Players and Clubs Fall Victims

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

Bhayangkara FC I defender I Putu Gede Juni Antara (right) and Persija Jakarta striker Marko Simic (left) leap for the ball during Indonesia’s top-tier league, Shopee Liga 1, at the Police Higher Education College Stadium in South Jakarta on March 14. The players have to wait for a long time before they can resume matches in Liga 1, which has been suspended for the past seven months.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS -- The Shopee League 1 and League 2 soccer competitions for the 2020-2021 season failed to kick off on 1 October because the National Police did not issue permits for any mass assembly as the Covid-19 pandemic in the country is still worrying. Players and clubs are the biggest victims of the uncertainty surrounding the league competition.

According to the general manager of the Indonesian Professional Soccer Player Association (APPI), Poñaryo Astaman, when contacted, Tuesday (29/9/2020), the impact of postponing competition was worse than when soccer competition was suspended by FIFA in 2015.

"When it [competition] was suspended by FIFA, players were still able to join the tournament. Now, they can’t,” said the former captain of the Indonesian national soccer team.

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Fajar Junaedi, a soccer observer and lecturer at Muhammadiyah University of Yogyakarta, sees soccer as a victim of inconsistent government policies regarding the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. On the one hand, soccer activities are not permitted, but the simultaneous regional head elections (Pilkada) are allowed.

"In fact, several candidates in the regional elections have been proven to have violated health protocols, while soccer is regulated under strict health protocols, which includes severe sanctions for violators," he said.

KOMPAS/MUHAMMAD IKHSAN MAHAR

Officials from the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) in Tangerang regency, Banten, take the temperature of people about to enter the Sport Center Stadium complex in Tangerang, Banten, on March 6, ahead of the 2020 Liga 1 match between Persita Tangerang and PSM Makassar. The temperature checks were meant to contain the spread of COVID-19. The 2020 Liga 1 was suspended later that month.

This issue of inconsistency was also raised by soccer players on social media yesterday. "Playing soccer is not allowed but regional elections are allowed," quipped I Gede Sukadana, PSS Sleman player, who took the swab test twice, on Instagram.

The organization of soccer league, even basketball, once received a green light from the government, namely through the Youth and Sports Minister Zainudin Amali and the head of the Covid-19 Task Force Doni Monardo. They approve of the revival of this sports competition, which has been suspended for seven months, as long as all parties adhere to health protocols (Kompas, 18/10).

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Separately, the head of the National Police Public Relations Division, Insp. Gen. Raden Prabowo Argo Yuwono, said that the permit for the League 1, which will draw in crowds, had not been issued by the police because of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, which sees an increasing number of people who are infected.

Apart from that, the chief of the National Police has also issued a police chief announcement, which confirms that the police will not issue permits for crowd/mass assembly at all levels. "The National Police, together with the Indonesian Military (TNI) and related stakeholders are concentrating on supporting the government policy by carrying out operasi justisi [discipline operations] at all levels," said Argo.

Missing a generation

According to Mochamad Iriawan, chairman of the Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI), the postponement of the soccer competition could have a broad impact on the entire national soccer ecosystem. He even said that a generation of players could be lost if competition could not be held in a year.

Even so, Iriawan still respects the police\'s decision not to issue a permit for crowd/mass assembly. He also asked soccer players to remain optimistic and enthusiastic about waiting for the league to to be organized during the pandemic.

DOKUMENTASI PSSI

Youth and Sports Minister Zainudin Amali (right) and Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI) chairman Mochamad Iriawan attend the opening ceremony of Indonesia Liga 2 in Balikpapan on March 14.

PSSI asked for the competition to be postponed for [at most] one month, of course by considering the existing situation.

He really hopes that the national soccer competition can roll out at the latest in November. "PSSI asked for the competition to be postponed for [at most] one month, of course by considering the existing situation. Hopefully by then the pandemic will start to subside," said Iriawan.

If the league fails to resume starting next November, according to Iriawan, the competition will be more difficult to organize. The league which will be held starting in November can still be completed in March 2021. Therefore, the league does not need to be forced to roll out in April when it is the fasting month and in May when Indonesia has to organize the U-20 World Cup.

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All remaining matches for the 2020-2021 season of League 1 and League 2 will be organized without spectators. These matches have also been scheduled to be held in nine stadiums in five provinces, namely Yogyakarta, East Java, West Java, Central Java and Banten. The match between PSS Sleman and Persik Kediri at Maguwoharjo Stadium, in Sleman, Yogyakarta, on Thursday (1/10), is scheduled to be the first match of this extraordinary season.

The majority of clubs are already in Yogyakarta, an area that has become the “headquarters” of teams from outside Java. PSM Makassar, for example, arrived in Yogyakarta this week and has been doing training. They are forced to stay in Yogyakarta for the next month while waiting for certainty when the league can resume.

"The interval from now to next month is relatively fast. So, we don\'t want to go back [to Makassar],” said Sulaiman Karim of the PSM Makassar public relations.