Courtesy: www.espnfc.com

Could futsal ease the haze crisis rocking Southeast Asian football?

by John Duerden

There is a debate taking place at the moment as to whether Singapore and Malaysia should continue to have a representative team in each other's respective leagues for 2016. Some say it works -- especially for Singapore -- but there are questions as to whether it is really necessary.

But already there is a foreign presence in both leagues which is having a greater effect than Lions XII or Harimau Muda have ever managed. The haze -- the toxic, thick smoke from agricultural fires blown across from Indonesia -- has been one of the biggest players in Malaysian and Singapore football for the past two months. The world's fourth most populous country has long wished for Southeast Asian dominance and it has never been so influential, despite its ongoing ban from FIFA.

These fires from Sumatra and Kalimantan have been causing increasing havoc around the region. The beautiful game feels anything but when fans are breathing in toxic air and footballers are filling their lungs like the most enthusiastic of chain smokers.

In Malaysia, the league season was done and dusted before it got really serious. The Malaysia Cup has been hard hit, however, with the last round featuring one game instead of eight. Then there was the eagerly-awaited Sultan of Selangor Cup last Saturday. Eighty thousand fans were expected at Shah Alam Stadium, with some travelling up from Singapore for the annual showpiece game, but just three hours before kick-off, the inevitable call came. With air quality officially 'unhealthy' -- residents of the region are all now experts when it comes to the Air Pollution Index (API) or Pollutants Standards Index (SPI) -- the game was cancelled.

Perhaps the decision could have been made earlier as it was pretty clear (not literally, of course) on Saturday morning that the situation was unlikely to be conducive to football but the reluctance to cancel such a big game was understandable. With such a big crowd expected and national television waiting, it was a painful decision to make. Malaysian officials could be forgiven for asking where the haze was when Palestine came to Kuala Lumpur and won 6-0 in an AFC World Cup qualifier in June.

Singapore has been affected too. Six S-League matches have been postponed since last month. Then, the Singapore Cup semifinals were affected. Brunei DPMM vs Home United was called off two nights in a row, a record beaten by Global FC and Albirex, who managed three.

There are greater issues at play than football, of course. Having reasonably clean air is one of those things you take for granted until smog casts a shadow over everything. And when it comes from a neighbouring country and is mostly man-made, frustrations can boil over.

The postponement of games has been annoying and it costs money, of course, and interrupts the flow of the season. Recent reports suggest it could last into 2016 and, if so, it may even break the six-month mark, becoming the most unwanted record since Malaysia's 10-0 World Cup qualifying loss to UAE in September. In the end though, there is not much that clubs can do but just wait and hope for brighter days ahead.

But there are other effects. Children are more vulnerable to the side-effects of the smoke than most others. They are not playing outside and are not playing football.

And it is not only games that are cancelled. One part-time coach depends financially on the sessions he runs at the weekends in Kuala Lumpur. Most of his classes have been cancelled and no classes means no cash. The loss of earnings means that he may have to start doing something else. An enthusiastic, motivated and well-qualified coach and young players could be lost to the game forever and there are likely to be others in similar situations. If it is a pattern repeated around the country, then it is obviously something to be concerned about.

Perhaps futsal is one answer, at least as far as youth development goes. This should be the case, anyway, and recent events show that this smaller, usually five-a-side version is even more attractive. If the air is not clean and you can't go and play outside, then you have to stay inside.

It is perfect for kids because it promotes skill and technique and you see much more of the ball than you ever do when playing on a full-size pitch. Monsoon rains don't matter, the heat and the humidity don't matter and, dirty air doesn't matter -- or at least to a much smaller extent. The playing surface is always the same. They can also become vital parts of the local community too.

It costs money, of course, but perhaps some of the compensation paid by companies responsible for the fires and pollution can be put to good use. While there will be greater demands on such money apart from the football industry, investing some of it in nationwide centres will be good for the overall health of the nation.

It will give youngsters the opportunity to play football whatever the air is like outside. After all, there's little sign that the situation will improve any time soon.

John Duerden is ESPN's Asia football correspondent who also works for BBC Radio, The Guardian and World Soccer. Twitter: @JohnnyDuerden




FP Staff --> info@futsalplanet.com