Good morning everyone,
I am glad that I am invited to attend Dixy Cup Closing Ceremony. I would like to praise Johor Bahru Chinese Football Association, they had made a lot of effort in holding football matches so that football lovers have chance to play football games. As I know, this year will be the 13th year for Dixy Cup Johor Football Tournament.
In my opinion, it is necessary for the government to enhance the football standard of our country and improve our world ranking. According to the FIFA world ranking 2015, Malaysia football team ranks 168th which is largely behind other countries.
Football as a traditional activity, is a popular sport which is loved by many people. If government can raise its world ranking, it will help to improve the international image of Malaysia.
2. Government needs to draft a plan to raise the standard of football. It depends on how strong of the government's determination to achieve the goal.
For example, US is famous with American football, but when She held 1994 FIFA World Cup, US tried hard to raise its football level due to She was the host.
After organizing FIFA World Cup, world ranking of US football team gradually improved. In 1950, the US did not have chance to participate in World Cup until 1990. In 1994, US entered top 16 and ranked 14. After that, US World Cup record had improved, ranked 12 in 2010 and ranked 15 in last year.
According to the experience of US football team, Malaysia football team can actually work hard to improve rankings. The government should not let the world ranking of our country keep falling. The government and football lovers have the responsibility to jointly promote football sport.
For example, the Johor Bahru Chinese Football Association holds football match regularly every year is a meaningful contribution to it.
3. Football is a meaningful sport, but we can also learn the philosophy of life from football match.
Football field can fully perform its arts of "possibility". This is a platform for people to achieve "impossible dream". "Impossibility" seems that you can't materialize, but you can achieve "impossible dream" in every minute at football field.
When kicking football, the football players need to develop the fighting spirit, dedication, passion, spirit of not giving up, perseverance, a firm sense of mission, rigorous strength to the max. They should also possess determination to maintain self-esteem and the desire to succeed in order to achieve final goal.
For example, in 2005 Europe Champions League Final, Liverpool created the "miracle of Istanbul". When Liverpool confronted AC Milan, Liverpool wined incredibly at the end though Liverpool was seriously lagged behind at first half. It was an eye opener to everyone. The final reflected the spirit mentioned above and achieved "impossible dream" perfectly.
In this Europe Champions League Final, at the first half, AC Milan was 3-0 leading to Liverpool. In this case, most people thought Liverpool would not win. However, at the second half, Liverpool scored 3 goals and had same score with AC Milan. After extra time, two teams were of the same score, 3-3. Finally, Liverpool beat AC Milan on penalty kick.
When AC Milan was 3-0 to Liverpool, Liverpool scored a goal making the score to 3-1, no one believed Liverpool would win eventually. Most people still thought Liverpool could not win. However, Liverpool players did not give up. They scored three goals in the rest of time of the second half. They finally put the game into the penalty shoot and defeated the opponents who were the winner at first.
About this "miracle of Istanbul", Liverpool manager, Rafael Benitez said afterwards, "Talking with people from AC Milan now they say that they had ['Champions of Europe'] shirts ready, so that was one of the mistakes they made."
Liverpool Captain Steven Gerrard said, "At half-time, I also thought it was impossible and that I'd be in tears at the end. We had a mountain to climb but we kept fighting to the end."
Perhaps, at the moment the people realize the upcoming loss, the greater the power of pain and regret will bring a greater fighting spirit to fight till the end. It was the ultimate realization of possible loss that let Liverpool materialize the dream of miracle.
Another football match had been called as "Match of the Century". It was the Final of Europe Champions League in 1999 which played by Manchester United against Bayern Munich. Before the end of the game, Bayern Munich had been a goal ahead of Manchester United. However, Manchester United fully made use of the 3 minutes injury extra time, kicked in 2 goals straightly forward. By having one goal ahead, Manchester United defeated Bayern Munich which had been leading ahead for last 90 minutes and made an incredible comeback.
Hence, the football field fully reflects the "impossible possible" dream. Everything is possible as long as you make a lot of effort and try hard but not giving up.
As long as you had made your effort, you will get paid for your hard work. It also depends on your determination when taking difficult challenges. When you really make it, you will succeed for sure accompanied with a higher sense of accomplishment and joy. These are the lessons we are able to learn from two football matches mentioned above.
You can see the extremely cheerful moment from the facial expressions of football fans, players, managers after winning the game. They showed passions after succeeding from setbacks, particularly the joy and excitement is actually beyond the general sense of the joy of victory.
When AC Milan scored its first goal, Manchester United Manager Sir Alex Ferguson articulated an inspiring statement during intermission, "At the end of the game, you're going to be six feet away from that trophy, and that's the closest most of you will ever get to it. Don't you dare come back in here without giving it 100%."
That was the famous quote that made the players kept fighting until the last 3 minutes even though it was already injury extra time. The outcome had shown that Manchester United players refused to give up as long as the game was ongoing.
4. I would like to further emphasize that football field not only reflects the "impossible dream", but also makes people deeply appreciate the philosophy of life. Sometimes, when you pay 100% effort, you are not sure whether there will be result in return. However, when you make no effort, you will not gain the fruits for sure.
