Last week, the Malaysian football season kicked off with (dare I even compare) much less excitement than the Charity Shield, the English League curtain raiser. Although the first round of matches produced many interesting results like the Red Giants’ convincing 4-1 victory over Malaysian champions, the Canaries, in the fortress of the North, the spillover impact on the fans is hardly felt.Full stadiums are fast becoming a rarity these days. Selling tickets to a Saturday night match featuring top teams KL Plus vs Police when themamak coffee shops and pubs are showing the Liverpool vs Manchester United match, is as easy as selling sand to the Arabs.

To write on the issues plaguing the national football league and its solutions requires mastery of the subject.

The specific concern that this column seeks to address is the declining level of support for the domestic football scene. It is not something impossible as I (not a hardcore fan) used to watch key Selangor home matches even when there was a scheduled night out. I also remember looking forward to watching the weekly football show on television to watch the goals scored throughout the week.

There was real interest in the game. The last game I watched at the Kelana Jaya stadium was a huge disappointment in terms of turnout. The stadium, near-like Mother Hubbard’s cupboard, was almost bare.

It is now not uncommon for home fans to be heavily outnumbered by the away fans. Naturally, the level of support is highly correlated to quality but it is impossible to quantify the degree and the factor of the drop in support.

With the current infrastructure and improved training programmes, it is likely that the current crop of players have improved technically and physically but it is not translating into an increase of fans in the stadiums. If there is a better standard of play, why the empty stadiums?

When traditionally strong teams like Selangor and Kedah meet, home State loyalty guarantees the crowd comes in droves. But how do you garner support for non State teams like Myteam, KL Plus and Kuala Muda, no matter how well they perform?

The decision to do away with import players would also leave an adverse impact on gate collection. Again, the debate is not about the merits of having no foreign players vis-à-vis more places for local talent or managing team spending (although logically, teams would now have to pay import-like premiums for the cream of local players) but that its impact on the fans is likely to be negative.

As a rule, teams will only take import players when there is a void of local talent in a certain position. With the decision, the supporters are no longer attracted to go to the stadium to watch players like Marlon Alex James in action.

The fans need to feel the team’s presence. Efforts to create awareness through the mainstream and online media need to be doubled. Interest needs to be harnessed at a young age. That’s why clinics still play an important role.

It was in Standard 5 that my friend Ridwan fell in love with Kuala Lumpur when he attended the Public Bank football clinic that featured KL stars. He became a KL hardcore fan, attending almost every home game.

Innovative ways of attracting crowds need to be formulated by the Malaysian Super League. Even if it means shifting the games to Fridays and Sundays to avoid the one-sided competition with the English Premier League fixtures. The association of fans via clubs and groupings can also be empowering. The league must give recognition and possibly even some sort of financial assistance to local fan club leaders to motivate them to bring the crowd in.

Product offerings also play an important role as evidenced by the excitement created when Nike promoted the national jersey at the Asian Cup competition. I recall going to the store three times before finding a jersey because it was sold out. Albeit briefly, there was a sense of the long lost buzz that used to surround the Malaysian league.

At the risk of being a hypocrite, I feel a sense of sadness when our youth know more about David Beckham’s favourite clothing brand compared with Safee Sali’s goal tally.

The real reason for the predicament is that football is increasingly competitive. This is true not only on the pitch but also off it, in terms of attracting the fans and related merchandising businesses.

Malaysian football competes with other sports, family time and more so than ever, the international “greatest sport on earth” scene from all corners of the globe.

To bring back the roar of stadiumfilled fans, Malaysian football needs to find its own blue ocean.