Ong (left) exchanges documents with Fazzrudin as Abdul Karim (second left) and Ministry of Youth and Sports acting permanent secretary Nancy Jolhi look on. — Photo by Muhammad Rais Sanusi
KUCHING (March 1): The state government aims to further contribute to the development of football in Sarawak through the collaboration between the Sarawak Sports Corporation (SSC) and Football Association of Sarawak (FAS).
This was revealed by Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah on Monday, as he opined that any sport that carries the name of Sarawak in prestigious competitions should receive assistance from the government.
“As for football, there are two teams representing Sarawak at the Premier League (national second division football competition). We must make sure that both teams get the help they need,” he said during a press conference.
The teams are Sarawak United FC and Kuching City FC.
He commented that the government, through SSC, could help in developing young talents at grassroots level and produce top players for the teams.
Abdul Karim added that SSC could also ease the burden of the FAS, who is governing the state football affair .
“With SSC now involved in the football development in Sarawak, FAS can concentrate more on monitoring the performances of Sarawakian teams competing in the Malaysian League while both organisations will need to work together in the development at grassroots level too,” he said.
Earlier, SSC sealed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with FAS and Kuching City FC.
The MoA were signed by SSC chief executive officer Dr Ong Kong Swee, FAS president Datuk Posa Majais and Kuching City FC chairman Fazzrudin Abdul Rahman.
“With this MoA, we hope it will be a beginning of great things for the development of the sport. We hope it will also benefit Sarawakian football as a whole too,” Abdul Karim said after witnessing the signing ceremony.
Posa said on the behalf of FAS, he was grateful for the assistance from the state government.
Fazzrudin also expressed his gratitude and is looking forward for the collaboration.
“This cooperation with SSC will help us unearth and groom more young talents in Sarawak,” said Fazzrudin.
Meanwhile, Abdul Karim pointed out that SSC focuses in the development of all sports in Sarawak.
While SSC has contributed to the state football development in some ways previously, SSC is seeing an even greater involvement starting this year.
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