Darby fears for S’pore football

SINGAPORE — Kelantan coach Steve Darby fears the involvement of the LionsXII in the Malaysian Super League (MSL) could be detrimental to the domestic game in Singapore in the long-run.

The Englishman, whose side will face the LionsXII at the Jalan Besar Stadium tomorrow, believes the LionsXII’s participation in the MSL has drained many of Singapore’s best talents away from its domestic league.

“As someone who has coached in the S-League, it is my personal opinion that the league, which everybody knows is struggling to attract crowds, is paying the price of not having the best of Singapore talent taking part,” said Darby, 59, who coached S-League side Home United from 2002 to 2005.

“The best of Singapore football is with the LionsXII and the team is taking part in the MSL. This means the S-League is deprived of Singapore’s top talent. You can argue the LionsXII will benefit from taking part in the MSL because of the competitiveness and therefore the Singapore national side will benefit. But that’s short term. What about the long term impact on Singapore football in the context of the S-League?”

“If you have your best talent taking part in the league then the effect will be seen in the long run.”

The LionsXII, who won the MSL last season, was created in 2011 as part of an agreement between the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) and Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) for a Singaporean team to play in the 2012 MSL season.

Coincidentally, that year also saw average attendances in the S-League dip to a low of 932, although it climbed to 1,200 last year.

Darby coached Home from 2002 to 2005, and won the league and cup double in 2003 and Singapore Cup in 2005 before taking over the reins at MSL side Perak.

“I know the FAS is in a dilemma,” he said. “On one hand they want to see the S-League thrive and prosper but on the other hand they want to send out a reasonably strong team to the MSL because traditionally the Singapore team have done well in the MSL and the Malaysia Cup.”

For now, Darby’s priority is that his Kelantan side take all three points off Fandi Ahmad’s LionsXII tomorrow night. Kelantan are joint-second with Sarawak and Selangor in the league standings with nine points, with the LionsXII fifth (8).

But he is sweating on the fitness of four of his players who were away on international duty for the 2015 Asian Cup qualifiers earlier this week.

Midfielder Badri Radzi, striker Fakri Shaarani and goalkeeper Khairul Fahmi Che Mat were with the Malaysian team in Yemen while Mohammad Ghaddar was with the Lebanese national side. Said Darby: “I really don’t know whether they are physically or mentally fit to play.”