Football is almost as good as dead here. Hats off to the boys who won the SAFF Championship, and if the boys want to give credit to the man in-charge so be it. There are other areas we can focus on.

First of all, how can one expect the National Team to improve when our league is in the state it’s in? Without the clubs thinking as businesses and without proper marketing, they are always going to depend on the government for funds. Without holding the clubs accountable when players are not paid, some people are always going to take advantage of the situation.

Yesterday I saw Victory draw against New Radiant on www.mycujoo.tv. Victory’s coach Nazeeh said media is to be blamed for blowing out of proportion the news about the situation at Victory. According to Victory's board members, the chairman and vice chairman has not been reachable, the players had not trained for months because of salary issues and the team had failed to show up for a game. Is this the fault of the media? How is this situation not as bad as the media portrayed it?

Now the trends have changed. Before people will always criticize the players. Blame their lack of discipline for all the problems. Now the media. When Maldives had to win SAFF games semi-final berth through a flip of a coin is that media problem too? The National Coach Petar Segrt certainly blamed the media too.

Let me tell you, some of these websites and the news sites are the only source of information on the excuse of a league that exists in the Maldives. The ever changing political toy of league is given little legitimacy by the media, now you people want to criticize that too?

For these people maybe just playing games is enough? Do they not know that without the public support, the league will never be what it used to be? Brimming with talent, all we need is to stop blaming people who are trying to support us and get on with the job.

I want to congratulate the media for their coverage, for the efforts and hope that we will get even more news and stuff to make football exciting again.

Secondly, stop criticizing the players. I read few comments questioning Dhagandey’s (Ali Ashfaq) commitment to the National Team! Is this a joke? Who has contributed more than him? Some imbecile on a coffee table who never watched more than ten league games knows enough to say Maldivian players lack discipline. How come? Why did the likes of Velizar Popov, Istvan Urbanyi, Drago Mamic,Jozef Jankech and Ricki Herbert not comment on this? Do these couch potatoes know more than these coaches with international records? Why didn’t any of the National Team Managers comment on this?

With the winds of change, we cannot stop to hope. Because every coach that comes here talks about the abundance of talent in the Maldives. So we know it’s not the players or the media that is the problem. We hope to see a more responsible approach taken by the new government in bringing a much needed boast to somehow bring some interest in Maldivian football. Pi**ing off players and the media is not the way for sure.

Some kid gave an interview to BoalhaMV about his dream to play in the world cup. He rightly mentioned Iceland as an example. If that small country can, so can we!

-Dreamer-

(from a coffee table)

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