The broken link in football development of Sarawak
March 7, 2019
Sarawak is as huge as west West Malaysia and it’s a constant favorite to hear fans say “It’s impossible Sarawak does not have talented players”.
The truth is, the fans are right because it is not only weird, but funny how Sarawak has year after year, failed to find 25 players who can play football and win championship in Malaysia’s top football league.In fact, stars like Jalil Ramli, Tommy Mawat, Nur Shamie Iszuan, Joseph Kalang Tie, Gilbert Cassidy Gaweng and countless Sarawakians players have been called to play for Malaysia in the past.
If this is not proof that Sarawak does have quality players when it comes to football, I don’t know what is.
However, why is it so hard for the Football Association of Sarawak (FAS) to find 25 men to play for Sarawak and lift Sarawak football higher than it is today?
The answer lies in the lack of willingness to invest in improving the structure of children and youth football development.
Schools or varsities are the first contact point for any possible football player and therefore should act as a place to introduce football players into the competitive environment of football.
Although considered the lowest level of football, inter-school tournaments are key to identifying talents to be recommended. This is also where professional scouts would best scout them to be recommended for a professional career in football.
Therefore, professional scouts should be deployed by Sarawak to inter-school tournaments to identify potential players at the age of 13 to 18.
Once selected, the player should usually be offered a place in an academy after undergoing some sort of high intensity selection which would be used to determine if they suit the ambition and style of the team.
Such process has already been adopted by Johor Darul Tak’zim which has a partnership with Valencia CF.
Unfortunately, at the youth level of Sarawak, players are still selected through open selections by coaches when schools can in fact act as feeders for potential football players.
Such method meant that talented young players can miss out on the selection as the selection depends a lot on their attendance during the trial period.
At the Sarawak senior level, there has been some effort to introduce structure to the selection of players with divisional Football Associations asked to submit names of potential players to undergo closed trials for the senior Sarawak FA team, with the youth players asked to also join in the selection.
However, due to the broken link between school and the youth set-up, the pool of players available isn’t at its best, hence why Sarawak had continued to miss out on talents in football.
That said, Sarawak needs to urgently repair this broken link to enable Sarawak to have a greater pool of football players in the future.
Also Read:
Sarawak FA needs a strict and respected coach to succeed
Did FAS act too soon by ‘resting’ Anai and Usop?
Sarawak FA needs a strong midfielder to shine
This article is brought to us by our Sports Writers Club resident columnist – Cyril Dason.
