When elephants clash, the mousedeer dies underfoot

WHEN my blogpost came under siege from Kelantan fans for my criticism levelled at Tan Sri Annuar Musa in early 2012 for having delayed an M-League kick-off in Kota Baru for more than half an hour, a few friends reached out to me.

One of them was Stuart Michael Ramalingam, now Datuk Stuart.

He invited me to join him for an early morning breakfast in Bangsar, knowing full well I was cyber-bullied based on the comments left on my blogpost, mostly from Kelantan fans angered by my open letter to FAM and its stakeholders under the title Surat Buat FAM dan kawasan sekitarnya.

Stuart was then the chief executive of the Malaysian Super League Sdn Bhd, a marketing arm of FA of Malaysia (FAM), of which Annuar was the chairman.

“The reason I wanted to touch base with you and to find out how are you doing after the posting,” said Stuart alluding to some of the highly emotional comments which were very threatening in nature.

As a man trained in the commercial aspects of the sports industry, Stuart is media savvy and he understands optics and perception.

The blogpost was a cause for concern for Stuart because it was a fight between Annuar his boss and I, a media personnel and a stakeholder by virtue of being a TV host with the league’s broadcast partners in a deal the former brokered to a tune of RM30 million per annum.

A lot has happened since that meeting in Bangsar. Stuart who turned 47 last month, had gone on to become a director of club competitions and futsal and later director of marketing and social responsibility of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), consultant with Frenz United and later vice-president of Dentsu Sports Asia.

An opportunity for me to work with Stuart came up in in 2018 when he was made the FAM general secretary while I was offered by Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin to head the president’s office.

I was given a first-hand look at Stuart’s work ethics, strategic thinking and commercial brains.

We got down to work immediately when Stuart was tasked by Hamidin to produce a blueprint that was to be the FAM Roadmap called F:30, which was based on a strategic plan compiled by Abang Zulkarnain Abang Abdurahman, but repackaged with new initiatives and periodical targets.

Among other things, the backroom thinkers brainstormed and came up with the Affiliates Capacity Enhancement (ACE) project as a tool for FAM to provide assistance to FAM’s affiliates in terms of technical, competition and human capital through an education module.

Stuart was also keen to develop the human capital under his wings. So Ahmad Zakiran Mohd Yoonus, Mohd Alif Mohd Fadzil, Mohd Raimi Fakri Mohd Fuad and yours truly were dispatched to attend the football administration course by AFC to enhance our knowledge - incidentally all four are no longer on FAM’s payroll but enriched by the experience, no doubt.

Privately I was awed by Stuart’s ability to juggle between the thankless task of being the head of the FAM secretariat, a loving husband and a doting father of two while also completing his Professional Masters in Football Business from the Swiss-based Football Business Academy (FBA).

Today, speculation is rife that his contract as the Malaysian Football League (MFL) chief operating officer (CEO) is not going to be extended.

I guess the former Selangor youth player, whose career was cut short due to a broken leg, was caught in the crossfire, much like the proverbial mousedeer dying underfoot when elephants clash.

Since he took over as MFL CEO in 2021, the league operators have shown growth and significant economic advancements, with a total of RM64.87 million annual sponsorship as opposed to RM9.32 million in 2019.

The viewership trends further highlight MFL’s robust appeal, with a cumulative viewership of 763 million from 2019 to 2023.

Under his able stewardship, MFL are committed to delivering unparalleled football experiences by fostering the love of the Malaysian League, with over 30,000 minutes of live content and a steadfast viewership.

Sure MFL were insensitive to Selangor’s appeal for the Charity Shield match against Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) be postponed following the acid attack on Faisal Halim but that should not take away all the good Stuart has done for MFL.

If Stuart’s contract is extended beyond August, well and good. If not, his successor has a big pair of shoes to fill.

Stuart is perhaps destined for greater things.

Such as one day returning to AFC as the general secretary, a position traditionally reserved for Malaysians since Datuk Koe Ewe Teik assumed the role in 1965.