Thomas Samuel said the youth and sports and education ministries had over the years failed to put in place an effective system to support the many sports clubs that unearthed and groomed the many sporting legends who brought the nation glory between the 1970s and 1990s.

“There were many sports clubs for hockey, football and so on in those days. All of them were NGOs under the Registrar of Societies,” Samuel, honorary secretary of the Ex-State & Ex-National Footballers Association Malaysia, told FMT.

He said the government’s failure to provide support, especially in terms of funding, saw many of these clubs fade away since the turn of the century.

On Tuesday, FMT columnist A Kathirasen urged youth and sports minister Hannah Yeoh to look to the schools for those with the potential to excel on the international stage.

However, Samuel said sports development in Malaysia also takes place outside of schools, with many youngsters training at public facilities outside schooling hours, usually with the support and under the guidance of sporting veterans.

He said the government’s failure to support such grassroots initiatives, as well as the tendency of new ministers to upend initiatives introduced by their predecessors, has affected the nation’s ability to discover new sporting talents.

Limited accessibility to sports facilities

Samuel also criticised the tendency to commercialise sports facilities, a view echoed by former national swimmer Cindy Ong who lamented the lack of public access to swimming pools in the Klang Valley.

“There are many pools in the Klang Valley, but they are either privatised, which makes it super expensive for anyone to get in, or left to rot.

“Take the national aquatic centre for example. The government built it, but it’s being leased out to a private company that holds swimming classes. They will not rent out lanes to anyone else conducting similar classes.

“In fact, the National Sports Council needs to rent lanes from them to train national swimmers,” she told FMT.

Culture of mediocrity

Ong also blamed the “culture of mediocrity” among Malaysian youths for the lack of ambition among those who take up sports.

She said that as a coach she found that youth participating in competitive sport and those overseeing their performance were content with average results.

“Everybody is being rewarded for simply completing a race. There is no more element of competition. This culture has infiltrated every inch of our society,” she said.

Former footballer James Wong agreed, saying athletes should not be feted for mediocre performances.

“We can still understand if you made it to the final, but lost. At least you made it to the top,” he told FMT.

Earlier this year former national shuttler Lee Chong Wei attributed the decline in Malaysian badminton to the culture of celebrating mediocrity.

“Culturally, we have enabled this. We celebrate mediocrity,” he was quoted as saying.