Hi all ...
Its the eve of Chinese New Year so there s a little bit of a holiday mood in the air right now. For me i m looking forward to a game of touch rugby. Another hour to go. So what else start blogging aaahh. I hope I wont be in the losing team during training. Hahah.

Anyway I hope those who read my blog enjoyed my last posting on Malaysian Rugby. Some may agree and of course some may be pissed off by what I wrote. Well I dont care but I m really interested to hear from those who oppose of my views. The MRU has released this years tournament calendar so lets see if this year brings better result to Malaysian rugby and of course prove me wrong what is said earlier in my previous blog. Especially about the Fijians...Lets see if there is an all local team to win a prestigious tournament. Wanna bet ??? Well we ll see if a team can prove me wrong. Honestly I doubt so.

Yeah before I forget thanks to Glenn Peters for reading my blog. Its good that a journalist actually took time to read and give me encouragement about my blog. Thanks Glenn.

I dont want to just bitch about how bad the local rugby scene without providing any useful ideas on how to improve it. But again the Fijians are not helping ! I dont have anything about expats playing here cause they have been playing here for quite sometime even when Malaysian rugby was decent enough. This is because they re not full blown professionals like the Fijians who are here simply to play rugby. The expats and the Fijians are different because of this. I dont see them as a reason local interest in rugby has declined. They are not the cause. It is also different if all the teams can afford to have a Fijian import. Only then will there be competition and interest. But being an amateur sport I dont see the relevance of having a Fijian import in your team.

Ok enough whining about the Fijians. One way to improve and get people to get excited again about rugby is to have regular international games that the public can go and watch. Im not talking about sevens rugby but the full 15 a side format. The reason I say 15 a side is because I believe people still like watching the physical nature of a 15 a side game. Sevens is interesting but not everybody wants to dedicate a whole day on the field to watch a game of rugby. When I m saying this try not to think as a rugby fan. Try to think from a non rugby fans point of view. It is them that we want to attract. As you know the ones catching a local game are usually ex players. We want to add more non playing members of the public to get excited about local rugby again.

When I say international stop thinking about Malaysia playing a team like Fiji or Wales , for that matter even Japan or Korea. Think about playing regular international games against team who are of the same physical level as us. Yes Asians, more precisely south east Asians team. We should have our very own Tri Nation against Thailand and Singapore every year. What I m trying to say here is think small first before we start thinking big. Take small steps first before we start running. With these team the we can very least compete and win. I saw a match on a rugby show which showed such tournament being played in Mauritius. If they can do it why cant we do it; all three country should be able organize it. The tournament does not have to be a grand affair (if money is the obstacle). Again start small and grow as we go. Make the tournament an annual event so that the public has something to look forward to. Think about it, a person might not know about rugby but if there is a game between Malaysia and Singapore there is bound to be people attending it.

This idea is similar to the points about the Fijians. That is Competition. We can not expect to compete with the Europeans or the Southern Hemisphere team because we are very different physically. So why not compete against those who are similar in size as we are. At least there is a possibility of us winning.

Get the public excited about rugby again. I believe this is the way. Not just sevens rugby but 15 a side deserves a spotlight.

Of course for this plan to work the national team will have to perform. And for that to happen STOP IMPORTING FIJIANS!

Its been a while since I posted any of my journal been busy ...with work of course. Before I start a special shout out to Awang for encouraging me to carry on blogging. Thanks Awang. Hahah...and also kudos to MRU for having a website (which I only recently knew about). Good job lads.

Yeah work lets start there ...

Ever since working I ve slowed down on playing rugby considerably. Its not just because of work that I ve slowed down (All Blacks losing did hit me like brick though) but more to do with the fact that rugby here, in Malysia currently has lost its spark and I don’t mean a bit but a lot. My first real taste of rugby here was during the Commonwealth Games at that time I was really really impressed with the national team. Even though they did nt win anything the way they played made me really proud to be a Malaysian rugby supporter. Most of the players in the team and trainees of that team were of real quality. When I am talking about quality please do not compare with other countries. Im talking about quality compared to those who are of our same standard physically. Till today I feel those sort of quality player are really really hard to find nowadays. Notice that today there are nt any new Shah Iran, Jamil or Wan Can. Does nt this baffles you? The fact that there are not many new talent emerging since that time. That time let me remind you was 1998 which is 5 years ago. Its not that there no talented players here but in my opinion rugby as a whole has lost its glitter significantly.

Honestly I’m not at all surprise with this phenomena. If you are a local Malaysian rugby follower you will notice one phenomena after the 1998 Commonwealth Games. The phenomenon that I am talking about is regarding the Malaysian indulgence on Fijian players. I know a lot of people will disagree with me but this my opinion on the matter. Whether Im right or wrong that is for you to decide and me to know. Honestly I don’t care. Is it a coincident that the standard of players in Malaysia declined considerably since 1998 ? I don’t think so. It does nt help with the politics surrounding Malaysian rugby (Whoa now that’s a whole different can of worms there) that there is a decline in standard in Malaysian rugby. I genuinely believe the decline is caused by the indulgence. The reason I said indulgence is because the Fijians are not at fault here. The ones responsible are those who over indulge themselves with importing players from Fiji. It’s the typical Malaysian attitude of wanting quick and fast success without wanting to slog it out and develop from the roots. Never wanting to go through the struggle but straight to the glory.

Typical…

Notice that after 1998 that the most successful team in Malaysia are teams with Fijian players. Not a single all local team can claim they are on top today. Not even the army men or the police can claim that anymore. Gosh imagine saying that during the 70’s or 80’s. I don’t want to take away the glory of all this team who won numerous titles during the years but to me they aren’t as good as the trophy they won without the Fijians. They are good teams but without the Fijians they would have found life considerably harder.

The thing that really ticks me off is with all these “TOP” teams are because not many of them have contributed towards introducing NEW talent to the local scene. The reason for this is simple. They already have Fijians in their team so youth development is no longer significant to them. At one point you will see the same faces playing all too often. That is why you will notice talented player are scarce among us Malaysians. Apart form the Bukit Jalil lads and the angel players (what is left of them I suppose) talents are rare. At the height of the “Top” teams you will notice that not many of them contributed towards the national team. Is it because the local players are the same old players whose international career time is up or is it because they re only good with a flying Fijian beside them? I don’t know you tell me…Or is it the complaisant factor. Yeah the factor that most of us locals are guilty of; with a Fijian in your team they do not have to slog it out as the Fijians will cover their asses but without them they re lost? Again I don’t know you tell me…

If you re saying that the Fijians are generating interest to the scene tell me what interest? Interest to watch ? Maybe…But interest to play I don’t think so. It actually gives a negative effect to those who actually play the game. Lets be realistic if you are playing in a all local team don’t even dream about competing with them Which is why you will notice most ‘all local’ team prefer to play in a league with no Fijians involve in it. Wake up people rugby in Malaysia is still an amateur sport so money or funds are not exactly flowing freely for everyone. Therefore not everyone can afford to have Fijians in their team. For that matter I strongly believe most team prefer not to have them. Those who only ‘recently’ indulge in this phenomena are only doing so in order to compete and I mean this in a desperate way.(Again the Malaysian way to success = the short cut way)

Please keep an open mind on this.
Some of those who know me may argue the reason I am saying this is because the team Im playing or supporting has become a spent force. Come on guys I don’t care about winning cause professionally I don’t see how I can gain from it. I play the game for the same reason players play during the amateur era. For the love of the game ……

What about you? Do you know why you re still playing????