Now it’s Perlis – pull-outs making a mockery of Razak Cup

KUALA LUMPUR: The Razak Cup is the oldest hockey tournament in Malaysia but it has become a mockery – no thanks to the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) competition committee’s new rule.

The rule only allows each state to have four guest players. And Perlis has become the third disgruntled state to withdraw from the tournament – after Negri Sembilan and Kedah pulled out on Wednesday.

Perlis Hockey Association secretary Surizan Mansor said the four guest player rule set by the MHC competitions committee is really “ridiculous”.

“We have seven players, who played for us in all age group tour- naments including the Malaysia Games (Sukma) in Perak last month.

“The seven players have lived and studied in Perlis but they cannot play for us in the Razak Cup because they are born in different states. They are considered as guest players.

“To make mattersworse, states like Kedah and Selangor, where these players were born, also don’t want their services,” said Surizan.

“We’re a tiny state and don’t have many players. So what are these players going to do as states like Kedah and Selangor have their own players?

“To solve the problem, I personally called MHC president Datuk Seri Subahan (Kamal) to help. But he too could not help us as he can’t go against the rules set by the MHC competitions committee.

“We were looking forward to playing for the first time in Division One after winning the Division Two title in Ipoh last year. But we’re annoyed with the MHC competitions committee’s ruling as we don’t have enough players to assemble a team. So we have decided to pull out,” said Surizan, who was supposed to be the manager of Perlis in the tournament.

“If the players can play in age group tournaments and also in the Sukma, my question is why are they being deprived of playing in the Razak Cup?

“The MHC competitions commit-

tee need to change the rules otherwise other states will have the same problem in assembling teams for the tournament next year,” said Surizan.

MHC have done a redraw for Division One and all six teams will play in a round robin format.

Group B comprises Melaka, Johor, Terengganu and Penang.