Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Football Association of Malaysia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
|
| Founded | 1933 |
| FIFA affiliation | 1956 |
| AFC affiliation | 1954 |
| President HRH Sultan Ahmad Shah |
|
| Coach Norizan Bakar |
|
The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) is the governing body for soccer in Malaysia, responsible for organising the Malaysian national football team and the major soccer tournaments within the country.
Contents |
Football arrived in Malaya with the British.The locals soon picked up the game and before long it was the country's leading sport. Towards the end of the 19th century, football was one of the central pillars of most sports clubs in Malaya. But it was not structured. Even when the Selangor Amateur Football League took shape in 1905 – which ensured proper administration and organization – the competition was confined only to clubs in the Kuala Lumpur area.
As early as 1921, a national league featuring all the states that made up Malaya was started. The league, known as the Malaya Cup and later renamed the Malaysia Cup (in 1963) has been held without a break, except during the war years.
In 1926, the Selangor Amateur Football League was established, and in 1936, the Football Association of Selangor was formed. While Selangor was moving towards organized football, and inspiring other states in Malaya to follow suit, the battleship HMS Malaya visited the country in 1920. After engaging local opposition in football and rugby, the officers and men of HMS Malaya decided to commemorate the matches by presenting trophies for annual competitions in both rugby and football in Malaya.
In 1926, the state associations of Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Malacca and Singapore banded together to form the Malayan Football Association(MFA) in order to field a Malayan team against an Australian side that visited Singapore that year.
The annual Malaya Cup competition – played along inter-state lines – was a huge success. The predecessor to The Football Association Malaya was the Malaya Football Association. Initially, the Football Association of Malaya was housed in Singapore. It was chiefly responsible for the running of the Malaya Cup competition.
In 1933, the MFA was revived from its anaemic state to form the Football Association of Malaya(FAM). The first president of FAM was Sir Andrew Caldecott, followed by M.B. Shelley, Dr. J.S. Webster, S.D. Scott, R. Williamson and Adrian Clark, who served up until 1940 – before Europe went on a full-scale war with Germany .
In 1940, control of the Football Association of Malaya moved from Singapore to Malaya, with A.R.Singham becoming the first Asian secretary in 1941.
FAM's first president after the war was J. King, to be followed by H. Byson, and then Dr. C Rawson, who served for two years before vacating for the first ever non-British personality to take over the helm. In 1951, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj – the first prime minister of Malaysia became the FAM president.
It was under Tunku that football entered in Malaysia entered into its next phase with the FAM taking a much bigger role than just being the backbone in the organization of the Malaysia Cup.
The FAM was inducted as a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in 1954 before becoming a full-fledged member of the international body of FIFA two years later.
The FAM was one of the 14 founding members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in 1954.
Tunku Abdul Rahman's love for the game was the main catalyst which resulted in the construction of the Merdeka Stadium and in 1957 it became hallowed ground for all Malaysians when it was the venue chosen to announce Malaysia's independence from Britain.
It also signalled the birth of the Merdeka Tournament that was to all intents and purposes the centre-piece of the Independence celebrations and the Merdeka Tournament proved to be a huge success, inspiring similar tournaments like the Jakarta Anniversary tournament, the King's Cup in Thailand and President's Cup in South Korea.The inaugural tournament – then the premier football competition in Asia – was won by Hongkong.
However, Malaya won the title three years in a row, in 1958 and in 1959 and sharing it with South Korea in 1960. The country qualified for the 1972 Olympics and the 1980 Olympics.
Following the change in name to the Football Association of Malaysia in the early 1960s, Tunku Abdul Rahman continued to play a big role in the development of the game through various youth competitions.
Following his departure in 1974, the reins of the FAM was taken over by Malaysia's second Prime Minister - Tun Abdul Razak Haji Hussein, who served for just one year.
The post was then filled by Tan Sri Datuk Seri Setia Raja Hamzah Haji Abu Samah in 1976, who was the Minister for Trade and Industry at the time.
Between 1976 and 1984, various football activities were introduced under Tan Sri Datuk Seri Raja Hamzah and the Malaysian football reached a new height in the international arena following his appointment as the AFC president.
However, the FAM entered a new era of modernization and professionalism when His Royal Highness the Sultan of Pahang, Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah took over.
His Royal Highness the Sultan of Pahang, Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah was integral in the growth of football in the new era with the introduction of the semi-pro league in 1989 before the game went fully professional several years later.
Among the high points in Malaysian football under His Royal Highness was the successful hosting of the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship as well as the organization of the Premier League, which has been called the Malaysian Super League since 2004.
From a small building in Birch Road, the FAM now have their own complex at Kelana Jaya, which houses not only the administrative centre of the sport at the national level but also the centre of excellence for the national team.
The glory days of Malaysian football when names like Mokhtar Dahari, Santokh Singh and Soh Chin Aun would strike fear in teams all over Asia is gone. The same goes back in the 70s and 80s when Malaysia used to beat Korea and Japan.
Football in Malaysia is in the doldrums. The pre World Cup qualifying campaign for the 2006 ended with Malaysia losing all their matches and losing to Hong Kong, ranked lower than them.
The Malaysian Super League was introduced in 2004 with the hope of raising football standards and the FA of Malaysia are optimistic the MSL will bring Malaysia out of the international football wilderness.
FAM after years have been subject to critism by many including the locals. Many fans or Malaysians are unhappy with the ever changing league format and the decline in the standard in the local league and national team. The fact that FAM introduces ad-hoc decisions has also mared its relationship with several state affliliates. There were stages when FAM allowed 4 imports, but within months changed its ruling to only allowing 3 to be eligible for every affliate, making teams loose out on compensation over termination of foreign players contratcs. A recent spat of FAM's unproffesionalism saw Sarawak Football Association (FAS) denied its 3-1 victory for the suspision of fielding an uneligible player due to FAM's ruling which only came into effect after the player played put Sarawak FA back into rough waters with its parent body and although the player was mysteriously allowed to play after half of the season has ended, many fans are still unhappy that FAS remains the only association under the mycroscope of FAM.
- Malaysia national football team
- Malaysian Super League
- Malaysian Premier League
- Malaysia Cup
- Malaysia at the 1972 Summer Olympics
- Malaysia at the 1980 Summer Olympics
- Stadium_Merdeka
- Football Association of Malaysia
- History of football in Malaysia
- Football Association of Malaysia on FIFA.com
