The Football Offseason

They call it the off season. Some call it the silly season. This is the short window of the calendar year in which no European football is played.

Malaysia is one of the many developing countries worldwide who for various reasons, sycophantically worship European football competitions half a world despite having no Malaysian participation whatsoever. Football is the national code here but the domestic competition is considered a joke, apparently bereft of any hint of credibility. The standard of football here is poor by international standards with Malaysia ranking a lowly 157 in the latest FIFA ratings, closely trailing the sporting powerhouse that is the Maldives at No. 156. This is clearly unacceptable given the country’s resources, population, and love of the game. I digress however as the role of sport, or lack of it, within Malaysian society warrants a separate entry entirely.

Back to the football offseason. What do the main pages of the sports section in the daily papers run with? Afterall Badminton may be the most successful sport for Malaysia, results wise, but who wants to read about it?!

The solution consists of daily player transfer updates and negotiation updates complete with telephone figure considerations changing hands. Will he or won’t he? Accumulating suspense by the day. Sometimes I don’t know whether I’m reading the business section or the gossip pages. Call me an old fashioned conservative (shut up Steve!) but it isn’t sports and as a New Zealander I am grateful that we have embraced separate national summer and winter sports, thus avoiding such foolishness.

I am hardly a fan of the world’s biggest sport, however I far prefer reading about action on the turf as opposed to publicly listed companies masquerading as football clubs, trading their assets and commodities

Kaka signing for Real Madrid