ROSMADI COMMITTED TO ELEVATE FUTSAL, BEACH FOOTBALL TO A HIGHER LEVEL

KUALA LUMPUR, April 4 (Bernama) -- Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) vice-president Datuk Seri Rosmadi Ismail is determined to take the country's futsal and beach football to a higher level in his third term heading the committee in the governing body.

Rosmadi, the FAM Futsal and Beach Football Committee chairman, said the committee held its first meeting last month and he described the group of members as being authoritative, particularly in the aspects of sports development and management.

He said the presence of these competent individuals on the committee would facilitate strategic planning to elevate the performance of futsal and beach football comprehensively.

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"I feel this is the best term to further raise the standards of futsal and beach football… I am grateful that the committee members are among those with a strong foundation when it comes to futsal development in Malaysia and who also possess a solid background in sports management.

"So, I believe that with this new committee, it will be easier for me to achieve my mission to elevate futsal and beach football to a higher level,” he told Bernama today. 

Rosmadi was appointed chairman of the FAM Futsal and Beach Football Committee after winning the FAM vice-president's post in the FAM Executive Committee elections for the 2017-2021 term.

In his first term as committee chairman, Rosmadi said he had laid out his mission to organise a higher-quality league as well as provide systematic planning for the national team.

However, he said the positive progress achieved then had to be cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in all sports activities being suspended for about two and three years.

"Despite that, after COVID-19, Alhamdulillah, we managed to hold a better league. A better and more competitive league will produce more players at the national level, who can then give a better fight at the international level,” he added.

Rosmadi said financial constraints faced by teams at the state level remained the key factor that has stunted the growth of futsal and beach football in the country. 

He said most states could not form a competitive team for the domestic league competition without sufficient funds.

"The main problem is that states do not have sufficient allocation to provide a good team. As you all know, national players must come from the states and the domestic league. However, it is here that we face the biggest constraint,” he said.

According to him, the domestic league was also affected by the frequent pullout of teams, resulting in only the likes of Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT), Selangor FC and Pahang Rangers FC who are consistently contributing players to the national team.

"We are grateful because there are still three or four strong teams in the league and they provide proper training. However, all the national players come from these few clubs, thus showing that there is a huge gap in terms of development at the state level,” he said.

Meanwhile, Rosmadi also admitted that there is still a very low rate of involvement in futsal and beach football among private and corporate companies and that has only made development efforts more challenging.

With an estimated annual expenditure of between RM1.5 million and RM2 million for futsal and beach football, he hopes that more parties, including state government and the private sector, will step forward to assist and ensure the continued progress of these two sports.

"There is very little support. We at the FAM have worked hard to develop futsal and beach football but the reality is that this is an extremely tough challenge without strong financial backing,” he said.

-- BERNAMA