Although sometimes we work very hard, it does not mean that you will certainly get the results you want in the end. It does not mean that efforts will be paid successfully. Athletes and sport games players are the people who can appreciate this philosophy of life the most.
For example, China's athlete Liu Xiang usually trained very hard. When the 2008 Olympic Games held in China, he could not participate in the Olympic Games which held in his own country because of his foot injuries In the end, he was unable to show the results of his training efforts in his homeland. I am sure there was much regret left in his heart but he must accept this cruel reality.
In many cases, we are trying hard but we won't be successful and you have to accept it. This is the life and you have to learn the wisdom. By participating in football matches, you can experience the enlightenment of life.
If the circumstances above happen, most of us could not accept. We will keep asking ourselves, "Why do we still fail after paying a lot of efforts?" However, as an athlete, he/she will understand the philosophy of life better, especially realize that sometimes the reality is harsh in the long run of our life.
Sometimes, we also need to understand that we cannot succeed even though we pay a lot of hard work maybe is due to other people are far more intelligent than us.
5. According to the statistics, the fund allocated by Johor state government for all sports in 2012 was a total of RM3.62million while football sports only received RM49,510 which is 1.37% of the total.
In 2013, all sports in Johor was granted a total amount of RM259,783 and football sports received RM27,650. That is only 1.07% of the total.
Thus, the funding allocation for football sports by the Johor state government in 2012 to 2013 is only a mere 1% to 2% among total funding allocation of all sports.
Therefore, I urge the government to increase the funding allocation for football sports. I also encourage football clubs to apply for funding proactively. I think allocation by the state government for Johor football clubs is too little. These clubs should be given more financial assistance so that they are able to organize more football events.
6. In addition, it is important not to underestimate the influence of football. Football sports can become a source of income. For example, football clubs in Europe and South America help their countries increase revenue, including football matches tickets, clubs members fee, as well as merchandise of football teams and players. The income not only benefits the clubs and players, but also bring significant revenue to the country.
If the country has a strong football team, football facilities will be improved naturally. The country even have the opportunity to host the FIFA World Cup. During the FIFA World Cup period, the radio and television ratings will be increased, ticket sales of football matches will gain income, advertising revenue increase and the tourism industry will benefit from it. At that time, not only football industry will gain benefit, other diversified industries will also accumulate revenue.
7. Conclusion
