JANUARY 5 — I’m going to be vilified.
I hope the Puskás Award for best goal worldwide in 2016 is not lost by our only ever candidate for the prestigious honour because I failed to vote for Mohd Faiz Subri.
I chose not to vote online. Not for Faiz Subri, not for anyone.
But it was a conscious choice.
Patriotic call
Almost a year ago, at the home turf of his Penang team, 28-year-old Mohd Faiz scored a wonder free-kick against Pahang — the ball cuts and then right to befuddle quite rightly the goalkeeper as the ball flew into the net. Fast forward today, he is one of the three nominees left to win the award football’s global governing body presents annually, to represent the planet’s best goal for 2016.
That’s quite the accolade.
On January 9, the winner will be announced in Zurich at the annual gala to recognise a host of achievements including best player. The best goal award is named after the legendary Ferenc Puskás, who among others led the Hungarian team which quashed the English at Wembley’s “Match of the Century” in 1953 and later won three European Cups with Real Madrid.
When Mohd Faiz’s nomination was accepted, and online voting commenced, there was an outpouring of public support for our first nominee. To provide context, this is the first time any Malaysian or Malaysian team has been nominated.
The sports minister asked the public to match their patriotism with votes.
A friend put it succinctly in a chat group I am in, “Go vote, ask your wife, mistress and girlfriends to vote too.”
I realise his wife may have not been flattered but there is no faulting his enthusiasm.
A nation complied.
Ten nominees were whittled down to three last December, and Faiz made it — gratitude to the multitudes at home who got him past no less than Barcelona duo Neymar and Lionel Messi. But he’ll still meet them in Zurich as they will wait anxiously that evening for the unveiling of the best player award.
While a lynch-mob might be looking for me at the end of this column, can I perform my only patriotic contribution at this juncture by reminding everyone that voting is still open until January 9 (Monday) when the results are out?
You and any other significant others in your life can still vote.
Why abstain?
There is the obvious footballing reason. I fancied more other goals from the list of 10 initially nominated. Mohd Faiz did fantastic but I am not sure many of his fans have actually given the other nominees a peek.
Atletico Madrid’s Saúl Ñíguez danced in an elaborate fashion past five Bayern Munich players from near the kick-off spot, before scoring emphatically in a Champions League semi-finals. Neymar was too casual in scoring an incredibly difficult goal for Barcelona versus Villareal.
If preferences must only be tribal, then all our endeavours to prioritise ability over prejudice would come to nought, which is important for a country like ours which has a lower population than global giants.
I thought being objective rather than cynical — or strategic by choosing not to write this self-damning column — was important.
Populism is in the air
Vote-lobbying for awards determined by popular voice is not new.
In 2004, Jaclyn Victor was improbably a Malaysian Idol grand-finalist. The incredulity arose because an ethnic Indian was faring well in a local singing competition determined by listeners. Text messages were floated to ask other ethnic Indians to vote for “our own”. I ignored them.
Jaclyn Victor won — which as her music recording history since has validated — because she has amazing vocals.
It was a singing competition after all, and sometimes we have to leave some faith in the masses, that they know what they are actually voting for.
And they were not wrong, because a decade later, most would be hard-pressed to remember who she beat for the title.
It was heated for other reasons too. In American Idol, the progenitor of all the Idol spin-offs worldwide, earlier that year black diva Jennifer Hudson was eliminated at the round of seven with cries of racism ringing loud.
A second example of blind populism happened before this episode.
Time magazine wanted to determine the most influential people of the last century before the century concluded. It tried electronic polling.
Kamal Attaturk, the founder of modern Turkey, was near tops in all the categories due to an organised effort from the late-dictator’s home country to garner a maximum number of Turkish votes. The American magazine put up with it initially and then later removed Attaturk’s candidature because it felt that bloc voting was distorting the relevance of the reformer when compared to Elvis Presley, Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler, Gandhi and Bill Gates.
There is an underlying value inherent in polling the masses to decide. They want to get a broader consensus and not just limit decisions to an elite group of privileged judges, it is an effort to democratise choices.
And also these awards rely on popular votes to generate interest and followings.
However results or the winners may fail the goodwill test if the intention is turned on its head by baser support.
Good luck, Mohd Faiz
With a natural 33.3 per cent chance of winning, he is in touching distance. I’d be happy for him, his family and the general footballing community at home if he wins. I would be equally hesitant to comment on the army of opportunists who would step forward to reward him while joining him in photo-ops when they generally discard the larger professional football game frequently. News of struggling teams threatening to pull out of leagues due to financial shortages is rife and recurring.
Separate, the management shortcomings across most of Malaysian football will not be cast away by one award. It is not that the nominee has not played a full cap for Malaysia yet, rather it is that Malaysia has not played in the latter stage of any international competition for many decades that should hold all our attention.
In a globalised sport, with awards handed out in cycles, true lasting recognition comes from universal fame and not isolated ones. Goals are great because they are replayed by many neutrals. Players and teams are envied because they have a portfolio of great performances, mesmerising opponents and perpetually capturing the imaginations of the watching masses, from near and afar.
With that in mind, perhaps some of the saner minds must move our collective agenda. For now, I hope that enough lovers of jogo bonito worldwide catch Mohd Faiz’s phenomenal strike and enough adjudge it to match the majesty the galloping major, Puskás, brought to the game for decades across Europe.
Global acclaim which brings global recognition, that’s how real awards live long after someone wins it.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
