Promising new wave of football
Sarawak to be buzzing with leagues beginning next year in bid to uplift dampened spirit
KUCHING: Sarawak will be buzzing with football leagues beginning next year in a strong bid to lighten the dampened spirit of local football after so many years.
Promising a new wave of football throughout the state, newly elected president of Football Association of Sarawak (FAS) Datu Sudarsono Osman believes that football, which begins at the divisional level, will be a strong base for the future structure of football in Sarawak.
“I have earlier enthused that FAS will be visible and felt in all the divisions,” said Sudarsono who vowed changes when he was elected to head the state’s premiere football body on Aug 21.
Noting the lack of football tournaments in Sarawak, Sudarsono also hopes that all the divisional affiliates will come up with a proper programme calendar, which will also include the management of coaches and systematic trainings.
“We cannot built football without a strong base of local leagues which will be standardised by synchronising the start and end of the season (five to six months) and running on a standard format,” said Sudarsono after the FAS first exco meeting on Saturday.
He also said that the climax would be the interclub tournament where all the divisional clubs will be pitted against each other.
With an overall concept of having a continuity of football in Sarawak, this is an important step towards the development of the younger players, as their interest in the game will be kept alive with something to look forward to.
Zooming in to the development of football at the grass-roots level, Sudarsono said that a junior league within the age group of under 12, 15 and 17 years old will be further deliberated and detailed.
He also said that development is often misconstrued by focusing on elite teams, which are deprived from competitions.
Sudarsono also said that FAS would sit down together with Sarawak State Sports Council (MSNS) as well as Majlis Sukan Sekolah-Sekolah Malaysia (MSSM) to review and streamline the development programmes.
“This is to tackle the lack of tournaments for our young players, they need to play in more competitive matches to learn, apply and improve their standards of football,” he added.
“We have to mobilise the grass-roots level and create a buzz, only then can we see the outcome to form an elite squad from these big pool of players,” said Sudarsono.
He also said that four zone coordinators identified by FAS would be overlooking the divisions to keep a close monitor on the programmes and assist the local officials.
Sudarsono also said that they would act to aid in the management or technical aspects of the clubs and help them to identify potential players to be roped into the Sarawak senior squad.
Razali Dolhan will be looking after the Kuching and Samarahan zones, Nelson Kloni will be looking after the Sri Aman, Sarikei and Betong zones, Posa Majais for the Sibu, Kapit and Mukah, whereas Sazali Abdul Rahman will look into the Miri, Limbang and Bintulu zones.
“These are parts of the FAS sub-committee, mooted during the exco meeting,” said Sudarsono.
Among the various committees, he said, are the Competition Com- mittee headed by Abu Bakar Marzuki, Referee Committee (Haidel Heli), Finance Commit-tee (Sudarsono), Disci-plinary Committee (TBA) and the Technical and Coaches Development Committee (Razali).
Yesterday also saw the appointment of FAS secretary general Abdullah Julaihi as well as FAS treasurer Aris Nasrol Osman.
“That completes our FAS exco,” declared Sudarsono who has a strong team to elevate the football in Sarawak and revive its glory days.
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