After chairing the meeting of the Cabinet Committee for Sports on February 8, 2007 Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced a RM68.7 million “refurbishment” of the Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre (TARRC) in Brickendonbury, London into a high-performance sports training centre to be fully operational in April.
Najib said agreement “in principle” had been reached with Arsenal to train the national under-16 football team, which will be the first to use the London centre.
The Weekend Mail, in its first issue after its suspension, carried a report raising the question whether Najib had lied.
This is the report, “TRAINING STINT FOR NATIONAL UNDER-16 FOOTBALL TEAM – Arsenal says it’s unaware of proposal” by Rizal Hashim:
THE proposed Malaysia-Arsenal joint-venture to equip the country’s young footballers with the necessary weaponry to raise their game has been thrown into doubt after it emerged that no formal discussion had been held between the two parties.
This was confirmed through an e-mail response from the communications department of Arsenal to Mailsport on Friday.
“I am afraid we are not able to provide you with answers to your questions or an official club comment, however, I can confirm that the club does not know about the proposed arrangement and furthermore, we have no involvement in any such project,” the statement said.
Upon further investigation, Mailsport discovered the only discussion on the subject was held at Arsenal’s state-of-the-art training centre in Hertfordshire, between a five-man recce team from Kuala Lumpur and the centre manager, Sean O’Connor, just before the Cabinet Committee on Sports Development’s announcement on the proposed stint on Feb 8.
NSC director-general Datuk Dr Ramlan Abdul Aziz declined to comment but FA of Malaysia general secretary Datuk Seri Dr Ibrahim Saad confirmed the only formal contact between the two parties took place when the high-powered group was taken for a tour of the training centre recently.
Ibrahim, who was a member of the five-man team, said the Sports Ministry were in a better position to explain because the proposed stint was part of the Government’s agreement with the powerful European football bloc of G-14, which among others, was to pave the way for Malaysian teams to train with members of the pressure group.
Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein, one of the most influential figures in British football, is also the G-14 chairman.
Sports Minister Datuk Azalina Othman Said was not available for comment.
Ibrahim said the arrangement was mooted because of the centre’s proximity with the Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre in Brickendonbury, which will be converted into a high-performance training centre.
“We spoke to the training centre manager, O’Connor, about the idea and he told us to discuss with the Arsenal management,” said Ibrahim.
Apart from Ibrahim, completing the five-man team were Ramlan, NSC board member Philip Chan and NSC officials, Mej Muhammad Abdul Rani and David Chiam.
The proposed stint for the national Under-16 team was disclosed by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak after chairing a two-hour Cabinet Committee for Sports meeting in Putrajaya on Feb 8.
Ramlan was quoted by New Straits Times on Feb 9 as saying that the English Premiership giant had agreed in principle to the project.
An independent website on the Olympic Games 2012, insidethegames.com, claimed the idea was shrouded in mystery. It can be accessed at www.insidethegames.com/php/free_newsletters.php, while a newspaper, Hertfordshire Mercury, in their issue dated Feb 16, claimed the 13-time English champions had no knowledge of the agreement.
“We have no knowledge of this training camp or these proposals. I can categorically say that we have not been approached by the Malaysian Government,” an Arsenal spokesman told the paper.
The online report is available at www.hertsessexnews.co.uk/ news/mercury/hertfordshire_mercury/2007/02/16/gunners%20on %20target%20to%20train%20 malaysian%20team.lpf
The Arsenal training centre, covering 143 acres, boasts of impressive facilities, which include six changing rooms, a steamroom, a swimming pool with adjustable floor, gymnasium, treatment rooms, massage baths, a restaurant and excellent pitches.
Ibrahim believed FAM technical director Robert Alberts, the driving force behind the Arsenal Soccer Schools in Malaysia, and an agent representing the interests of G-14 and the Malaysian Government, had been given the mandate to negotiate with Arsenal.
The sports facilities at TARRC are expected to be operational by April but a Malaysian daily recently reported that the plan to convert TARRC into a sports centre had hit a wall because an application for permission to renovate the centre had yet to be submitted to the local authority.
What has Najib and the Sports Minister Datuk Azalina Othman got to say?