KUCHING: The participation of Sarawak whether in the Malaysia Cup or the Malaysian Football League requires a lot of support from Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), said Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports, Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah. “FAM should know that if Sarawak were to participate, they will incur much more expenses compared to teams in Peninsular Malaysia.
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“If you want Sarawak, even Sabah in the league, you must come and support us because our matches are held home and away,” he said, adding that Sarawak has to play12 away matches and 13 to 14 home matches.
“At home, we don’t have to incur the extra cost because we don’t have to fly, but we need to fly for the 12 away matches and the amount we spent is quite substantial. We do not bring only 11 players but more than 20 people.
“Teams in Peninsular Malaysia only have to fly to Sabah and Sarawak. Between the states in Peninsular Malaysia, they use buses for transportation which did not incur much expense compared to Sabah and Sarawak teams. “So, if FAM still wants Sarawak or even Sabah to be seen as a part of the league, for the sake of integration, FAM has to come and support us. “I can’t blame FAS for complaining about money.
That is why I keep telling them, go and tell FAM or else we cannot afford because in a month we need about RM1 million to pay the players, accommodation and transportation,” he said.
Karim added that probably FAM can bring in the Federal government to support our team. “If Sabah and Sarawak are not in the league, it would be seen that our national integration is not good. In that case, support us. I believe this is a fair request,” he pointed out. Karim said the state government also provides an annual grant for the state football team.
“Our state football team gets the biggest chunk among other sports in terms of the grant amounts but we cannot paying for all the football team expenses as we have other sports to look after, too,” he told reporters after chairing a press conference on the Kuching International Bike Week 2017 at Baitulmakmur building, Petra Jaya here, yesterday. He also said that he was not only speaking for Sarawak alone but for Sabah, too.
“We hope that not only the state government but also the Federal government and FAM will come to the rescue because around RM15 million is needed annually to ensure that the state football team can continue to play in the Malaysian Football League,” he added. Karim also said that he was making his own investigation on the mistakes or weakness on FAS’s failure to acquire the FAM licence. “I hope the current FAS management will be more patient and stop accusing each other in the matter.
“When we inherit a team or an association or a company, we received it lock, stock and barrel. If we are chosen to be the leader, we have to accept what the previous management left for us. There is no need for us to express that it is not your fault but the fault of the previous management,” he said.
He added that FAS should be professional about the issue and if there is problem about money, they have to look into it. “If there is a problem of unaudited accounts, then try to get it audited.
I am not pointing a finger at anyone whether the current management or previous one but for me, football must continue on and we just cannot push it aside.
“But along the way, we need FAM’s support and I expect FAS to raise this issue in its future meeting with FAM in Kuala Lumpur,” he said. The online Word to HTML converter lets you compose a clean and tidy code for your website. Please leave this message unchanged or subscribe for a htmlg membership.
