KUALA LUMPUR, July 26 (NNN-Bernama) — The National Security Council (MKN) and the Ministry of Health (MOH) have been urged to take a more rational approach in allowing the organisation of international football matches in the country.
Sports analyst Dr Pekan Ramli, who made the suggestion, said he fully supported the Football Association of Malaysia’s (FAM) proposal to organise two Tier 1 international matches through the biomedical bubble method in September.
He said the MKN, Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) and MOH should be the main advisors to all sports sectors in coordinating better standard operating procedures (SOPs) to help prevent sports activities from being negatively impacted by the increasing number of COVID-19 cases.
“Why should we have to wait until next year, by when it (number of cases) might not even have subsided, to be able to start any competition? MKN, KBS and MOH should do a detailed study, taking examples from the organising of sports, especially football leagues in Europe,” he said in a statement today.
The biomedical bubble has more stringent COVID-19 protocol and SOP than the existing sports bubble, but at the same time, guarantees the continuity of events organised.
For example, if there is a COVID-19 case, only infected players or officials would be isolated while the rest of those who are negative can continue to compete.
Yesterday, FAM secretary-general Stuart Ramalingam confirmed that the parent footballing body had made an application to the MKN and MOH through KBS, to present a proposal for the organisation of two Tier 1 international matches through the biomedical bubble method.
According to Stuart, FAM had also obtained consent from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to jointly assist in the presentation of the proposal to strengthen its facts and arguments.
Meanwhile, Pekan, who is the head of the the Sports Section in the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), said the poor performance of the Harimau Malaya squad in the second round of the 2022 World Cup/2023 Asian Cup Qualifiers campaign in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last month, should serve as an important lesson.
He said due to the constraints posed by COVID-19 restrictions, the national players not only lacked match minutes, but were also seen struggling with their individual performance due to lack of warm-up action and a short training camp stint.
“MKN and MOH should make FAM’s plan as a ‘benchmark’ to start holding matches on home ground, and together, become advisors and discuss on how to make it a success.
“We have SOPs and the sports bubble that can be updated and enhanced with the advice of the MKN and MOH for the common good of sports, and especially football,” he said.
— NNN-BERNAMA
