After scandal at the top, grassroots must rescue football

AS the fireworks lit up the sky, and cries of “Happy New Year” rang out loud, my thoughts were on football, Malaysian football, in particular.

And there was little to be happy about, not after the forgery scandal that rocked the nation and the painful punishment meted out by FIFA.

The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) have gone to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in hope of clearing their name. Hopes are slim.

Instead, more questions have surfaced.

After a tumultuous year that laid bare a system best described as crummy and inept, you cannot help but wonder what 2026 holds.

It does not look good for future generations.

Malaysian football faces a period of uncertainty, riddled with thorns and trenches.

Harimau Malaya may not have international assignments.

Our once-feared fortress could fall silent, hosting concerts and events instead of football matches where crowd cheer with national pride.

Local players who grind week in and week out in domestic leagues, dreaming of donning the black and yellow, may be deprived of the intense international exposure that modern football demands.

When the return eventually comes, there is fear – fear of falling behind, of lagging behind other nations. It sounds negative. It feels grim.

It will be tough but accountability, transparency, and integrity must always remain at the core.

While that fight continues, what else can we do? Malaysian football must remain part of our national fabric, even if we are absent from international tournaments for a while.

Grassroots football has to be at the forefront during these testing times.

The return of Datuk Ong Kim Swee has offered a glimmer of hope, although negativity still clouds the structure he is trying to rebuild.

Budget cuts, retrenchments, and coaches fearing the loss of livelihoods only add to the pain.

For change to happen, these drastic measures are unavoidable.

It is up to us, the people, to wrestle the game back from the elite at the top.

We can encourage children to play, to join academies, to fall in love with the game.

We can pursue coaching licences. We can play football with kids in our neighbourhoods. We can tell them there is a future, that they can be part of the rejuvenation of Malaysian football.

Above all, we must build individuals who understand accountability, transparency, integrity and discipline, because that is how the game truly grows.

The sport, after this latest scandal, could receive only scraps from the national sports budget.

Perhaps now is the time to prove that the people can do more, with less.

There are youth coaches quietly doing incredible work, producing talent not just for clubs, but with the hope that one day, one or two will become world-beaters.

Some Malaysian-born players are already representing clubs and countries abroad.

More can do it, provided the system is right and properly structured.

Future players will have to emulate them, or be even better. Their foundation would build a solid future for our game.

We need a healthier football ecosystem, a generation that stays active in an age where phones and screens consume our children’s lives.

Yes, we may be deprived of international football for a while. But that does not mean football must sleep.

It is time to show those responsible for the damage, for the scandal that will be remembered for generations, that football will always belong to the people.