Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Mind the dog-shit
It's that time of year again when I get intensely annoyed that this player or that player is playing for a university team in the local educational institutions cup
competition in Cambodia. I think it's called the National Football
Championships and involves 24 teams from higher educational institutions,
technical colleges and provincial teacher training centers. I'm told it starts this week. I've written about this before, and here's what I've said previously. What we have
is the ridiculous situation that a lot of the country's very best
players, even those in the Cambodian national team, are turning out in
mickey mouse games for various university teams, risking injury and tiredness, playing
on ill-kept pitches covered in dog-shit, etc, in the middle of the
C-League season. I am gob-smacked that this is allowed to happen. I believe it's tied to
getting a scholarship to study at a particular university. However, the
idea of contracted professionals essentially being forced to represent their
university, or else they may lose their study place, is nonsensical in the
extreme to anyone that has an inkling of what professional sport is all
about. In my view, this has got to stop, players must not be forced to
play these farcical matches or else it will continue to devalue
the sport and their own professional league. Players on contracts
can play for their club and their national teams and that's it. They
can't go down the park and play with their mates, they can't play in
futsal competitions and they can't play for PUC against AEU, or whatever
these university teams are called. If the question is about funding the individual's further education,
then that is something he should build-in as part of his professional contract, or pay the university study fees himself. Both the clubs and the football
federation have got to be much stronger on this. Bottom
line, no contracted player should be allowed to do it. This is a perfect example of where Cambodian football needs to step up into a new era of professionalism.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
To me, I think because of their clubs, in contract if they wrote no players allowed to represent for their university teams, player would obey. Clubs could fine players if they didn't. I strongly disagree with that idea, too.
Most clubs are run by unprofessional volunteers so what can you expect....
the players are likely to be recommended by the club to the Uni in the 1st place so I am sure they will have to release them ..... i suspect some of the club coaches are moonlighting as coaches of the schools...and as such they would want the players to play for them.....
If the board or management of clubs do not step in and fine the players, then Cambodia will be stuck in the unprofessional era that it always have been in....
but then which club dare break this practice ...maybe all is waiting for PP Crown to make a stand since it is deem the most professional of all local club...if PP crown can't even make a statement on this I think the rest of the clubs will not ....
It all hinges on money. The players get subsidized study if they play for the university team. Study fees aren't cheap of course. However, if players really want to be treated as full-time professionals, this has got to stop. They should only play for their teams (and national teams). But to be able to afford the study fees, they need to negotiate higher payments from their clubs. Its a catch-22 situation for the players, which I understand. But I don't have to like it or agree with it.
Watch this space...
Post a Comment