KUALA LUMPUR: Sports critic Sadek Mustaffa has called for a restructuring of sports administration at the state level.
This comes after the FA of Malaysia (FAM) revealed that only seven affiliates from a total of 20 returned their evaluation form for the inaugural 2023 Best Affiliate award on Monday.
Sadek said that the 13 affiliates probably had issues with their finances and could not run their activities, and so opted to not submit their evaluation forms.
He added most sports associations face the same issues at the state level and feel that government intervention is needed.
"This situation is a result of football clubs (FCs) taking centre stage from the football associations (FAs). The FAs are dead as they don't have the funds because the funds go to the FCs," said Sadek.
"When there's no source of funds, the survival of the FAs is affected and this will affect the production of new talents from the state level. This is a very alarming situation."
"Sadly this is not an isolated situation, most sports associations have similar issues at the state level. The administrators of state sports associations end up begging for funds from the Mentri Besar or Chief Ministers or the Mentri Besar head the state sports associations."
"This is not a good situation, we cannot have funds to be given on an ad-hoc basis. If the Mentri Besar is not a fan of certain sports or has his preference, it would not be fair and could be the end for some sports."
The Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Sports Science and Recreation senior lecturer said there must be a change in the way sports are being administered at the state level.
Sadek advocated for state chief secretaries and district collectors to play a bigger role and introduce sports as a part of each state's social responsibility.
"We should not have Mentri Besars to head sports associations at the state level. Every time there is an election, there's a chance of the Mentri Besar being changed and this could affect how a sports association is being run," said Sadek.
"A Mentri Besar has a lot of things on their plate and having to head sports associations is not ideal. I believe we should move away from this system."
"I think it's better to have state chief secretaries and district collectors to head sports associations at state levels. This will allow sports policies involving the government directly and become a social agenda.
"Sports have vast potential, from nation-building to eradicating social issues. When we have state government officials playing a major role, we can build a proper sporting culture and then advance to sporting excellence."