I hope football lovers will continue your efforts by performing your favourite talent on football field and showing 100% passion and enthusiasm. Every player can perform his talent perfectly on the football field as long as he possesses positive spirit to the sport. He can also feel the glorious moment in sports once he instills his enthusiasm whole-heartedly.
I hope you will inspire your friends to actively participate in this meaningful sport. Although Chinese are not keen on playing football, I believe we can find more football lovers by encouragement.
Finally, I hope we can take the improvement of our football team in the world rankings as a driving force. And, do not forget to achieve a breakthrough by challenging ourselves constantly.
利士杯全柔华人足球邀请赛
各位早上好,
很高兴本人受邀出席本届的利士杯开幕仪式。我必须赞扬新山市华人足球会一直努力经营,举办足球赛,让热爱足球的人士有机会参与足球运动。据我所知,利士杯今年是举办第13届全柔足球邀请赛了。
我认为,政府有必要提升我国的足球水平,让国家的足球队世界排名提升。根据国际足总的世界排名,马来西亚足球队排名第168位,在全球排名中落后其他国家。
其实,足球作为传统运动,拥有许多足球爱好者,也是一项广受欢迎的运动,如果我国在此运动项目能提升世界排名,将有助提升国家形象。
2. 政府在提升足球水平方面,取决于如何拟定确切方向,以及达到目标的决心有多强。
例如,美国以美式橄榄球闻名,但她在1994年举办世界杯足球赛时,因作为东道主,因此认为应提升该国的足球水平。
美国足球队在举办世界杯后,排名逐渐提升。美国在1950年后一直无缘参加世界杯,直到1990年开始才有机会参加。在1994年举办世界杯那年,甚至晋级16强,位列14名。随后在世界杯的战绩都有提升,2010年位列12名,去年则排在第15名。
按照美国足球队的经历,马来西亚足球队其实可以发奋图强,提升排名,不应让排名一直下滑。政府和热爱足球人士,有责任共同推广足球运动。就好比新山华人足球会每年固定举办足球赛,也是为此出一份力。
3. 足球除了是一项有意义的运动,也可从中学习很多人生哲学。
在足球场上,充分体现出“可能”的艺术。这是一个平台让人们达到“不可能”的的梦想。“不可能”看似不能实现,但在足球场上却分分钟能实现“不可能的梦”。
在踢足球时,球员发挥最大的拼搏精神、热诚、激情,不放弃的精神、坚持不懈,还有坚定的使命感、严谨的力量、维护自尊的决心,以及想要成功的欲望。这些都能在足球场上体现出来。
例如,2005年欧洲联赛(UEFA)的“伊斯坦堡奇迹”,利物浦对AC米兰时,精彩的反败为胜,让大家大开眼界,体现上述提到的精神,实现“不可能的梦想”。
在这场欧洲联赛大决赛,AC米兰在上半场以3比0领先利物浦。在这种情况,多数人认为利物浦不可能取胜。但是,下半场,利物浦却以3球扳平AC米兰,3比3,之后在加时赛依然分不出胜负。最后利物浦以点球战胜AC米兰。
AC米兰在3比0,利物浦踢进一球,比数为3比1时,没有人认为利物浦最终会胜出,多数人还是认为利物浦不可能赢。但是,球员不放弃,在下半场的剩下时间,一举踢进3粒球,扳平比数,最后把比赛拖到点球大战,战胜原本胜券在握的对手。
关于这次的“伊斯坦堡奇迹”,利物浦总教练事后表示,他和AC米兰的人谈到,原来对方已经预备好欧洲冠军的衣服,这也是他们犯的其中一项错误。
利物浦队长吉拉德提到,在中场时,他也觉得不可能胜出,而他会在球赛的最后落下眼泪。“我们有一座山要攀爬,但我们还是继续战斗到最后。”
或许就是痛苦、遗憾的力量更大,在即将输球、沉沦的时候,产生更大的战斗力量,来奋战到底,使到利物浦最终实现一场梦想的奇迹。
另一场被喻为世纪之战的足球赛,是1999年的欧洲联赛,曼联对垒拜仁慕尼黑。在90分钟球赛结束前,拜仁慕尼黑已经以一球领先曼联,之后曼联竟然在受伤补时的3分钟内,一鼓作气踢进2球,直接反超一直处于领先的拜仁慕尼黑,实现不可思议的大逆转。
所以,在足球场上,充分体现出“不可能变成可能”的梦想,只要全力以赴,任何事情都是可能的。
这两场球赛告诉我们,只要有努力、拼搏,向高难度挑战的决心,就会成功,而由此而来的成就感和喜悦更高。这可从球迷、球员、经理人在球队胜出后展现的激情看出,在经过一番挫折后所取得的成功,格外喜悦和兴奋,超越一般胜利的喜悦感。
在上半场被AC米兰攻进一球领先后,曼联总教练弗格森在中场休息时间,向球员说了一段激励人心的谈话:“(如果输球)在这场球赛的最后,你将距离冠军杯六尺远,而那将是大部分的你们此生和冠军杯最靠近的距离。如果你没有100%付出,你不要回来这里。”
也就是这段著名的谈话,使到球员在球赛最后3分钟,即使已到补时阶段,始终不肯放弃。
4. 足球场除了体现“不可能的梦想”,也可让人深深体会人生哲学,即使付出100%努力,也不肯定会有成果,但是没有努力肯定没有成果。
有时候,我们很努力,到最后也不一定得到你想要的成果,不代表努力就会成功。运动员最能体会当中滋味。
例如,中国飞人刘翔,平时非常努力,但在中国举办2008年奥运会时,却因为脚受伤,不能参加在自己国家举办的奥运会,无法在中国表现自己努力的成果。
很多时候,我们很努力也不一定会成功,但是你必须接受这样的人生,这是你要学习的生活智慧。足球运动可让人经验这些人生体悟。
一般人如果遇到这种情况,会无法接受,会一直问自己:“为什么这么努力,还会失败?”。但是,作为运动员会更能领悟生活哲学,在人生的漫漫长路上,有时候残酷的现实就是这样的。
有时候,我们也要了解到,即使很努力也无法胜出,或许是其他人比我们优秀。
5. 根据数据,柔州政府在2012年拨款予州内所有体育项目的总数为362万令吉3093令吉(3,623,093.39),足球运动只获得4万9510令吉(49510),只占体育拨款总数1.37%。
2013年,体育项目总拨款额为25万9783令吉(259,783.62),足球运动获2万7650令吉(27,650),仅占1.07%。
由此可见,柔州政府在2012年到2013年针对足球运动的拨款,只占所有体育项目总拨款额的区区1%-2%之间。
因此,我呼吁政府,增加拨款额。我也鼓励球会积极向政府申请拨款。我认为,政府拨款给球会的款额太少,应该给予球会更多经济上的援助,让球会举办更多活动。
6. 另外,很重要的,不要小看足球的影响力,它可成为一种收入来源。例如欧洲、南美洲球会,能让国家增加收入,包括球赛门票、球会会费、球队和球员的周边商品。这不只为球员、球会,还为国家带来巨大的收入。
如果我国拥有强大的足球队,自然可提升足球设施,也有机会举办世界杯,举办当儿,除了电台、电视台收视率增加,门票收入、广告收益、旅游业,都会得益。到时带动的行业多元化,不只是单单足球业了。
7. 结论
希望喜欢足球的朋友继续努力,在喜爱的足球场上发挥才华,展现100%的热诚和热情。每一位球员都可在足球场上写下自己光辉的一面,球员只要把以上的正面精神放在这项运动上,就可以在运动上找到为自己感到光荣的一刻。
希望各位能感染身边朋友,积极参与有意义的运动,毕竟华人不热衷踢足球,我相信多鼓励可找到更多热爱足球的爱好者。
最后,希望大家把提升我国足球队的世界排名,作为进步的推动力,不断突破挑战自己。