What happened at the meeting should not come as a shock as many had questioned the direction the Coaching Committee had taken after the MHF Council appointed the Chairman.
MHF President Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmd Shah has his hands full, right from these issues to the performance of the National Senior Squad, whose outing in the Champions Challenge was nothing short of a disaster.
Messy Hockey Federation
UPSET: Dr Balbir set to officially resign today
Two committees held their meetings on Saturday and what transpired at the Coaching Committee meeting opened a big can of worms.
The other committee that met was the Competitions Committee. The secretary of the Coaching Committee R. Vivekanandan was removed and in protest the chairman, Dr Balbir Singh Gill, reportedly resigned.
However, after announcing his resignation, Dr Balbir returned to the table to continue with the meeting but grapevine has it that he will tender his official resignation today. Attempts to get Dr Balbir yesterday were futile.
Vivekanandan declined comment until he had spoken with Dr Balbir. However, others present at the meeting said the meeting was chaotic.
“The legal position of virtually all the committees has been brought into question,” said a source. “The MHF constitution states the Coaching Committee should comprise the chairman of coaching committee from all the States. But that’s not the case here. A number of the members were nominees of the chairman.
“We have no problem with that but to accommodate that the constitution must first be changed.”
However, some others claimed when they were represented by the chairman from all the States, the committees rarely functioned.
“Look at this instance. Even in the present set-up, the chairman of one particular State coaching committee lives and works in Kuala Lumpur. How is he ever going to help his State?
“It is a farce to insist only the State chairmen can sit in this committee so that the States will be properly represented,” he asked.
The MHF council will meet on Saturday and the president, Tengku Abdullah Shah, has told all the committee heads that he wants progress reports. Most committees have never met even once and have scheduled their meetings over the last weekend and the next few days. They are all expected to submit reports “just to impress the President”.
“They are all rushing to hold meetings just to show they’ve been working. Look at this mess. The Coaching Committee and all the other committees were formed six months ago.
“There was ample time for the States to voice their unhappiness or bring it up with the president at previous council meetings. Someone should have advised him, or at least made him aware of the constitution.
“Now they are all protesting and this means we have wasted six months,” said one member.
To change the constitution now, however, will be a longdrawn process as this can only be done at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM).
Tengku Abdullah returns from Dublin — where he witnessed another Malaysian hockey holocaust — this morning. He could well be returning to a limbless association.
