KUALA LUMPUR — The Malaysia Rugby Union (MRU) has decided to set aside their frustration over the cancellation of the rugby sports complex by the Youth and Sports Ministry (KBS) and focus on developing the sport.
The RM17 million worth of sports complex originally planned for construction in Precinct 13, Putrajaya, was cancelled due to its budget exceeding the government’s initial plan.
Speaking to Scoop, MRU secretary-general Fahmy Jalil said that under its new leadership, the association plans to organise several tournaments for the remainder of the year to develop talents.
“Although we were disappointed with the government’s decision, we would like to move forward and prove ourselves by successfully organising tournaments and performing well in the competitions that our athletes participate in for the rest of the year.
“Maybe with our athletes performing well in the tournaments, who knows, one day the Youth and Sports Ministry will reconsider its plans on constructing a rugby sports complex for us.
“We just had our annual general meeting about five days ago, and we realise that most of our sponsors’ contracts will be ending in the middle of this year, so we are aiming to continue with our annual Agong’s Cup in August and come up with another five more tournaments.
“Our women’s team will be participating in the Asia Rugby Women Championship Div 1 in Gujarat, India, in May this year, and our coaches are diligently working on selecting the right players for the tournament,” said Fahmy.
Fahmy also said that the association has decided to hire several specialised coaches to prepare and elevate the national team’s performances ahead of the 2025 SEA Games in Bangkok.
He further said that MRU discussed with the National Sports Council (NSC) and the National Rugby Development Programme (NRDP) the long-term goals of the association.
“Rugby has always been a medal prospect sport in the SEA Games for Malaysia, and our athletes have always delivered. We have a goal of winning the gold in next year’s edition, and we should start our work from now onwards by bringing in a few specialised coaches into the national setup.
“We will be coming up with a new proposal and presenting it to NSC and NRDP to discuss whether MRU should focus on reaching the 2031 Rugby World Cup in the United States or having our sevens team reach the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
“The discussion is essential so that we can plan accordingly for the years to come. We need to discuss which one of these goals is more realistic to achieve,” Fahmy added.
MRU faced controversy in December last year when they discovered that an administrative staff member had allegedly embezzled a large amount of money from the national body, with withdrawals exceeding RM1 million since 2019.
The case has been under police investigation since August last year.
The national rugby sevens men’s team won the gold medal in the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games and a silver in the 2019 edition in Manila.
Rugby sevens was not featured in the 2023 edition in Phnom Penh. — January 9, 2024