Politicians are often advised that they are much better off organising events or programmes to tick the box. However, Twentytwo13 columnist Muhammad Yunus Zakariah stresses that it’s well thought-out policies that give sports and the industry hope.
Author: Muhammad Yunus Zakariah
Kemaman-based Muhammad Yunus Zakariah is the former Perak FC chief executive officer. Yunus currently runs his own boutique agency and has been in sports marketing since 2006, primarily in the field of corporate partnerships and sponsorship sales. Yunus has worked on projects involving Sporting CP (Portugal), Petronas Sepang Racing Team, Pahang Rangers, Terengganu FC, Kerteh FC among others. He is also the founder and managing editor of Bahas Bola.
Evening or night matches, it’s immaterial to loyal football fans
It doesn’t matter what time a match is played, as true football fans will continue to flock the stands and enjoy the post-match lepak sessions, writes Muhammad Yunus Zakariah.
Save UiTM FC – sell it to the rich and make them richer
Rather than wait for UiTM FC to fall into financial ruin, and hope for the Higher Education Ministry or the university to bail it out, management should come up with an investment prospectus that is capable of encouraging the rich to become richer through the acquisition of its club, writes Muhammad Yunus Zakariah.
Plan to sell your football club? Start by developing a sponsorship prospectus
Football clubs in Malaysia, generally, are not bothered to invest in sponsorship work. Most clubs feel they are “big” enough, to the point that someone will, one day, walk through their gates and acquire them, writes Muhammad Yunus Zakariah.
‘Legend worshipping’ is robbing us of our future
The unhealthy obsession of harping on the past, especially by former athletes and officials, is diverting the focus of the present generation away from real innovation and change, writes Muhammad Yunus Zakariah.
Lesson in gullibility: When it’s too good to be true, it usually is
When you pick up the phone in the middle of the night and it’s a man claiming he can clear all the debts of a football club and help your agency to become the management with an average budget of RM10 million for the next five seasons, you have to have the IQ of a cabbage to think, “Hmmm. This sounds very interesting”, writes Muhammad Yunus Zakariah.
JDT responsible for the ills of Malaysian football? Don’t be daft
Apparently, being rich and giving your money away to other needy clubs makes you a “shrine”, and therefore, to be sneered at. Having sudden episodes of impulsive or mindless verbal outbursts is just plain silly, more so when one is a politician, writes Muhammad Yunus Zakariah.
Hurdles for Perak FC, even after acquisition by IMC
Corporate governance long ingrained within Perak football has turned into a toxic culture that requires drastic structural reforms, writes Muhammad Yunus Zakariah.
Management lessons from my time as a debate promoter
Here’s an insight as to what event promoters or managers need to consider regarding their managerial approaches – it’s similar to running an international debate event, writes Muhammad Yunus Zakariah.
Courage to back-pass could just turn the National Football Development Programme around
Today, many years and millions of ringgit in taxpayers’ money later, the National Football Development Programme is still finding its footing within our football ecosystem. Being detached from the critical realities of football, the programme is like having a Ferrari on Cameron Highlands – an awkward luxury, writes Muhammad Yunus Zakariah.
JDT’s amazing but Malaysian clubs need a role model that eats rice, tempeh
As a professional football club, JDT is certainly what we must aspire to be. But unless you’re funded by U2’s Bono and the World Bank, you’re better off finding a new role model – one that eats rice and tempeh, writes Muhammad Yunus Zakaria.
Forget Covid-19, economy, or politics. Our real problem is morals, rather, the lack of it
We should never make the convenient and lazy assumption that a mere change in leadership would result in a push-back against the moral decay at the top of government, writes Muhammad Yunus Zakariah.
Trust deficit makes it hard to ‘sell’ idea of National Sports Vision 2030
The capacity to implement policies depends essentially on trust. Without trust in a minister or ministry, support for any form of blueprint, regardless how brilliant it may be, will be difficult to mobilise, writes Muhammad Yunus Zakariah.