Only people working = Malaysian sports media

Today, we are talking about how the media is the only working wheel helping crowd attendance to Malaysian football league matches.

Click at the link below. There is 5 months left in the year to 2019 just days ago we were upset with Matt Davies, who is working hard for the Malaysia Cup instead of being part of the Asian Games football squad.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FUTURE OF GAME ATTENDANCE

From hero to villain, Davies, who is also Pahang's captain is not going to the media urging for fans to come watch Pahang play after bagging the FA Cup but he and his squad are working hard to win thus forcing the fans attend and show support. Like it or not, Malaysian will only support their team if they are winning. Nowadays, Malaysians also like to support teams that can beat JDT.

Interestingly, not all take the daring step of working hard to promote attendance. When teams do not get the attendance they hoped for, they write something in the media be it traditional or social.

Hero or Villain? Matty D pix taken of his instagram account

Jurulatih, presiden, kapten minta penyokong hadir bla bla bla...as much as the media companies support, it has never been proven that it is a winning formula so how does this translate to controllable sale of tickets? It just amazes me but then I realised only the sports media are the ones doing all the work.

If you look at the link, this is the future of the game. It ensures both the ease of entry while encouraging merchandise sale and it does not involve the media. The experts are also working on bio-metrics for the sale of beverages especially beer at games as well. Although that is something not feasible in Malaysia, it is pure genius to increase at game sales as consumers are emotionally driven purchasers.

Back to Malaysia again where a 1000 stalls selling fake team merchandise outside the very stadium the home team is playing because they paid some kind of rent money for 3x3m space or may have not as they sell from the back of their car.

In true Malaysian spirit someone will look at this idea (the link) and pitch it like it is. That's where Malaysia is king. Shortcut kings to be exact.

Leagues such as the Australia Football League (AFL) evolve progressively and make careful business decisions, invest in feasibility studies and do trials and tests before launching or even applying new technology. Won't be surprise if someone Malaysia would straight dive into it and have backing from Datuks, politicians and you know who. I had a twitter conversation with a big local club and with the plans in place I am keen to seen the implementation of it. Plans and Implementation - two completely different things.

Maybe this piece of technology is not suitable for the M League yet but this is to just show how behind we are in simple fan engagement exercise.

I'm not one to comment on the game, tactic or player ability as I learn from switching career from a journalist to a sports administrator I never played the game professionally but as a sport administrator I will comment about the sorry state of the league management although it is believed to be otherwise.

As mentioned earlier, only one thing in Malaysian football works. That is the media and the people behind it. They are the ones that have evolved the game to what it is right now although the media should just be the icing on top of the cake.

Sites such as Dunia Sukan, Semuanyabola, InikanBola, Padang Bolasepak, Bahas Bola, Football Tribe, Arena Hijau Kuning and many others plus the constant push by traditional media big guns, now including new players such as iflix which spawns outfits such as Football Malaysia Production have helped open up the fan’s eyes and mindset.

Ross Yusof is keeping eye on the local game, Stanley Bernard successful transition from player to pundit and now host, the emergence of personalities such as Vijhay Vick, Asyha Ridzuan, Seng Foo, Ahmad Muzammil, Keesh and his long name, Nicholas Anil, goal boys Ipoh mali Kin Fai and ZZ , Dunia Sukan's Syamil and many others to give an alternate view from your Haresh Deols, Ian Johan Ariff, Ahmad Khawaris, Abu Bakar Atans, Aziman Rosdis, Graig Nunis, Fadzrie Hazis, Devinder Singh, the 2 Dhaliwals, Aiman, Arnaz, Star reporters, many others and until recently Rizal Hashim, has been great for the game especially channelling their views and opinions. That Sidang Sukan show on Astro Arena has been brilliant if I may add!

The Ahmad Masalan of Malaysian football? Pix off Google

There is also the small growing breed of football administrators who uses the media such as Ahmad Yani, Nik Faruk who both were crucial in making JDT what they are today, KFA's Shahrul Samsudin, ex Frenz United Mizal Ghazali who helps steer al-Ikhsan into the industry. Sports brands have done their part in the past through likes of Tim Tham (Puma) and key figures in Nike and Adidas. Shekinah’s Chris Raj is the best man on the inside and SAM leaders ensures the awards happen and proper governance. Special mention to two boys from Blublack Production and their investment in the lower leagues and also Football Selangor along with PFAM CEO Izham in his efforts is also bringing the game to a better standard, especially when his not on duty for the national airline. Shout out to El Loco for giving us his crazy honest Latin football opinions.

In terms of images you can't deny KA's Asiana.my producing banks for pictures along with Deto or Fadzlie to many making sure pictures were never short during his time in MFL or FMLLP (FML if I will ever get it right). However, Malaysia in general has the best photographers I've seen from Gleen Guan to Osad, James Nakkuih to the multi talented Simon Yap, Peter Lim, Mohd Rasfan including all the wire snappers of course whom are all guided legends such as Khalid Redza and Uncle Stanley Chou. Then you see the new school of photographers maturing such as Nizam Rahman, Khairil Ajhar, Ahmad Fadali which is such a joy to watch as they get acquainted to the Arep Kulals of the industry.

Jason Dasey and Dez Corkhill has given they best to make those in front of the camera such as Roshan and Adam do well but deep behind the camera, Malaysia is blessed to have Keith Wu and crew being led by NAJ aka THE MAN, who both know what the fans want and need. Unseen heroes such as CK and his sidekick Ato are your plain clothed superheroes.

These are just a small portion of a very long list of people who are great for the game and I have not gone back to the Datuk George Das batch yet and his juniors such as my headmaster, the one and only Tony Mariadass, who once even managed a proper football team!

So lets not let all their hard work go to waste with empty stadiums. Not only would players be pumped to give 500% in a full stadium, the rakyat would be happy too as is the league can be a better organised number one past-time of the country.

We can do it with Hantu Kak Limah which has broken records in ticket sales so if we only organised things better and make it important to yourself and the people.

What I mean is there is no proper work done by teams to directly hit their fans and communities instead of hoping for media assistance all the time and that without any media budget of course and not even ensuring at least there is a media person in charge.

So this Merdeka, I would like to take the opportunity to thank all those media companies, workers, practitioners, friends and everyone involved for your work. Your national sport would be nothing without you.