Cambodia national coach
Scott O'Donell has appointed former internationals Van Piseth and Bouy Dary as his assistants in shaping the future of the national team. And the three have certainly not wasted time as they have been consistently on the lookout for players in the on-going Cambodian Premier League 2009.
“Both Piseth and Dary were with me before (in 2007),“ said O’Donell.
“I trust and respect them. Both were national team players and have a good knowledge of the game, and we already have a mutual understanding of what we want to achieve.”
Van Piseth, 47, was a former Cambodian international in the mid-1980s and played his football for the most part with the Army team before beginning his coaching career at Khemara FC.
He is due to take his AFC C-Licence coaching certificate next month.
The 23-year-old Bouy Dary on the other hand was the assistant to former national coach Prak Sovannara, and is one of the younger generation of coaches in Cambodia.
He played under O'Donell at the SEA Games in 2005 whilst with the Royal Navy team, and already has his C-Licence.
“The next stage is to get a squad together, with the SEA Games in Laos in December as the next major challenge,” added O'Donell.
“I want to put on a series of trials for around 40 players in the last three weeks of July at the National Olympic Stadium, with a view to sizing it down to a squad of 25 players.
“Then I'd like to get the squad with me a couple of times a week during August and September, which is why I met with the CPL coaches a couple of weeks ago, as I need their cooperation.
“I'd be concentrating on their technical and tactical awareness rather than their stamina until the end of the current season.”
The 42-year-old Australian is also looking to further strengthen his squad's preparation for the SEA Games in Laos with a couple of friendly international matches and two training camps away in South Korea and Vietnam.
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Monday, July 13, 2009
Cambodia's Aussie Boss Scott O'Donnell Assembles Coaching Staff
'Spoiled youngsters' become govt target
FOLLOWING a directive issued last month by Prime Minister Hun Sen, the government has launched a crackdown on juvenile delinquency that will target "spoiled youngsters" in a bid to maintain social order, an Interior Ministry official said Sunday.
According to a list of disciplinary measures to be posted in towns across the country, young people will be more closely monitored and could face more serious charges if caught engaging in crimes.
"We have just begun to gradually implement the disciplinary measures after the prime minister called for action against spoiled youngsters,"
Ministry of Interior spokesman Khieu Sopheak told the Post Sunday, referring to a directive on June 24 ordering ministries and law enforcement officials to crack down on "gangster activity".
'Big brothers' disciplined
"We see that nowadays young people's acts are sometimes entangled with crime and the destruction of culture and tradition," Khieu Sopheak said.
"If we do not have any measures to cope with [young people], our society will definitely become chaotic, and children of the next generation will imitate such a lack of discipline."
Khieu Sopheak said most of the young people that the ministry has picked up so far were "big brothers" associated with criminal gangs.
"In the past, we have gathered thousands of young people who were acting immorally and causing trouble to society. Having gone through rehabilitation, some young people are sent back to their parents.... However, in some serious cases, they are sent to the court," he said.
The new disciplinary measures are being tested in pilot programmes in the country's more densely populated areas, though Khieu Sopheak said it would likely be taken to small villages.
"We thought delinquency only happened in the cities, but now this culture of immorality has become widespread."
Him Yun, vice president of the Khmer Youth Association, told the Post Sunday that he welcomed measures to control delinquency, but he warned authorities not to use the directive as a front for their own bullying.
"While we approve measures to cope with problematic youngsters, local authorities should implement measures effectively," Him Yun said.
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Bars warned against allowing striptease dances, loud music
BAR owners in Daun Penh district were told by the Ministry of Interior over the weekend that they were required to close at midnight and to ban striptease dancing and the showing of pornographic films, several bar owners and the district governor said Sunday.
District and police officials on Saturday distributed a list of rules drafted by the ministry to bar owners and instructed them to sign contracts stating that they had read the rules and understood that they would have to close if they did not comply with them.
Daun Penh District Governor Sok Sambath said Sunday that the officials were simply reminding the bar owners of rules that were already in place.
"We just re-informed all bars to follow the contract - to close their bars after midnight, not to play loud music, not to show pornographic videos, not to allow drug use and not to allow strip dancing," Sok Sambath said.
Yim Nuch, a manager at the Velkommen Inn on Street 104, said she had been visited by the officials Saturday.
"They came to my bar and showed me the [Interior Ministry's] information, which mainly mentioned conditions about strip dancing, drug smuggling and pornographic films," she said.
"They asked us to sign five identical contracts, and I agreed to sign them."
She added that she had been told she could face criminal charges if she failed to follow the rules, though she said officials did not elaborate on what those might be.
Chhan Sro Em, 26, a manager at the UpDown Bar on Street 136, said Sunday that she had not received any information about the rules.
Our bar hasn't had any illegal activities such as sexy or strip dancing.
"Police just come around for drinking and then go," she said. "They never talk to us about that."
She said the UpDown Bar had been open for "over a year" and routinely closed at 1am or 2am without incident and without any objection from the police.
She added: "Our bar hasn't had any illegal activities such as sexy or strip dancing."
Citywide enforcement?
Sok Sambath said the rules applied to all bars in the capital and had been on the books for years, despite the fact that many regularly stay open past midnight. Ministry of Interior spokesman Khieu Sopheak could not be reached Sunday to confirm whether the rules would be implemented citywide.
Both Yim Nuch and Chhan Sro Em said they welcomed the rules.
"We will follow the ministry's order to close our bar after midnight if we are told by police to do that," Chhan Sro Em said. "We welcome these prohibitions, which are very good for encouraging our Cambodian girls to be gentle women, not too sexy."
The distribution of the letters in Daun Penh district came less than a week after police and local authorities arrested 15 people at the Blue Lagoon Bar, which is also located in the district on Street 108.
The officials made the arrests on suspicion that patrons were given the option of watching women strip naked.
Commune Chief Hov Shinith said last week that the bar had been closed temporarily and that municipal officials were debating whether to allow it to continue operating.
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