Let's Look At It.

Football is usually looked as an emotional, passionate, instinctive and heartfelt game. That’s all good but frankly Malaysia never had the academic, analytical and critical aspect nailed on.

It’s hard not to be romantic about our beloved national sport of football. This kind of thing, it’s fun for the fans like us. It sells tickets, sunflower seeds and jerseys, replica or original.

There is an epidemic failure within the game to understand what is really happening. And this leads people who run Malaysian football teams to misjudge their players and mismanage their teams. There is no need of examples. The examples are plenty to look at. Be it disorganisation's or politicking. Who suffers? The people that truly love the game with their hearts and minds.

Players’… people in the game are overlooked for a variety of biased reasons and perceived flaws. For example;

Player X. He’s a central midfield player. He is one of the most undervalued players in football. His defect is that he’s old, came from a different ethnicity and different social class. This player could not just the best central midfield player, but one of the most effective passer in all of Malaysian football. He should cost a huge Y amount. A team that uses the academic aspect of the game to their advantage can get him for a low Z amount.

Question, is there someone conducting proper data collecting and analysing on Malaysian football players? If yes, do contact us we would like to speak with you. If no, then they are not given the license to do so because of funding (budget) and perceived bias. Or the typical Malaysian answer, there is no job market for it. Hence no one wants to do so, even if a said person has the know how and passion to do it. It’s sad.

The academia of the sport is ever presently missing.

One may argue if we would take this route. We may cut the fun out of football. We may create a boring game of football. On the flip side, we may find a solution to the pain.

Embracing the academic side of the game while still invoking the heart of what makes football great. Opens up all kinds of interesting possibilities.

Troubled? At how different this approach is. This will be hard to get other to understand and accept. Transforming something and making massive changes, not everyone is going to understand. The important thing is going right from the get and then make the change happen. The best way to convinced people that this approach is the right one. Is to be right and show them (not tell them) this is the best way. Most people will never be convinced otherwise.

It’s about changing the game. It’s about seeing something that’s not quite right in our football and deciding to fix it. By using an academic approach with the foundation of our passion. Who knows where we will be.

By @padangbolasepak

Looking for more reading material? Go and read up on this, "Football is about community not about the money." by Dez Corkhill http://www.fourthofficial.com/football/dez-corkhill-football-is-about-community-not-money/