Last Sunday, Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) vice-president Posa Majais said fewer than 1,000 tickets had been sold for this year’s four-team tournament, which he said might be due to some groups threatening to boycott the event.
While Posa did not specify who he was referring to, the Ultras Malaya supporters’ group had previously said it would boycott this year’s tournament because of unsolved criminal cases affecting national footballers, the sudden resignation of national football coach Kim Pan-gon, and other matters.
Football legend James Wong told FMT: “I really can’t tell why (ticket sales are low), but I don’t think blaming the fans is the answer.”
The former centre-forward said one possible reason why fans might not be as eager to attend matches was the quality of the teams competing.
“If the teams are of high quality, fans will be eager to watch the games as they would like to see how well the Malaysian team fares,” he said.
Wong, who was once hailed by fans as “King James”, said people would flock to stadiums if internationally renowned teams were playing.
“The teams we play need to be of high quality,” said the former star, who scored the winning goal in a 1980 Olympics qualifier against South Korea to book Malaysia a spot in the tournament.
Another former national footballer, Thomas Samuel, said it was embarrassing for FAM to blame fans for the poor ticket sales.
“There are many ways to boost ticket sales. For example, FAM can cooperate with companies and hold activities like carnivals to promote the event,” he said.
“They could also promote it on social media and in the other countries involved.”
Sports analyst Pekan Ramli said it was not right to blame the Ultras Malaya supporters’ group as it had relentlessly supported the national football team to the extent of receiving compliments from numerous parties abroad.
“I view the boycott as saying they want reform and transformation in the FAM executive committee line-up next year,” he said.
“They want FAM to guarantee that it will solve the numerous issues in the local football scene.”
Malaysia beat the Philippines 2-1 last night and will now meet Lebanon in the final of the tournament. Lebanon had beaten Tajikistan 1-0.
Last year, Tajikistan beat Malaysia 2-0 in the final.
The tournament, once a highlight of the Asian football calendar, made a comeback last year after a nine-year lapse.