The Sportsmanship of Our Footballer

Two (2) mornings ago, I woke up early in the morning to watch the first semi final of EURO2008 between Germany and Turkey at Channel 817, which was won by Germany by a very slim margin of 3-2. But I am not here to discuss on or analyse the match. It seems that there were some technical problems, which resulted in the interruption of the live telecast. I switched to channel 103 (TV3) hoping that I could watch the match but TV3 also have the same problem. So, I switched to channel 812 and watched ESPN Sports News (Malaysia version).

There were so many sports news reported like Koo Kien Keat returning to training after accident, so on and so forth but what really captured my attention was the highlight news on Malaysia Cup match between Selangor and Sarawak, which was won by Selangor 3-1. Selangor's goals were scored by Frank Seator, Safee Sali and Akmal Rizal. However, none of the three (3) goals was celebrated by the Selangor's players. The first goal was by Frank Seator. After he had scored the goal, he sort like jogging to one corner of the field and raised his hands towards the crowds and no other Selangor players went to celebrate with him. Then he went back to the centre of the field. The seconf goal was scored by Safee Sali. The same incident, only one or two Selangor's players went to him sort of "gimme five" and I did not expect much when Akmal Rizal scored the third goal for Selangor. There were two other Selangor's player close to Akmal after he scored the goal. One player went to take the ball from the goal and the other went back straight to Selangor's half. There was no celebation at all. The way the Selangor's players reacted to the three goals as if they have scored tem goals. There were no excitement when their team members scores the goal.

Looking at the way the Selangor's players celebrate (actually I do not deem that to be a celebration) everytime they scores a goal (in fact not only Selangors' players but also other players from other teams in Malaysia), it serves as an evidence that there is no more excitement in our local football. I mean, when the players are not excited, what else can you expect from the fans? Their lack of enthusiasm also shows their lack of desire to win and to be successful. They were aimless in their games. I do not think they know what they are looking for? And no wonder our nation's FIFA ranking keep on deteriorating everythime FIFA issue the new ranking.

In the end, the lack of enthusiasm and desire to win on the part of the players and the unprofessionalism attitude on the part of the management brings disaster to our football. Our football is not going to experience the old glory days it used to have if the management and the players remain in the same attitude. Our football is dead unless we do away with all the deadwoods in our football's associations.

The key word here is the attitude. To be successful, we need to have the right attitude and at the moment, I do not see any of our football players and their management teams are having the right attitude to succeed.

If you want to see players with so much of enthusiasm in football, watch the match between Switzerland and Portugal in EURO2008. The Swiss went into the match realising that they were already out of the tournament. They played for their dignity after having lost the first two (2) matches to Rep Cech and Turkey. In the end, they won the match by beating Portugal 2-0. Look at the way they celebrate their goals. Simply amazing. The Swiss may be out of the tournament but with the right attitude and always hunger for victory, do not be surprise if they can become a Champion one day. Just like Greece did in EURO2004.