Goal looks back at the times when Malaysian league fans perhaps felt like they had to watch matches with a rule book in hand.
The formation of Football Malaysia LLP (now Malaysian Football League), the Malaysian competitions organiser back in 2015 has allowed the Malaysian league to be held year in and out in a more consistent manner, which in turn has helped sell the domestic competitions to the audience.
That predictability is taken for granted somewhat these days, but there was a time when the Malaysian league seemingly changed formats and rules more frequently than Malaysian politicians jump ships these days.
Goal looks back at the unusual changes implemented, and then abandoned, in the wild days of the Malaysian first tier.
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Number of teams, relegation, relegation play-offs,
12 seems to be the magic number in the Super League, with the title having been contested by that many teams since 2013. However, since the first tier was first rebranded as the Super League in 2004, it has had as few as eight teams, and as many as 14 clubs.
In the first three seasons, the league was contested by only eight teams, before it was expanded dramatically for the 2006/07 season by then competitions organiser Malaysian FA to 13 (it was to be 14, but MPPJ FC pulled out at the last minute), with the inclusion of company-owned clubs.
In 2009 the Malaysian FA (FAM) raised the number to 14, which lasted until the 2012 season. But in the following season this was reduced to 12, which lasted up to this day.
These changes in the number of competing teams neccessitated tweaks not only in the number of teams relegated, but also the manner of their relegation.
Although for much of its history, the Super League would conclude annually with the elimination of two teams, there were years when this changed. The end of the 2006/07 season saw only bottom-placed Melaka relegated in order to allow the league to be contested by 14 teams the following season (two teams were promoted from the second tier). However, before the following season began, Telekom Malaysia FC pulled out, requiring only one team to be relegated once again. 2009 season also saw only one team relegated due to more team withdrawals.
The Super League needed to be shrunk to 12 teams from 14 in 2013, which meant that four teams needed to be eliminated at the end of 2012 (two teams would win promotion from the Premier League). Last-placed Kuala Lumpur were automatically eliminated, but Sarawak, Kedah and Sabah had to play against Premier League runners up Pahang in a relegation play-off round, which was won by the Elephants.
The Malaysian league also mostly favours direct relegation and promotion, but relegation/promotion play-offs has been utilised previously, apart from just the 2012 season.
In the 2005/06 season, powerhouses Pahang and Selangor found themselves in the two bottom spots, and they needed to fight for safety in the relegation play-offs against top Premier League sides.
The withdrawal of Singaporean side LionsXII at the end of 2015 led to the last time a relegation/promotion play-off match was required. ATM FA would have been relegated as the second last finisher, but LionsXII’s withdrawal saw them handed a lifeline, by playing a single-legged decider match against T-Team, Premier League’s second runners up. The army side were however defeated 2-1.
Selangor vs ATM in 2015. Photo by Asiana.my
Playing each team three times
The first three Super League seasons only saw it contested by eight teams, which meant that the number of league matches played by each team (14) would have been insufficient, had they played each other in a normal, home and away match-up. In order to fix this, FAM made one major format change; teams were to play each other three times instead, which provided each team with 21 league encounters annually.
While this format may seem strange to Malaysian fans, it has been utilised successfully in other top leagues across the world, such as the A-League and Scottish Premiership, while Swiss Super League clubs face off against each of the other teams a staggering four times each season.
When the league was expanded to 13 teams for the 2006/07 season, Super League teams once again played each other twice.
Foreign player ban
The Malaysian league has featured foreign players even during its amateur days, so it came as a complete surprise when FAM announced that beginning in the 2009 season, Malaysian teams could no longer sign import players.
While one of the reasons given was the clubs’ over-reliance on foreign talents at the expense of local players’ development, Kedah supporters would beg to differ. Their historic double-treble achievement in 2006/07 and 07/08 was obtained on the back of their brilliant foreign players, most prominently Vincentian forward Marlon James, and they felt that the ban was made to halt their dominance.
Marlon James
Whether this misgiving was justified or not, the ban paved the way for Selangor, who had the best rising Malaysian stars at the time such as Safiq Rahim and Safee Sali, to win the 2009 and 2010 league titles.
The same young players then helped Malaysia win their first ever (and so far only) AFF Championship title in 2010, which seemingly proved that FAM’s unpopular ban was not without merit.
Malaysia winning the 2010 AFF Championship. Photo from Getty
The ban was lifted ahead of the 2012 season, and FAM once again found itself under criticism, mainly for constantly changing the regulations on a whim.
Seasons that spanned two calendar years
Like most Asian domestic leagues, Malaysian football seasons usually start and end within the same calendar year. Usually.
But for three seasons in the mid 2000’s, the league would begin in one calendar year and end in the next. The Super League ended with the 2005/06, 06/07 and 07/08 seasons, before reverting to the full calendar year system for the 2009 season.
When Malaysian league hated draws
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The final entry of Malaysian league format oddities took place well before the Super League era, but it perhaps remained the most bizarre change.
In order to halt the dwindling interest in the competition, FAM made a tweak for the 1999 season; league matches that ended in a draw would be decided on penalties, with the penalty shootout winner netting an extra point on top of the one gained from the full-time draw. Eventual top-tier (then known as Premier 1) champions Pahang netted a total of 34 points, from nine wins (27 points), two ‘winning’ draws (four points) and three ‘losing’ draws (three points).
So peculiar was the rule change, that it was only implemented for one season.
