Its a day of reckoning for the Fa Of Malaysia who meet today to chart the future of Malaysian Soccer.

Foremost on the minds of the council members would be the fate of M-League which has yet to bear the expected fruits. There was a purpose when the game toook its fruits .There was a purpose when the game took its first tentative steps forward profesional 1989.

Yet after eight years there isn't the slightesty indication the game will improve if ever ,Rather we seen to be getting deeper in the air.

What the FAM council will have to do is search themselves ,look each other in the eye and make decicions that will benefit the game more than their personal agenda.

The format of the league ,which is now played in a single division willl have to be reviewed in favour of a two tier sysytem.

There Has Been a proposal to place the proposal in two groups but this won't help.

It is important not to lose sighht of our objectives, one which is to improve our soccer.

Playing two groups isn't quite the answer.Infact ,it will do nothing for the game.

What is needed is a more competitive two division system with promotion and demotion at season's end to keep the teams on the ball.

i would like to take it a little further and suggest a third division to cater for clubs .

This willl expand the pool of players exposed to competitive matches.

The promotion relegation exercise should be simple . The bottom two teams from the first division go down while the champions ands runnersub from the second division move up . There is no need for playoff like in England.

But playoff may be neccessary for movement between the second and third divisions because the sidparity in standards may be more obvious here seeing as State teams are pitted against club sides.

The former world youth cup team ,which is now the national team ,have also been entered for the 1988 season and this should add a touch of excitement.I sense if the two-tier or three-division system is approved,the council members will oppose the presence of the Olympic team ( national team ) in the first division because that would automatically eliminate one of them.

And we all know far too well just how much of back-scratching goes on in the boardroom.Even as FAM discuss the matter today,they should remember the multi division system need not be a permanent feature.Once of the quality of the game are equal,or even the disparity is negligible,we can revert to the single-tier system.

The Olympic team are slotted for the M-league for the next two seasons.Perhaps,that is the duration we may need to look at how the multi-tier system works if at all.This brings us to another consideration the autonomy of the league.It is time to do away with the practise of FAM running the league as there is bound to be conflict of interest somewhere down the line.

What FAM should do is form a board that is completely neutral it should comprise independence members with no one from the council even the principal office-bearers, allowed with in 100-metres of the board.

This is how the professional leagues in the rest of the world are run.The leagues do not come under the jurisdiction of the natinal FAs.But we should be careful that what happens in England does not happen here.There,the imperatives of the highly lucrative Premiership often are at loggerheads with the needs of the FA.

WE CAN'T AFFORD THAT!!

The board should be allowed to insist on transparency,especially in the finances of all teams wanting to play in the M-League.For instance ,one of the conditions for participation should be a healthty bank balance.The board should reserve the right to deny any team,state or club,who cannot provide a financial guarantee that they are viable.

NO MONEY NO PLAY!!

Another review may be necessary and this concerns the number of contract players.THere is an apparent complacency among the players now.The competitive edege is no longer there because wheter or not they are in first 11, or in the 16, they stilll get their monthly wages.

THERE IS THEREFORE NO WAY TO IMPROVE

When FAM introduced the rule taht alll players must be contracted it was to check the odd situation that players like Zainal Abidin and Dollah Sallaeh and some others had inadvertently created.Even though they were not fulll professionals, they earned a lot more than contract players.Which was riduculous.

But given that the wage bill is a heavy burden on most teams in the league , it is now appropriate to have no more than a dozen's player contracted with the state FA's.

Pat these pros the core of the team good salries and allow the others, the reserves to hold regular outside jobs.

These lesser players willl need to fight hard to break ninto the elite XI if they want to earn the big bucks of the pro's

Hopefully this will breed better quality players.

I would like to believe all is not lost for Malaysian soccer. That salvation is not just a dream.

My worry is about the dreamers in the FAM council. Those who, even as the future of the sport is being considered, dream when they will become a menteri besar or minister rather than when Malaysia will be a soccer power.

That is the game's number One Enemy.Isn't that machfixers you may ask.

i say "both are equally deadly ,"

One fixesmatches on the pitch while the other fixes the game in the boardroom.

But i just know that they willl do the right thing this time.The game is crying for it.

SUNDAY MAIL, 23RD NOVEMBER 1997,

PAGE 71-72,

AUTHOR : JOHNSON FERNANDEZ.

IF YOU HAVE ANY COMMENT OR PERHAPS HAVE SOMETHING TO CONTRIBUTE TO THIS PAGE JUST E-MAIL AT : ktool@rocketmail.com