Concerns about professionalism in Malaysia

At the recent FIFA Congress in Marrakech, Morocco, its president Joseph Blatter held up a symbol of a house, recalled the New Straits Times' Lazarus Rokk and "told delegates of the 207-member nations that it should be built on solidarity, democracy and professionalism."

Mr Blatter then told them he will be sending a symbol of that house to every federation "to remind them to erect and build their respective houses on those three solid structures ... Football has become a business, there’s no more place for voluntarism, it’s about professionalism."

Referring to the state of football's 'house' in Malaysia, Rokk detailed concerns about the "huge structural fragility" which, he said, keeps "plunging Malaysian football deeper into the abyss of mediocrity."