Pitch-side: National Football Development Programme by Sivan John

Photo Credit: http://www.malaysia.my/article/off_the_beat/the_future_of_malaysian_football/

It’s been almost a week since the national under-16 side didn’t get pass the group stage of the AFC Under-16 championship. Since this elimination, one subject seems to be the hottest talk of the town, the National Football Development Programme (in short, the NFDP). So much so, that is fast becoming another famous acronyms in Malaysia. At least for football fans, this was on closest if not on par to the other one.

Why the NFDP has become the “goreng pisang” of Malaysian football?

To answer this question, we need to know the beginning of NFDP itself. This programme was initiated by the previous government’s ministry of youth and sports. The idea was to tackle the issue of non-existence of grassroot football in the country. The current environment run by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) is seen of lacking to produce the type of talent that would enable to take Malaysia beyond South East Asia. The aim behind NFDP is to identify, trained and produce promising football players in a comprehensive way. The programme isn’t just limited to producing footballers but also enhancing the level of coaching in the country. It only makes sense, to produce the best crop of players, you need qualified coaches.

To ensure the implementation behind this idea runs effectively, the government have romped in former international Lim Teong Kim (LTK). Up to that point, LTK has been based in Germany for the past two decades and was coaching for Bayern Munich’s youth teams. His most notable achievement is working with a youngster name Thomas Müller. In the book Das Reboot by Raphael Honigstein, Müller has credited LTK as the coach for helping to become the player that he is today. LTK was among the thousand coaches that was part of the system run by the DFB in which the NFDP took inspiration from.

Think of it as this way, a Malaysian in some ways was responsible for helping Germany to win the World Cup and dashing Lionel Messi’s dream of lifting the trophy. In footballing terms, this is as good as a Malaysian landing on the moon.

Right from the start, LTK has put in a strong work ethics that has either won admiration or adversaries among the Malaysian football fraternity. As the director of NFDP, he's often been outspoken on the current ecosystem of Malaysian football. His opinion can have an abrasive effect from coaches, media and critics alike. At times his outspokenness, comes with a lack of respect towards his fellow colleagues and coaches. Mind you that in Malaysia, criticism from someone who has spent a great deal abroad is something we don’t take lightly especially if there is a lack of local understanding.

Even so, results from the NFDP’s managed team over the past four years has been overwhelming to say the least. The team was send abroad to compete in various youth tournaments. They have bulldozed past youth teams from Sporting to Atletico to Red Bull Salzburg and have won several tournaments as well. In a nutshell, these kids have been the shining light of the nation, at times when the senior team was sinking into a black hole.

For his KPI, LTK has a set a target on qualifying for the 2019 Under-17 World Cup in Peru. It may sounds like a far stretch but results from these youth tournaments which they took part, have given hope to many people. Well you can’t blame anyone as people tend to believe what they want to believe. Especially when you have paint a picture a group of Malaysian boys roasting European, Arab or East Asian kids on a football pitch. Most importantly, if LTK has a firm belief on these boys capabilities, everything else should looks possible after all.

I will admit that I was skeptical about the results, but I was very impressed with the game plan from these kids. If anything, they are playing a brand of football which I can feel proud off. That alone is more than enough, especially when you’re so accustomed of watching those boring long ball games that often seen in the domestic league.

Nevertheless, I didn’t want to jump the gun to easily on this.

My main issue with is on how the NFDP is run since it doesn’t involved other stakeholders in Malaysian football especially clubs from the league system. On one look, I could only see something parallel between this project and the one the back in 1997. Back then, FAM put together a team for the Under-20 World Youth Cup which Malaysia were hosting.

Both are actually centralized training programme because clubs in Malaysia don’t have their own academy to produce talent. There isn’t a strong club football culture that also has a league systems involving age category teams. If we haven’t learned anything from 1997, then my guess is we still haven't learning anything right now.

The idea of centralized training camp isn’t always the ideal way to put together a group of players that will form the basis of a national team. The football association main task is giving the direction and vision on putting this project together. Those ideas will then need to be filtered down to every other stakeholders (clubs, leagues etc.). Hence, the responsibility of grassroots, scouting and academy should firmly be on the hands of professional clubs.

The idea of NFDP is a noble one that deserves plenty of praise for kick-starting something that has been long overdue. Yet there is still plenty of gaps that needs to be fixed. This is painstaking process that may take generations before it can finally bear the fruit which we all desired the most.

