There have been several issues on hockey that were uncovered over the weekend and what makes it more interesting is that it points to a chink in the armor of the Malaysian Hockey Confederation as people issues have now taken the hockey body to a new low.
Many are aware of the factions within MHC, some that are targeting a common enemy in Manjit Majid Abdullah, while others are marriage of convenience. All of this goes on to show that all is not well within the MHC, and the advice of the President Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah to close ranks is merely that, advice that fell on deaf ears.
Lets go thought the issues that have affected hockey and its left o the readers to construe what and who is actually behind these problems.
1) There was an Appointment Committee formed to look at employing a CEO and four full time officials, headed by Dato Abdul Rahim Md Ariff. The committee was hand picked by the President and despite that the MHC Secretary, who was not an appointed member of this committee, sat in the meeting held last Thursday. Mind you the terms of reference of the committee is o come up with job specifications for the five positions, thus affecting the MHC secretary position as well.
2) Then there is an issue of the misbehavior of two coaches during the Under 16 Manhiem tournament that went unreported until the MHC Secretary raised the issue at the Coaching Committee Meeting last Saturday. Now the Coaching Committee has decided to review the practice of sending the two top teams of Under 16 coaches to Manhiem, as over two successive years there have been incidents, ironically both are coaches from KL.
3) This is more interesting, for the Kedah representative raised the issue of the participation of the Kedah team in the recent Under 16 girls tournament. In a nutshell the questioned posed was who sent the team as Kedah never had a women's hockey association and amendments are in process to include women participation in Kedah HA. So why did MHC accept an entry not submitted by an affiliate of MHC? Not to mention where the RM3,000 subsidy went to, if it was paid as Kedah HA never received any money!
4) The Coaching Committee has raised its concerns about the interference of the National Team Management Committee on the issue of appointing coaches for national team. This is in wake of an incident involving I.Vikneswaran who was appointed coach of the national women Indoor team to Bangkok without any approval from the Coaching Committee. The MHC secretary is now to revert as to who made that appointment although Vikneswaran was asked at the meeting and made it clear who that individual was.
5) The merger issue of men and women at states has hit a snag. In NS the NSHA offered their women counterparts two Vice President and two Council Member positions, a fair deal as NSWHA is made up of individual representation with no affiliates. But this offer, though initially accepted has now been rejected as the women want three Vice Presidents, one Assistant Secretary and three Council Members positions. And not to mention there is no news about mergers from Selangor, Perak, Pahang, Terengganu as well.
The list goes on but for the moment the issues at hand are enough to rock the boat, and should be addressed soon. With just a week before 2013, the calendar of tournaments has yet to be revealed as well.
In the spirit of Christmas and New Year and the advice of the MHC President, I am prepared to bury the hatched, but where apologies are appropriate, they sold be made with a good intention. For even I am prepared o apologies for being harsh to some, but always remember that who provoked he issue.
I have offered the olive branch, it's up to these individuals o react, don't worry, I do not bite.
