AGM FAS

KUCHING: Datu Sudarsono Osman is the new president of the Football Association of Sarawak (FAS) for 2010-2012 after garnering 11 out of the 17 votes from the states affiliates at the association’s annual general meeting (AGM).

Also voted in were new deputy president Abu Bakar Marzuki who was the former general secretary and five vice presidents namely Haidel Heli (Samarahan affiliate), Nelson Kloni (Betong), Posa Majais (Kuching), Razali Dolhan (Kuching) and Sazali Abdul Rahman (Miri) who was also voted into the exco yesterday.

“It is too early to say on the changes that will be implemented. FAS will assure that each divisions will have their own football league to produce a broadband of players with high calibre,” said Sudarsono after he was announced as the sixth president of FAS.

He also said that FAS will financially support and work closely with the affiliates to ensure that the leagues are run with the highest level.

Sudarsono explained that FAS needs to re-look at the fundamentals of football and focus on the affiliates who will act as the solid base for a firm and effective structure of the association.“

We also must ensure that the leagues must be run for five to six months like in Europe, South Korea and Japan,” said Sudarsono adding that all the divisions should be organising an under-14, 15, 16 and 18 leagues to have a multiplying effect on the number of footballers in Sarawak.

“Even if we have 2200 players in the under-18 league, a success rate of one per cent is enough to ensure that we have 22 top players to don the state jersey,” he added.

“It is not so much in terms of population that a country is successful in football, it is the quality of the leagues that they have which put them there,” said Sudarsono adding that China and India as the most populated country in the world did not make it far in the Fifa World Cup.