PETALING JAYA: The postponement of Johor Darul Ta’zim’s (JDT) Super League match against Perak for the second time has incurred the wrath of the state’s Regent Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim.
The game, which was first scheduled for Aug 17, had been postponed to Oct 5 due to heavy downpours in Ipoh.
On Saturday, the match at the Perak Stadium was awaiting kick-off at 8.15pm but had to be delayed till 9.50pm due to heavy rain again. The Malaysian Football League (MFL) then had to announce the game could not go on due to the field’s poor condition.
The situation drew the ire of Tunku Ismail, who said on on his social media page:
“We are already in 2024. We are busy thinking about improving Malaysian football but 90 percent of the fields in this country are in a deplorable state.
“It is a shame compared to our neighbouring countries. They have upgraded their fields and football infrastructure.
“We talk about change but there’s no action. The allocation has been offered by the Youth and Sports Ministry but all the clubs did not take it. The reason? They are not willing to fork out RM200,000 yearly for maintenance of the field.
“You can spend millions to sign players and can pay millions to change stadium seats but when it comes to field maintenance and player salaries, you can’t pay. It is a shame.
“The monsoon season is about to start, how many games do we need to postpone? It is wasteful and humiliating.”
The game against JDT was supposed to be the final match at the Perak Stadium for the season.
The stadium is set to undergo refurbishment works after Oct 5, with home matches for the club in the league and Malaysia Cup set to be played at the Manjung Stadium for the remainder of the season.
On Saturday, about 10,000 fans at the Perak Stadium were left disappointed that the match was postponed and many took to social media saying that they felt that it could still have been played.
They posted images of the field, claiming that it was playable but Tunku Ismail shared a picture where the field looked muddy and filled with puddles.
