KBS offers grants to upgrade select soccer fields in each state

PETALING JAYA: The Department of Youth and Sports (KBS) is offering grant allocations to all state youth and sports committee chairpersons to upgrade selected football pitches with Zeon Zoysia grass.

His Minister Hannah Yeoh said the offer was made during the first ministry meeting with state excos in January and is now awaiting feedback, which is expected to be presented at the forthcoming second meeting.

She said each state must select a stadium to upgrade and conduct initial maintenance before approving the allocation.

“They have to maintain the pitch to make sure the drainage is in order, after that the ministry will provide the allocation for the turf,” she told reporters while attending the Malaysian Tigress’s latest training session at the Football Federation of Malaysia (FAM) football pitch here today.

Yeoh said annual maintenance would be the responsibility of each state government if they chose to take up the offer.

“Not every state wants this weed and not every state can afford to care for it, so we’re waiting for feedback,” Yeoh said.

She added that her ministry will continue to support women’s grassroots football over the next five years in terms of infrastructure and allocation.

“The most important thing is that they get the opportunity to show their skills and their performance, so that football and women are synonymous and not foreign words, it’s a cliché that needs to be broken.

“In connection with tomorrow’s Women’s Day, I am here to symbolically say to every woman in Malaysia that women in sport must be given the opportunity to discover talent and thrive,” she added. -Bernama