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BITTER BLOW BY NSC

The National Sports Council has decided no longer to sponsor the annual National U16 Indoor Tournament.

The annual event held for the NSC Director General Cup is the only indoor tournament held in the country.

Despite the effectivenessof indoor hockey, MHC has largely ignored it and the last national championship for men and women was held in Ipoh in 2013.

"I told MHC officials that they should find a title sponsor if they wish to continue with the tournament,"said NSC Director General Dato Ahmad Shapawi Ismail when asked as to why the government body pulled the plug.

"I feel it's time to set the priorities when it comes to funding tournaments as NSC is already assisting in other tournaments such as age group and the Junior League as far as hockey is concerned."

The decision by NSC is surely a bitter pill for the state affiliates who not only now lose an event they used to be subsidized to participate but also are voiceless following the removal of the governing council in the MHC Constitution.

And it goes on to show the failure of its leadership and administration in failing to handle sponsorship and marketing on the sport.

Word has it that a major sponsor has also withdrawn its support lately after the failure of hockey to meet its international targets.

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BLEAK RAYA

It is going to be a bleak Hari Raya for the dozens of Umpires and Technical Officials that served in the Malaysian Junior Hockey League.

They served unselfishly in the heat and rain, forking out their hard earned money to travel to venues, to ensure the future generation of hockey players get to showcase their ability.

The MJHL was completed in March and the sponsors had paid their commitment towards the tournament that was inaugurated in 1995.

So what happens to the money and why are these officials still waiting for their money?

Remember that most of them have Hari Raya to celebrate next week and as one lamented, we do not have money to lighten the lamps to usher in the joyful occasion.

Each official is owed a sum averaging RM800 to RM1,000 and surely those who had promised to overcome the RM2.7 million debut should do the correct thing.

Staff at MHC have received their July salaries in advance plus a Raya Bonus of RM1,000 each but what about those owed money months ago.

Perhaps not paying the CEO and two others who have been receiving money for their supposedly voluntary work could have gone towards paying these umpires.

What about money used for the trip of a support group to Antwerp.

Getting priorities right was never a forte of administrators in the past and obviously the new brooms do not sweep well.

Talking about being above board and transparent in their dealings, perhaps the CEO would want to issue a Press Statement as to what happened to the money paid by the sponsors?

And word has it that even the sponsors might be replaced due to greed instead of loyalty to someone who has stood through thick and thin before some childish character was born.

THE MHL SAGA

The Malaysian Hockey League made its debut in 1987.

Prior to that it was the Champions Club tournament that used to be at the forefront for club hockey.

For those who are shallow in their knowledge of hockey, the Champions Club tournament catered for the champions of state hockey associations.

Meaning a club had to emerge champions of their state leagues in order to qualify for the national level tournament.

This spurred club development at the state level as there were keen battles amongst teams for the honour to represent their state at the week long carnival.

The tournament was discontinued after 1986 as the Lucky Strike National Hockey League became the focus of attention.

It was good seeing sponsors coming in and after Lucky Strike there was Sporrts Toto and Sharp who stepped forward.

One interesting fact was how the MHF had to rename the league to Malaysian Hockey League from the original name National Hockey League. 

This was as a result of Sharp not being happy as National was a rival brand.

Hence pleasing sponsors is vital but that surely is not the present administration of the sport does.

There is no doubt that the millions pumped in by TNB helps the sport but in realty just how much is spent by MHC to actually manage the league.

Two years ago when I handled the PR and Media of the MHL the TNB conducted an independent study of the PR value and it was at RM22.5 million for their investment of RM1.5 million into the TNBMHL.

But this year with the MHL two weeks away, there seems to be some concerns if TNB will actually carry on with their sponsorship.

Checks reveal that TV rights have yet to be sorted out and there was hardly a whimper when entries closed on July 1.

The problem with MHC is that it does not know how to service sponsors or entice new sponsors.

Even injection of new ideas to make the MHL more interesting is lacking as sponsors suffer from the lackadaisical treatment hence tend to pack their bags.

Handling negative publicity correctly is never a forte and word has it that the first question a sponsor has asked MHC officials was why the blogs are so critical.

And here we have a top official claiming no one reads this blog.

Oh well continue living in your childish world as realty strikes.