s management team have to be more committed towards reversing the downward trend and restoring the sport to its former glory. Hockey is big business, though to some it’s just business and MHF have to be commercially viable and competitive to make a success of the game.

It is not only about developing talent but being successful internationally. And on both counts, MHF have failed miserably. MHF thus have to go back to the drawing board, if there is one to start with, to come up with a national plan to develop hockey, which is both transparent and honest in their operation.

 Firstly, MHF must recognise that this is no mean task and that it will need all the help they can get, as within MHF there is clearly a lack of direction. MHF need corporate expertise to contribute to this cause and start treating all concerned as investors in the salvation of Malaysian hockey.

We have seen some lean years but recent signs have been positive, given the performances at Invercargill. However, MHF must capitalise on this and make Malaysian hockey relevant again with help from all quarters. An increasingly globalised world changes patterns. A

 lot of things that we are used to and have considered to be stable are challenged by new orders, structures and arrangements. This reminds me of a saying — “when you are not the lead dog in the pack, the scene never changes”. So dare we hope for any changes for the better?