THE Football Association of Penang (FAP) will be celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and is planning to revive its local league and also hold a Veteran football competition.
FAP president Datuk Abdul Rashid Ismail said due to financial problems of the past, the local league for Division One, Division Two, Division Three and junior leagues like Under-19 were not held for the past four years.
“We are determined to restore the local league and junior competitions to develop local talents,” Abdul Rashid told Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow when he led a five-member delegation to pay a courtesy call on the latter at his office in Komtar today.
The other FAP members were deputy president Mohd Azizudin Mohd Shariff, vice-presidents Mohd Faizul Abdul Rashid and Katherisan Letchumanam and secretary Dastagir V.K. Mohd Yassin. Also present was state Youth and Sports Committee chairman Soon Lip Chee.
Rashid also thanked Chow and the state government for helping to resolve the financial woes of the association when they participated in the Premier League.
“We will try to bring back the glory days of Penang football,” said Abdul Rashid, who became the FAP president in December last year after being a trustee for the past 15 years.
The Penang professional football team now comes under the management of recently formed Penang Football Club (PFC) Sdn Bhd from this year. The team will participate in the Super League this year by virtue of being the Premier League champions in 2020.
Rashid later presented FAP’s development programme to Chow and Soon.
After listening to Abdul Rashid’s briefing, Chow commended FAP for wanting to focus on developing and scouting talents.
Story by K.H. Ong
Pix by Noor Siti Nabilah Noorazis