K. Dharmaraj Axed, A. Arulselvaraj Takes Over

So the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) has finally pushed the panic button and decided to replace ‘under fire‘ head coach, K. Dharmaraj with Project 2016 coach, A. Arulselvaraj, albeit the appointment is just an interim measure. The face-saving move with Dharmaraj as a “scapegoat” to me is an act of cowardice, designed to appease the fans after a disastrous World Cup campaign and shameful performances at the recent Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. It would have been better for the MHC to stick by their man for at least another year after they decided to give Dharmaraj a promotion in the wake of his achievement in leading our youngsters to fourth placing in the Junior World Cup. Afterall, like players, this is just another learning curve for the coach and I’m sure he will be better with time.

For the record, K. Dharmaraj’s appointment as the national team head coach is not without controversy. Many questioned his credentials (myself included) to handle our senior team in such a prestigious tournament like the World Cup but Malaysian Hockey Confederation decided to go ahead with the experiment. Of course, he failed! The tournament is just too much and too soon for him. Plus, he was looking for the future by giving many youngsters exposure in a competition that we could never win. Not yet anyway!

He had another terrible outing at the Commonwealth Games. But, I must say that I was impressed with his courage at throwing more youngsters in the team and doing plenty of experiments. To those who are unaware, the standard of hockey in Commonwealth countries is quite high. It includes among other, world champion (Australia), World Cup semi-finalist (England) and quality teams like New Zealand, India and Pakistan. Still, there is no excuse for him to lose to Trindad & Tobago and getting hammered by the likes of Scotland. I hope he learned a thing or two from those matches.

By the way, Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah has threatened to withdraw the national team from next month’s Incheon Asian Games in South Korea. By axing K. Dharmaraj, he certainly put the blame on the coach. He was also critical of the players and accused them of lack of discipline. I don’t know how much he knows about sports and hockey. Certainly no players go into a tournament without a desire to win. Do admit that our standard is not up there yet and MHC is partly to blame for its failure to produce players that are good enough to compete at the highest level.

I wish A. Arulselvaraj the best of luck because he will need that very much. He probably will revert back to calling all the experienced players to help him in the Asian Games and he might get a better result there due to managerial change effect. But that will be as far as he can go if he decide to choose that path. I hope he is brave enough to continue what Dharmaraj has done by giving exposure to our youngsters and look forward to the future. I certainly believe that the team that finished fourth in the Junior World Cup last year will have a great future if we give them the chance to develop.

– K. Dharmaraj Axed, A. Arulselvaraj Takes Over

Ismail N

ISMAIL N is the Chief Blogger/Blog Owner. An HR practitioner in his normal daily life & a casual blogger in his free time. Addicted to coffee, Man Utd, K-Drama/K-Pop. Retired POGO trainer (TL50). Most easily accessed via his Twitter account.