FAM launches anti-hooliganism campaign

The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) Saturday launched an anti-hooliganism campaign in a move to curb the social ill in football. FAM deputy president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah said even though several incidents had occurred before, they were considered isolated cases but efforts had to be done so that such violence behaviour did not tarnish the image of the country and football. "The campaign is important to create awareness among spectators at stadiums so that fans come to watch football to support their teams and not to ran foul of the law," he told a press conference after launching the campaign at Wisma FAM here, Saturday. In this regard, FAM will put up flags with the anti-hooliganism logo at all Malaysia League matches in the country. For a start, the flags will be displayed during the friendly match between Harimau Malaya (national squad) and the Philippines at Selayang Municipal Council stadium on March 1. At the ceremony, Tengku Abdullah also launched the 'One Goal' campaign organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to promote healthy nutrition for children as its social responsibility strategy. Meanwhile, Tengku Abdullah also announced that FAM's executive committee (exco) had set May 25 as the date for the 50th FAM Congress as well as election of office bearers. "The last FAM exco meeting will be held on April 19 and nominations for the new exco will open one month from today," he said. According to him, FAM was also evaluating several candidates to coach Harimau Malaya, which is currently being managed by Harimau Muda A (national Under-23 squad) coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee. On the incident involving T-Team and Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) at Stadium Tan Sri Haji Hassan Yunos, Larkin, Johor Baharu on Feb 1, FAM vice-president Datuk Afandi Hamzah said a decision would only be made after FAM's secretariat received the report from police. Fights were reported to have broken out between officials and players from both sides as they were heading to their respective rest rooms through the tunnel during half-time.