The differences between clubs and associations

As most of us know, most of the professional teams in Malaysia are called “state-teams”. A team would represent the state’s Football Association (FA) and compete in the highest level, which is also professional. In other words, they are owned, funded, and managed by the Government of our country.

Let us take my state-team for instance. The Negeri Sembilan (NS) state-team’s full name is NSFA, not NSFC (FC – Football Club). So, technically, it is a selection of players, formed into a team, and would represent the whole NSFA itself in the Malaysia Super League (SL – highest division in Malaysia). Then one may ask: “what is the problem with that?” To answer that question, we need clarify first the meaning of FA and FC. And in the next posting, we will discuss the ‘problem’.

A ‘Football Club’ is a club which, in the most basic sense, selects players to represent it to play football in competitions.

A ‘Football Association’, though, is the governing body of the affairs regarding football (e.g. – organizing competitions, organizing workshops for coaches or referees, promoting the sport in the younger and older community, etc) in a particular geographical area. In our case, the ‘area’ would be a state, or a country (FAM – Football Association of Malaysia).

And so, our NSFA is not just the governing body of affairs regarding football in Negeri Sembilan, but also forms a team to represent it.

In short, Mr. Government (Mr. G - assuming the government is a person) owns and funds the NSFA in its affairs regarding football, and also owns, funds and forms a team to compete in the SL.

So, is there a ‘football club’ in the SL then? Yes, there is.

If you are a regular follower of the SL, you will notice that there are 2 teams from Johor: Johor FA, and Johor FC. The difference between them, basically, is who pays the wages and expenses of each of these teams.

The Johor FA team is funded by the Johor Football Association (thus the name Johor FA, owned by Mr. G, again). And, it is the ‘state-team’ of Johor.

Johor FC, however, is funded by the ‘Sports Bureau of the Workers Union of Johor State Economic Development Corporation’ (Perbadanan Kemajuan Ekonomi Negeri Johor). 

So, Johor FC, as a football club, will only do what football clubs do: selecting players, form a team, and compete in the SL. It does not have to manage/govern affairs regarding football in the state, which should be done by the Johor FA. So, this team cannot be called Johor FA, not only because there is already a team called Johor FA, but mainly it is because it is not a ‘Football Association’, and does not do what FAs do.

Do note this: if you look at the name of the corporation which funds Johor FC, it is a government-based corporation. Thus, Johor FC is, technically, also owned by Mr. G.

So, both Johor FA and Johor FC are owned by Mr. G. The difference is Mr. G funds Johor FA directly, and Johor FC indirectly.

And where does Mr. G get his income to do the funding? It is from a variety of sources. But the main one is called ‘taxing’. It is paid by tax-payers, whom are also called “the rakyat.” In other words, we are paying the salaries of those players.

So far we’ve talked about teams which are owned by Mr. G; let me introduce to you a team which is not owned by him.

Sime Darby FC is a football club owned and funded by the private entity Sime Darby Group, and thus is a true privately owned football club. It only does what football clubs do, and does not do what football associations do. And, of course, Sime Darby does not collect tax. It funds the football club with its earned profits from its own businesses.

It was founded in year 2010, and participated in the 2010 FAM Cup League (the third division, two divisions below SL). They finished undefeated champions that season and thus winning promotion into the 2011 Premier League (PL – the second division, one division below SL).

They finished 5th out of twelve teams in the PL, and thus was eligible to play a qualifying play-off round against Pahang FA to earn a place in the 2011 Malaysia Cup. Pahang FA finished second from last in the SL and was thus relegated into the PL. They defeated Pahang FA 6-0 on aggregate, and were thus eligible to play in the 2011 Malaysia Cup. They are grouped with Terengganu FA, NSFA, and Selangor PKNS FC.

It is a very admirable achievement for a team which was only founded last year. They finished fifth in the PL, above teams like Penang FA, Pos Malaysia FC, etc who were founded years before them, and also defeated Pahang FA (which was founded in 1959) in a routing manner.

Comparing to those teams, if you consider the little experience Sime Darby FC have as a football club, and (probably) the small number of supporters they have earned to themselves in just 1.5 years, it is a very admirable achievement.

But why is that? Why are they so successful despite being a team with such a short history? Why do those teams, which are founded years before them, could not get that kind of results? Is it just plainly because Sime Darby FC has better players or a better coach?

In the next post, we will discuss the answer for the questions above.