Nobody is bigger than the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC).
That was MHC president Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal’s stinging reply when asked about former women’s national coach K. Dharmaraj’s decision not to re-apply for the post.
“Nobody is bigger than the MHC and I believe it’s not a big loss to Malaysian hockey that a certain person has decided not to send in his resume in our re-hiring exercise.
“In fact, we have received 30 applications from local as well as top coaches for just the women’s coaching position.
“If a certain person does not want to apply, so be it. I can’t reveal the names of those who have applied for the women’s coaching job, but I can tell you that some of them have taken teams to the World Cups and Olympics.
“That shows that our women have quality and coaches are interested in taking them higher.
“For the record, in the 2014 Asian Games, our women finished fifth. In 2018, after millions were spent on them for tours and matches, they still ended up fifth.
“So, where is the progress?” asked Subahan, who is also the MHC coaching committee chairman.
He said the re-hiring exercise is normal after a four-year cycle and that nobody should take his position for granted even if he feels he has performed.
“We had made it clear that once their contracts ended (on Dec 31), we would conduct a re-hiring exercise and everybody is welcome to send in his resume.
“Only (Roelant) Oltmans was an exception since his contract is until October and even he has his KPI, which is to qualify for the final of the Azlan Shah Cup. We will review his case after that.
“Some of the local coaches were being paid RM18,000 to RM19,000 per month and we do expect more from everybody.
“Since so many local as well as foreign coaches have applied for the women’s job, we can now select the best.
“With more cash received under the Women’s Sports Development programme, more can be done in the next four-year cycle,” said Subahan.