Sometimes back Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi pointed out that Malaysia must put its football team back on track and qualify for the 2014 World Cup. While Pak Lah has been highly ambitious, nobody has taken his advice seriously except for Serbegeth Singh and Khairy Jamaluddin who came up with a brilliant idea to form MyTeam.

And recently in the Dewan Rakyat, one of the BN member of parliament did a good job in challenging everyone in the FAM leadership to resign due to their failure to bring back the glory of Malaysian football. But of course, nobody in FAM would trade big bucks and a globe-trotting job for their own pride. Who cares whether Malaysia is rank fifth in Asean and is only at par with Cambodia and Laos when officials can earn no less than RM200,000 a year for an easy job.

Then came the idea of building million-dollar sports complex in UK. While I am not going to repeat saying how foolish the idea is, I would suggest that the RM490 million for the project be utilised locally for benefit of taxpayers and their children.

I, for one, still actively play football even now in my late 30s thanks to a small 'padang' courtesy of PKNS, the developer, in my neighbourhood. With the youngest player 33 years of age and the oldest being 53, we frequently utilised the small padang and formed a team. In two years, we have played almost 40 friendly matches and we're proud to say we are a winning team.

It is sad that youngsters in their 20s can hardly penetrate our defence and our midfielders and strikers - who are in 40s and 50s - can still put the ball at the back of the net despite being challenged by much younger opponents. The reason is simple - we play regularly due to the availability of a padang, but the opponents don't.

Finding a proper football field for friendly matches is quite difficult. This despite our team being based in Bangi where a lot of institutions are generous enough to rent out their football fields. My attempt to look for a field for friendly matches around PJ (where I play for my company) always turns into a disappointment. So few fields are available, and so many people want to use them. For the PKNS field in Kelana Jaya, for instance, one has to book two months in advance.

To me, the real problem with Malaysian football is due to the fact that it is not compulsory for developers to provide a football field. These days, kicking a football on proper field seems to be a luxury comparable to playing golf.

Back in the 70s, public schools allowed their padang to be used by the community on the weekends, but this is now no longer true. So where are the children to play football on weekends? Any space for the thousands of children who are staying in flats in the Klang Valley to kick a football after school hours? Or would they rather 'lepak' somewhere or try the latest stunts on the road?

Thus, I would suggest that the RM490 million to be wasted in UK be converted to provide for football fields nationwide as to revive football in our country. I believe around 3,000 football fields can be built all over the country.

Football greats such as the late Mokhtar Dahari and R Arumugam would definitely cry if they were still alive to see what has happened to Malaysian football today. Qualify for 2014 World Cup Finals? Dream on Pak Lah, talk is cheap.