THE government must take better care of athletes at the end of their sports careers, former national champions said.

One suggestion was for the government to treat all sports equally instead of just offering perks to the stars of “sexy” sports such as badminton and football.

Former national hockey skipper Mirnawan Nawawi, football legend Santokh Singh and badminton ace Roslin Hashim said it was time the government paid serious attention to this matter.

Mirnawan said one way to make this happen was by making private companies hire former national athletes.

“For example, if a company has 5,000 workers, it should offer 1% of the jobs to former athletes,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

He said the government must also encourage corporate companies, banks and government linked companies to get involved in sports.

“They must do some corporate social responsibility work for the athletes.”

Mirnawan said the banking sector was doing its part by hiring former national hockey players.

“So when the player’s sports career ends, he or she has job security. Then there is stability for them.”

He said the situation is worrying not just for retiring athletes but also for those who are dropped from the national training programmes.

“Athletes under the National Sports Council, they are considered professionals and are given allowances.

“But when they are dropped from the sports programmes or get badly injured, they are not going to receive anything. Then their livelihood is affected.

“After giving all for the nation, they are left without any assistance. How are they going to survive?

“If they can get a job, it’s good. But looking at the conditions now (Covid-19 pandemic) it’s not easy,” he said.

Mirnawan said the government should create security for the athletes.

“This will also encourage parents to get their children to participate in sports as a career.”

In early January, it was announced that 144 national athletes, including those who have made history for Malaysia in the highest-level competitions, had been cut off by the NSC due to lack of funding.

At the same time, Youth and Sports Minister Ahmad Faizal Azumu had also said the NSC was reducing its number of full-time athletes from 432 to 288.

Roslin, a former world number one badminton player, said he was a victim of government apathy towards retired national athletes.

“There is no support from the Badminton Association of Malaysia or the government after retirement.

“I have contributed to the country for over 25 years and once I retire, no one is helping me.

“I have given so much for the country but the country hasn’t given me anything back,” he said.

He said the government should do more for athletes, especially if it wants to encourage the youths to participate in sports.

“We don’t want to discourage the youths from participating in any sort of sports by ignoring the welfare of national athletes.”

Meanwhile, Santokh said that sports associations only looked after the good players in retirement.

He said this also included the government which only cared for the welfare of top players.

“If you’re good, the government looks after you, if you’re bad, they just say goodbye,” he said.

Treat all sports equally

Santokh said athletes of popular sports were better cared for.

“Look at badminton, or football, all the national players are groomed and well taken care of to win tournaments.

“But the government should sponsor other sports equally, not just football and badminton. Some sports barely get any funding,” he said.

Santokh feared the future of national football was in freefall.

“In the next five years, I doubt the Malaysia football team ranking will get any better but I hope they can prove me and the rakyat wrong.”

He added that getting foreigners to play here was a bad move.

“These naturalised players come and play and get their perks and they leave.

“This will demotivate the younger generation. It’s unfair to Malaysian players.” – February 12, 2022.