To give these kids the exposure of playing in international youth tournament is all good, no arguments in that. But I do feel the actual test that these kids need is to be part of a club culture that competes week in week out in a proper league system dedicated for age category teams. After all, from Maradona to Pele to Messi to Neymar, they have all come through the same system. You can’t go wrong with that.

I don’t wish to dwell so much into the outcome of the Under-16 tournament. There are already plenty talks about out there so it’s pointless for me to highlight them here. But there are some other topic that I wish to touch upon in this article.

Money! Money! Money!

The reports are saying that the government has spent almost RM80 million on NFDP for the past four years. Whether it’s an astronomical amount to spent on grass-root football is a subjective matter. This at a time when the country’s is burden with mounting debts and the economy isn’t in the best shape (don’t look me at la, I’m only quoting what the experts are saying).

But one thing is for sure, the salary of RM 175,000 (tax exempted!) for a youth coach does sound a bit absurd. Don’t get me wrong here, for his expertise and experience of working at the highest level, LTK deserves to be paid well. But well also has to come with some element being reasonable.

After all, this man once had ambition of managing a Bundesliga side. Asking him to forgo a dream of such magnitude may require some parties to dig deeper into their pockets. But for a perks that even Super League coaches can even dream off? This leaves a lot to be desired. Just my two cents worth of opinion.

Whatever it is, it is paramount that the current government needs to conduct a review and audit on all ongoing projects initiated by the previous leadership. The NFDP shouldn’t be exempted from this. Whatever gap that needs to be closed, should be the focus.

There is also need to re-look into the expenses as well. Money through various sponsorship may not be an issue in Malaysian football but it has to be prudently spend. And this should involve all the relevant stakeholders in Malaysian football. The NFDP has pioneered  something revolutionary, it’s time for the FAM, clubs and leagues to shoulder on this revolution.

Having said that, my biggest fear is on the outcome whenever FAM takes over of something. They are capable of turning rough diamonds into dirty stone. But now we do have a new sheriff in the house in Kelana Jaya. If we have to be optimistic about this, so be it.

HEY PEOPLE, LEAVE THEM KIDS ALONE!

I want to make things clear that whatever criticism that is directed in this article isn’t aim at the kids from the Under-16 national team. They are doing their best to fulfill the dream of nation regardless if it was realistic or not. I need to stress this again, they are just kids. They have a long journey ahead of them. It’s a shame that boos were apparently directed at them following the loss to Japan.

They are some who suggested that the Malaysian public were taken for a ride, no thanks to the impression made by the people in charge of NFDP. I do agree this whole experience a real wake-up call and its hurts a lot of people, Imagine how do these kids feel about this?

Remember, the reason why we admire the likes of Maradona and Pele it’s not because of what the promise they showed in their teen. But it’s because of the things they have accomplish way into their adulthood. Otherwise, we will also be talking about Freddy Adu in the same breath as well. Think about it.

CONCLUSION

The NFDP should continue as status quo, shutting it down isn't going to solve anything. While I did suggest the government should review its code of practice, politicians do needs to keep their hands out of it as well. Other stakeholders in Malaysian football needs to start behaving like a 21st century organization. Blah, blah and blah.

Yes countless of these things have been said many times but it always repetitive cycle every now and then. Then again, hope is the only thing that everyone has and it gives the people some comfort to look forward too.

Whatever the expectation is, it will be mindful to keep it modest.

Sure, there is that envy feeling when old folks talk about the good old days. The days when Malaysia used to qualify for Olympics or the Koreans used to quack in their boots before playing in Merdeka Stadium. But let’s remind ourselves that those were a different times. The landscape of football have evolved dramatically since. It’s not easy to rewrite the wrongs of almost 30 years in short time span. Change is a painful thing but it also necessary and does takes time.

Then again, in an age of fast paced and swift delivery, can sometime give birth radical ideas. This is the reason why some people have decided to start their own revolution. Social leagues have been growing like mushrooms over the past few years both in and out of the country.

Who knows one day, football will have a different realm, a federation of international social football? Social national team competing in a social world cup? A social champions league? a social…….okay let me stop here then.

Hope this article makes some sense, otherwise thanks for reading.

This Write up was written by Sivan John, who you can follow @SivanJohn_ on Twitter. Thank you Sivan for the write up on padangbolasepak.com, a genuine piece!

Pitch-Side: Is a new series by Padangbolasepak.com where passionate and eloquent football fans can share their sincerest thoughts about the state of the sport. Disclaimer, it is their respectful opinion on the matter, padangbolasepak.com just merely provides the space to host these honest write ups.