KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) competitions committee chairman Brian Fernandez said today the player eligibility rule in Razak Cup is to make sure states develop their own players.
In a statement, Brian said the rule is not new and has been practised for a long time, only that it was limited to four players this year.
Earlier, states could field as many “guest” players as they liked, provided they get release letters from states that they sign players from.
Player eligibility rules forced Division One teams Negri Sembilan and Perlis, as well as Division Two side Kedah, to withdraw from the Razak Cup at the 11th hour.
"Eligibility rule is there to make sure states develop their own talent and not rely on others to form a team.
"If grassroots development is carried out regularly, states would have no problem fielding a team.
"And as everybody knows, state leagues are very active right now, and players should have been spotted at this level and states should no longer have problems in player selection," said Brian.
Perlis, Kedah and Negri claimed that even though half of their team had identity cards which state they were born elsewhere, the said boys have been schooling as well as playing for them for a long time.
Brian said the competitions committee, chaired by George Koshy and with members from states, emphasise on development and so states should have a bigger pool of players to make sure there is no shortage.