KUCHING: Organisers of Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) “Finding Ramli 2” football talent search programme is expecting 1,000 young footballers to try their luck at Yayasan Sarawak football field of Jalan Sultan Tengah in Semariang tomorrow morning.
Kuching District Education Office (PPD Kuching) Sports Unit assistant supervisor, Mohd Rashid Ibrahim told The Borneo Post yesterday the event is on from May 18 to 20 and is targeted at students aged between 13 to14 and 15 to16.
This is the first time youngsters from Sarawak were given the opportunity to participate in the nationwide football talent search programme organised by Telekom Malaysia in cooperation with National Sports Council (NSC), Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), the Manchester United Football Club (MUFC) and Frenz United Football Academy.
“This is the first time Kuching had been selected to become one of the selection venues and we at PPD Kuching are helping out to promote it among the schools,” he said in a telephone interview.
According to him, parents should take the opportunity to bring their children and try out for the selection which will be conducted by Frenz United Football Academy coach, Ahmad Fairuz who was a former state Bujang Senang player.
He said Ahmad is also expected to be joined by coaches from FAM in view of the large number of students involved.
The opening day trials will start at 9am and players together with their parents were urged to come early at 8am to register.
“Those who are interested to join are encouraged to come early and parents should also bring along the necessary documents needed to enrol their children in the programme,” he enthused.
Backed by popular demand, TM is organising its ‘Search for Ramli’ programme following the success of last year’s event where winners had now created waves in local football scene.
Adam Nor Azlin and Mohammad Arif Farhan were last year’s two winners who are now with national Harimau Muda youth squad under chief coach Ong Kim Swee who was also a former Sarawak midfielder.
This year’s nationwide selection is conducted at 12 different locations including Sabah and Sarawak where only the top 30 will be selected for the final round to be held in Kuala Lumpur.
At the end of the day, three winners will be selected whereby two will be given excellence awards and one will be given a promising player award.
They will get the opportunity to take part in a two-week intensive training session to be held at Manchester United Soccer Schools (MUSS) in the UK and during the stay there, they will get to see their favourite Manchester United heroes play at Old Trafford Stadium.
On top of that, each of the three winners will receive a three-year football scholarship provided by Frenz United Football Academy.
Currently there are three Sarawakian junior players undergoing training there.
Those interested to join the event are invited to contact Mohd Rashid Ibrahim at 013-5652881 or Johnny Rasit at 019-8592905.
More information about TM’s “Search for Ramli 2” can also be found at www.tm.com / teammalaysia or on Facebook Team Malaysia, www.facebook.com / TeamMalaysia.