Footie

Alert: This is a long rant. Football haters may skip this.

If you've tuned in to Malaysia's very own hitz.fm recently, you might have heard an advertisement by Akon. No, not the one about the drugs. The other one. It goes something like this:

[not the exact words]
"Hey y'all this is Akon. I love football and I support my football team. They may be doing great, or they might screw up, but I am behind them all the way! Well, what I just want to say is: support your local football team! 'Cos you don't want them to play against us! Haha~"

Something like that lar.

And then there's another version of it, by hitz.fm's very own Morning Crew (who are celebrities in their own right):

[also not the exact words]
"Hey, nowadays Malaysians aa, their favourite football clubs have names like Arsenal lar, Chelsea lar, Manchester United lar... What happened to Perak or Sarawak?"

"I don't know lar. Guys out there, support your local football team!"

Yes, I paraphrased a hell lot in the above version. I couldn't find the exact recording anywhere on the Net.

The bottom line is, it seems that the Malaysia football industry has gone to such lows that they are begging the radio listeners for support! What's more, they're trying to *hint* that we should support the football clubs of Malaysia simply because we're Malaysians.

Okay, that has some truth in it lar.

I admit that as a Malaysia, I should be supportive of my own country's sport efforts. And just for the record, I was a fan of Malaysian football. That was many years ago, when I was a primary school student and when Malaysian football actually had some quality in it.

I remembered that there was a time when I went to watch football matches in the Stadium Sarawak, cheered for the home team (I am from Sarawak!) and actually had hopes for a victory. And even though it ends with a loss, I would have enjoyed quality football.

Fast forward a decade or so. Presently, you can show recordings of local matches in a science class and tell the students that they are watching chickens being fed. The students would probably believe you.

Here's a side fact. Take a look at this, and look at the bottom of the table:

Check out Sarawak's score. Compare it with the other teams.

Yes, I used to support Sarawak. Look at what it has become. Out of nine games, they've lost eight and drew one. Congratulations.

Losing streaks are okay, but denial gets annoying. I grew so tired of reading articles saying stuff like "we were so close to winning" or "although we lost, we played a good game"! Watch the matches and you'll probably agree that lots of times, they're not even half true.

Personally, I don't mind supporting a losing team. But if you want my support, please please please show me some real football! I want twenty-two men putting on a good fight to kick the ball into the goals, not twenty-two hungry chickens scrambling for corn.

And using celebrities to rally support to yourselves in SPORTS is just a new low in itself.

Malaysia, I love you. But call me again when there's some real football going on.