Football is clearly the most popular sport worldwide in terms of fans and always been recognised as the number one in Malaysia. Whether we realise it or not, football is one of the powerful tools that could unite Malaysians regardless of race, religion, and political affiliation. Although the quality of our national players is not as good as in Europe, Malaysians across the country are still loyal and able to come together to support the national team.

Given the fact that football is vital and could make people united, it always gets special attention and the government has also made significant investments to develop this sport, especially at the grassroots level through the National Football Development Programme (NFDP) under the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

Although the NFDP is a long-term project, the impact of the NFDP has begun to be felt as early as a year after the establishment of this programme when the team under NFDP won the Iber Cup 2015 (World Youth Football Championship) in Spain last year.

In addition to the initiatives taken by the federal government through the establishment of the NFDP, state associations are not left out in doing their parts to further develop our national football.

The most aggressive one is definitely the Johor Southern Tigers (JDT). JDT’s success in winning the AFC Cup 2015 puts them in line with the best of Asian giant teams that has opened the eyes of many people who often criticise the quality of our football as a local hero (jaguh kampung).

Despite all the initiatives taken, Malaysian football received a blow recently after Malaysia’s Fifa rankings fell to an all-time low of 174.

Following the disaster, many comments have been cast including from the Youth and Sports Minister, YB Khairy Jamaluddin (KJ) himself who described everything was predictable adding that he was not surprised with the shocking drop in ranking because the quality of our existing pool of coaches and national players is not good enough.

However, the Crown Prince of Johor (TMJ) disagreed with KJ’s statement and claimed that KJ and his backers are merely covering up for the failures of a system that’s inefficient.

Due to the clash, TMJ has publicly challenged KJ to a public debate on live television and this been accepted by the latter.

However, what happened was the opposite. Instead of having a debate, KJ had the honour of meeting the Regent of Johor, TMJ, when he flew down to Johor Baru yesterday morning. The duo discussed matters regarding the development of national football, before KJ was given a tour around JDT’s facilities and amenities, such as the training centre, gymnasium and indoor training pitch at Padang Seri Gelam.

Very positive

The meeting was very positive, where they were able to sit down and discuss the direction, exchange opinions and also find solutions to improve local football as well as programmes involving the youth.

Personally, I think the action of meeting each other face to face and discuss professionally as what they did yesterday is much better than having a public debate on television. Yes, the fans were thrilled about the proposed debate but it won’t bring any difference for football.

Things will definitely get heated up because publicising it in front of the entire country will just drive their egos even higher as it will not allow the chance for each individual to make mistakes and be constructively criticised.

I’m not saying that the debate is wrong, but debate alone won’t solve the issue raised if no proper action is made. Action is always the key to success. Football is about technicality and action.

I’m pretty sure that the meeting is sending a positive signal that the cooperation between these two great figures are possible and it’s very important as both of them have their own ideas and each has shown their achievements in the development of football in this country.

The capacity and expertise that they have should not be wasted and if it could be combined together, surely it will create a great spark to bring back the golden era of Malaysian football.