Unenviable task for whoever succeeds Arul

THERE was a time when Malaysian hockey gave us hope. A few times, in fact.

After 52 years, the national hockey team finally made it to the final of the Asian Games in Guangzhou. That was 14 years ago.

This unparalleled feat in Malaysia’s hockey history raised the bar for the subsequent generation of players to scale.

Since hockey was introduced in the Asian Games in Tokyo 1958, Malaysia’s best performance was five bronze medals, until Stephen Van Huizen and Tai Beng Hai formed a team that finally entered the final and landed a silver.

Legendary figure, Datuk Poon Fook Loke, was one of many who extolled the virtues of the team, insisting that their impressive showing reflected their readiness to take the 2012 Olympic qualifiers by storm.

Despite the positive outlook, Fook Loke preached caution.

The forward who spearheaded the team’s attack in the FIH World Cup in 1975 and the Montreal Olympics in 1976, called for a review to our old habits and do a complete overhaul of the way things were being run.

He cited the crisis involving the England Hockey Association (EHA) which was practically non-operational following a major financial crisis.

A team of independent business consultants was called in and their blueprint paper recommended the setting up of a professional management system in order to secure funding from Government and sponsors alike.

They immediately hired a chief executive and a finance director to set up a new company, England Hockey (EH) Limited, which was officially launched on Jan 1, 2003.

Today, EH are not only financially sound but it has a strong foundation of coaching, umpiring and youth development initiatives.

The ability to adapt to change is imperative but do we have the gumption to rock the boat?

For the record, we did not qualify for the 2012 Olympics.

Before the silver medal in Guangzhou, alarmed by the drastic decline of our hockey fortunes,102 former internationals submitted a petition to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak seeking urgent measures to check the rot.

The group’s spokesman K. Enbaraj said all the former internationals were only interested in is saving the game.

The 102 former players consisted of 37 Olympians, 29 World Cuppers, nine former national coaches, two former national team managers, 10 former captains, one former World XI player and 10 former Asian All-Stars players.

Deja vu?

Today we remain in the same mode. Since the turn of the new millennium, the team have yet to make the cut to the Olympics.

The last generation to do so was the class of 2000 that boasted the likes of goalkeepers Roslan Jamaluddin and Nasihin Nubli Ibrahim, S. Kuhan, Chua Boon Huat, Nor Azlan Bakar, Datuk Mirnawan, Suhaimi Ibrahim and Nor Saiful.

For a fleeting moment, A. Arulselvaraj’s charges showed a glimpse of hope of emulating that generation.

They shed the “nearly men” tag by winning the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, bagged the silver medal in the Asia Cup and finished fourth in the Nations Cup in 2022, which led to Arul being voted as the Coach of the Year in the National Sports Awards.

But the team’s dismal performance in the Hangzhou Asian Games and the Olympic qualifiers in Oman in January put an end to Arul’s coaching stint.

By this week, the MHC is expected to name one of the four candidates - K. Dharmaraj, Sarjit Singh, Australian Glenn Turner and South African Brendon Carolan – as the chief coach.

Dharmaraj previously coached the Speedy Tigers from 2014 to 2018 and led Malaysia to the Junior Asia Cup crown in 2012 and a fourth-place finish at the Junior World Cup in New Delhi a year later.

Sarjit, 62, was in charge of the national junior team in 2005 and the national senior team from January 2007 to December 2008.

Turner was Arul’s assistant specialising as the forward coach at last year’s Hangzhou Asian Games and the Olympic Qualifiers in Oman while Carolan served as Arul’s assistant during the World Cup last year.

Arul was not the only coach who found the Olympics a station too far. In his company are Paul Lissek (2004), Sarjit (2008), Beng Hai (2012 and 2016) and Roelant Oltmans (2020).

As such, no one shall envy Arul’s successor.