After our interview with Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir at the 3R Futsal Tournament 09 earlier, Find Futsal Malaysia [FFM] had a chance to speak to the hosts of the competition themselves, the 3R girls! On hand to talk to us were Tini and Rafidah.

Similar to Datin Marina, Tini expressed delight when asked about the reception towards the 2009 edition of the annual 3R Futsal tournament. “We managed to get 70 teams this year and we feel that it’s very much a positive turnout.” She continues, “This year however, we had some last minute entries and this can also be one of the reason for the lesser number of participants this year.”

For the previous installment of the competition, 3R collaborated with UNICEF (read more) to raise awareness about HIV Aids. And in conjunction with this year’s futsal tournament, 3R have tied up with LPPKN (Lembaga Penduduk dan Pembangunan Keluarga Negara) to educate youth, especially young women about sex education and its importance.

A notable addition to the 3R competition this year is the mixed category with both boys and girls on the same team. “We thought it would be a fun category but we actually decided to introduce the mixed category so that it would be easier for the girls to form a team where they can invite their brothers, boyfriends, cousins etc etc.” The bubbly 20-something TV host continues, “There’s simply not enough competitions organized for ladies and this does not help a team stay together for long. This leads to ad-hoc teams created just for the purpose of the tournament. Sometimes we recognize a player in one of our tournaments but she is with a totally different team compared to the last year.”

Apart from raising awareness about social and current issues, Rafidah added that there are other reasons why they have gone through the trouble of organizing the yearly event. “We want to create an environment where the girls can play futsal competitively and feel safe at the same time.” In contrast to an open competition full of men, the 3R ladies want girls to be able play futsal without feeling insecure or being heckled by immature boys. “It’s frustrating for a girl to be so worried just to walk across the futsal centre to get a drink just because she doesn’t want to walk past a group of boys who are probably going to whistle at her or something. We don’t want any of that.”

The 3R ladies also to highlighted to us how some schools and sports bodies refuse to sponsor or take care of the competition expenses for a girl’s futsal team because it’s not seen as “a sport for ladies”.

You can read more about the issues close to these girls hearts at the official site or just head on to the 3R Facebook page.

Photography by Aris Bundchen