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!