Man Utd indirectly win battle against AFC
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Despite this news being published at the front of every newspaper in South East Asia, it has come to my attention that the general UK population doesn't even know Man Utd are involved in a heated battle with the Asian Football Confederation(AFC) and FIFA which may change the way English football is presented in Asia. So, being the loving, kind and friendly blogger I am, heres whats going on in Asia.
It all started when Man Utd planned their Man Utd Asia Tour which was set to take place between the 17th-27th July. Starting in Tokyo, Japan on the 17th and ending in the home of one of their main sponsors, Air Asia in Malaysia on the 27th. The only problem is that it disrupts the Asian Cup also held in Malaysia(jointly hosted with Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam) between 7th and 29th of July. The AFC feel that Man Utd's presence in Malaysia will be a distraction from the Asian Cup as Man Utd are the most supported club in South East Asia. The called on Man Utd to postpone their tour so that its stop in Malaysia will not interrupt the Asian Cup. Man Utd didn't want to do it as they have other friendlies planned(as far as I know) but were considering not going to Malaysia, instead ending their tour in Macau, their second last stop.
This did not make the Football Association of Malaysia(FAM) very happy as they, along with Malaysia's Tourism Board were planning on making Man Utd's visit apart of their 50 Years of Independence Celebration, a campaign known as 'Visit Malaysia 2007' has ads all of Old Trafford encouraging people to join Malaysia in celebrating 50 years of independence.'
So what did they do? They did what any smart organization would do...listen to the people. The people of Malaysia obviously prefer watching the Man Utd players at their Bukit Jalil Stadium than watch Asian football -known for its lack of quality. So the FAM called David Gill and said, "Hey you, yes you the guy who replaced Double D on the FA Board! You can come to Malaysia, we will support you against the AFC." I'm guessing at that point Gill wide smile on his face.
In what the Malaysian media interpreted as the first time the FAM showed some balls it appears all their work may end up useless. It appears Man Utd may still cancel the trip to Malaysia because they don't want to get on AFC's bad side, especially since Man Utd make billions in merchandising in Asia. These are only rumors though. It remains to be seen if Man Utd will crawl under AFC's armpits or bring their tour to Malaysia...
posted by highbury1913 @ 5:57 pm | |
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