KUALA LUMPUR: Stern action will be taken against individuals who were involved in a brawl during the Liga Suparimau in Damansara, last Sunday, which went viral on social media.
Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh said the ministry will get a full report from the relevant stakeholders before deciding the next course of action on the incident which reportedly happened between Akademi MZ and FCKL Eagles teams.
Liga Suparimau is a grassroots football development programme for those aged five to 17, co-organised by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and Maxim Events.
“I saw the video, I am not happy because these are all junior players and already this kind of incident happening. This is something that we will not tolerate.
“I will get the report from the relevant sports body and if there’s a need for them to lodge police report, I believe it would have been done, but I am gathering the information first,” she told reporters after the Jalur Gemilang handing ceremony to the Mas Tigers Arena of Valor e-sports team here, yesterday.
Hannah said as the ministry had received commitments from all the sports associations for the Safe Sports Code (SSC), anyone organising sports events should adhere by the code, no matter high performance sports or grassroots.
“That’s why when we asked to sign the SSC, we want to uphold and promote the values. This is why we involved the Education and the Higher Education ministries, sports associations and even gym operators.
“Now people need to remember that they did not just sign a document but make an effort at every event to promote it,” she added.
In a video that went viral, players and officials can be seen kicking and punching.
Earlier, Hannah and the new National Sports Council director-general Abdul Rashid Yaakub handed over the national flag and RM100,000 overseas competition participation aid grant to the Mas Tigers team, who are participating in the Honor of Kings International Championship 2023.
Meanwhile, Team Mas Tigers manager Wong Kang Woon said the team targets a top eight finish in the competition dubbed as the world championship, to be held in Shanghai, China from Nov 22 to Dec 30, offering a total prize pool of US$10 million (about RM46.8 million).
“We received the wildcard ticket based on our silver medal achievement in the Hangzhou Asian Games. We have retained the six players from the Asian Games, and called another three new players this time, so hope can get top eight finish from 26 teams competing,” he said.
In the same ceremony, the team also received sponsorship in kind, namely gaming mobile phone from IQOO Malaysia, and luggage from Eminent. – BERNAMA
